Self-Portrait (CC Requested)

Austin Greene

Been spending a lot of time on here!
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
1,472
Reaction score
855
Location
Mountain View, California
Website
www.austingreenephotography.com
Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
I'm working on getting back into portraiture. Among other things, I needed a decent photo of myself to help me market portraits. Something personable. Curious about doing a portrait with the 17-40, I found a wall and gave butterfly lighting (somewhat) a shot. Also decided to play with the new toy (ND graduated filters) and use them to vignette the shot a tad.

Any comments are highly appreciated! Self-portraits for me are a very rare occasion, so I don't get much practice.

Thanks!

Austin

EDIT: Updated the white balance. It was cold out, and I was a tad red, but otherwise I think the new (top) image is better. Looks cold compared to the first, but when viewed alone it's a better match.

Updated version:

Self Portrait by TogaLive, on Flickr

1.

Self Portrait by TogaLive, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Looks OK to me (except for the red cast you mention), though not exciting for a self-portrait if it aims at promoting your work. The attitude is rather neutral and you look closed (with crossed arms), lost in a large empty background (even if it is textured) with nothing fancy about the colors.
 
I'm practicing self portraits and unfortunately not going anywhere decent :) It's much easier to shoot someone else.

I don't like the lighting. Look at the shadow behind your head, on the neck, bellow the nose.

Also, step back from the wall. Set up the light to bounce a bit from that wall. That way it'll give you more separation from your background.
 
Looks OK to me (except for the red cast you mention), though not exciting for a self-portrait if it aims at promoting your work. The attitude is rather neutral and you look closed (with crossed arms), lost in a large empty background (even if it is textured) with nothing fancy about the colors.

Thanks for the critique! I wasn't quite going for an exciting image, not anything incredibly boring, but something very simple & different from the run-of-the-mill "look how dramatic and creative I can be!" headshot. No intention of it speaking for my other photos, where this'll be used they'll be able to do that for themselves. That said, what you've mentioned about the arms is something I'm going to look into changing. I'll keep looking around for better, somewhat more inviting, arm poses.

I'm practicing self portraits and unfortunately not going anywhere decent :) It's much easier to shoot someone else.

I don't like the lighting. Look at the shadow behind your head, on the neck, bellow the nose.

Also, step back from the wall. Set up the light to bounce a bit from that wall. That way it'll give you more separation from your background.

I suppose the style isn't for everyone, duly noted. I was trying to stick to butterfly lighting (which creates that characteristic shadow under the nose, head, etc. That said, I could have stepped away from the wall, I'll see if I can't give it another shot sometime at more of a distance :)
 
I suppose the style isn't for everyone, duly noted. I was trying to stick to butterfly lighting (which creates that characteristic shadow under the nose, head, etc. That said, I could have stepped away from the wall, I'll see if I can't give it another shot sometime at more of a distance :)

Ok, I totally forgot to say that I'm seeing this on my crappy computer at work. It exaggerates everything. So don't listen to me
 
Sorry if I was rude, the goal was not to piss you off. I agree with you, I indeed believe as well that people can make their own opinion from the pictures you take and not from a selft-portrait. What I should have said is that the self-portrait should ideally say something about you, whatever it is, and by looking at your self-portrait, I can't say much because it is very neutral and closed. It can be simple and informative. That's probably the most difficult to do, I guess.

About the lighting (shadow on the wall or not, butterfly or not, etc.), it's a matter of taste. I think you did OK, at least for me.
 
Sorry if I was rude, the goal was not to piss you off. I agree with you, I indeed believe as well that people can make their own opinion from the pictures you take and not from a selft-portrait. What I should have said is that the self-portrait should ideally say something about you, whatever it is, and by looking at your self-portrait, I can't say much because it is very neutral and closed. It can be simple and informative. That's probably the most difficult to do, I guess.

About the lighting (shadow on the wall or not, butterfly or not, etc.), it's a matter of taste. I think you did OK, at least for me.

Oh no, no offense taken at anything! I completely agree with what you've said, and I'm going to look into ways of better expressing myself in future renditions :)

I've since corrected the white balance (I think), but Flickr is taking forever to verify the image. Whatever that implies.
 
Id go bw on this one. This gentleman is pretty red and it has nothing to do with the way you shot this #whitepeopleproblem
 

Most reactions

Back
Top