52 Week Photo Challenge: Week 1 (Self Portrait)

Before selfie sticks were created, tripods were the photographer's or simply a vain person's best friend when it comes to self-portraits. Easy it may sound but portrait, for me, is the hardest shot to take. Why? Because humans have different facial expressions. There would be cases where the client would not be so happy at how her photograph turned out because her eyes looks dull, or her smile was fake or her lips were too pressed. Don't you notice it on yourself too? When you take photos of yourself, you try to assess if its already your best shot or if you still need to take some more.

We all want to look good in photos right? Unless of course you intend to look otherwise. So here's a few things I learned from taking this selfie shot:

1) Simplicity

Portraits are usually simple. You don't need over decorated backgrounds or even too much accessories or props. All you need is a decent outfit, basic makeup (even just a lipstick will do), and your smile.

2) Angle & Lighting

If you're taking portraits of yourself, know your best angles and know where the light is. It's probably easier if I had taken this photo during the day because of the natural light that comes inside my room. But since this was taken last night, after we got home from Star City, the only light I used was my room's LED bulb light. I had to tilt my head up to get some of the light. I didn't use flash because it was causing too much shadow on the background.

3) Cropping

I took a couple of shots zoomed in and it felt too boxed. So I took photos zoomed out and did the cropping after. This photo actually had a lot of space on the top and my shorts were showing. I decided to crop it to this to give that closer and focused look. I really loved how it turned out after cropping.

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I remember back in college, when I first got my Nikon DSLR, I kept shooting portraits of myself. It was my kind of practice for my photography subject. Below is one of the many shots I've taken of myself with the help of the tripod I won from a photo contest.