Self Portrait Tips

Taking self portraits always seemed like a really hard thing to me.  I would see amazing self portraits by other photographers, and wonder how in the world they got their eyes in focus, and how they got the photo to look so...well, so much like someone else took it!  Taking self portraits was an unknown zone for me.

Then my friend, Jalynn, suggested that she and I each take a self portrait and put them together side by side.  At first, I wasn't so sure about this idea, since I really didn't know how to take a self portrait.  But Jalynn helped me out, and gave me a couple tips.  Here are the things she told me:

• Stand or sit in front of a window.
• Hold the camera out in front of you at about nose level.
• Try to focus the camera on your eyes.

So I tried it.  And even though most of my self portraits were way out of focus, at least I took some, and I've been enjoying experimenting with self portraits a little bit after that.  I also found a few of my own tips.

• If you have a windowsill on your window, you can set the camera right on that.
• Usually, you can see a reflection of yourself in the front of your camera lens.  What you see in the lens is roughly what you'll get in the picture.
• Just like any type of photography, take lots and lots of pictures.  The more you take, the more chances you'll have of getting an in focus one. 
• I seemed to like the results better at a lower f/stop, perhaps f/1.8, f/2.2 or thereabouts.

Here are a few examples of self portraits I've taken.  Most of them are out of focus, which is why I made them thumbnail size so you can't see how unfocused they are!  All of these were taken in one little 10-minute or so "session," and this is probably only about half of what I took.

I used my Canon EOS Rebel XS and my 50mm f/1.8 lens to take all the pictures in this post.  They're all sooc (unedited).