Sunday, November 16, 2008

A Self Portrait...or Two...

Gesh...probably the hardest thing that any woman and maybe even any male for that matter, has to do is take their own picture. I found it difficult to get my mind around and then to figure out how to do it without showing any of my "ugly" bits...and I'm not talking about the private parts here!

So, another challenge and seeing as this time, I have not got a willing subject of the human variety, I have bit the bullet, or in this case, put the camera on a tripod and taken some photos of myself...

After an initial kind of "what the heck am I doing?" reaction, I came up with the rather, (well I thought so) brilliant idea of dressing up for the camera. I've got plenty of costumes! So, I had ideas for Cowgirl Tam, Pilot Tam, Biker Tam...you get the picture...

Cowgirl Tam was NOT all that good...didn't quite get what I wanted there...so you may not see any of those shots. There were two versions of Pilot Tam...One with a pilot helmet and a green military style jacket, the other with the classic sheepskin jacket, a Pratt & Whitney cap and a pair of aviator sunglasses. Now, where on earth would I get such props you wonder! Not...Pilot Tam v1 was not really very good because of the focus issue and a big white helmet, I'll probably give that one another go at a later date. Pilot Tam v2 was far better.

Anyway...after lots of hits and miss, the hardest part was actually setting up the camera. Time and again I had to go back and try to get the focus right. In the end, I figured out to leave it focused on a spot and move myself closer or further away.

The point of all this?

Well, the challenge is for lighting. So, in effect, I had to set up my own little photography studio and use some reflected lighting. Lighting is something I get. I love using any props or lights for more lighting. Lighting is what I did as a teenager for theatre. And if it hadn't been for Teen Ranch, I'd probably still be sitting in the dark somewhere, doing the lighting! So, lighting this was easy for me.

Although an overcast day outside, there was still a very nice bit of light coming in through the window...actually, a window that I'd like to block the light out of! Maybe not now I've been playing around with self portraits! And with a big piece of white card, I managed to get some good light onto the side of me that would have been in shadow.

Without further ado...here are the results...the one's I'm happy with.

EB Lesson 7 - Light and Reflectors


If you look closely, you'll see the reflection off the white card in the sunglasses and in the next one, its quite clear in the helmet visor.

EB Lesson 7 - Light and Reflectors

So, as much as I'm serious in these photos, there were one or two where I tried laughing but its pretty hard to laugh at yourself when the camera is loudly counting down the seconds! I had put on a funny dvd on the tv and turned it up loud but I couldn't really hear it over the beeping camera and the airconditioning!

Anyway, don't be surprised to see me revisit the self portrait. I have to admit, after I managed to get over myself, I had a bit of fun and am enjoying the results. I hope you do too.

2 comments:

Ganeida said...

Hey I love the sheepskin jacket one. I hate to burst your bubble but Ditz does the self portarat all the ime. Her favourite form of photography actually. Nearly all the pics on the blog of Ditz she took herself. Strange child, very strange.

I hope you can link from here but I've had to move house, so to speak. Everyone's locked out of my blog & it is sending them to stranges places ~ polish belgian horse breeders & a brothel!!!!!! Luv'nhugs m'dear.

Ganeida said...

I believe godaddy is eating blogs [a domain?]. Makes no sense to me but molytail is pretty clued up on these things. So pleased it wasn't me. I don't feel 1/2 so much a dork now! :D