One of my Flickr groups has a self portrait competition this month. I have already entered one shot but though that I’d take a bit of time over another.
I was hoping to go out for some urbex today, but things transpired otherwise, so I decided to spend a bit of time taking some SPs. As I mentioned in a previous post, I really enjoy doing these – it takes time to get everything right, for the triggers to work and the flashes to both fire at the same time.
These were taken with a softbox on my table or on a chair – basically not on a stand. My other flash was on the stand using the patented cornflake box snoot. I found that I could get the best image using the snoot close to myself, focusing on my eyes, the softbox in front and to the opposite side to provide fill. I feel that portraits work best if the subject is looking one way or the other, but not directly into the camera, the body turned slightly also gives a nicer feel.
One thing that I did notice is that my ears light up rather well, so its important to have the SB fill for this or angle the head in a way that doesn’t make my radars light up too much, I feel this is distracting and not particularly easy to remedy in post.
So here are four images -#2 and #3 are the same shot but processed slightly differently. Unfortunately JGP compression seems to have done something weird to the colour graduations in the sky, but I am sure you get the idea!
#2 is my preferred, though would be even nicer if you were able to smooth out the blacks slightly.
The pose and gaze aren’t as good in image #1, and #4 seems flatter than the rest.
#2 in my humble opinion. Not easy to choose Mark! They are all really good, but I have to admit that #2 just jumped out at me as I saw it.
In my opinion #1 has the best lighting on your face, even and flattering with just the right amount of shadow detail, although those graduations don’t look so great but I’m sure they can be fixed. On #2 and #3 the shadows are too dark/harsh imo and not very flattering, and make your ear stand out in a very distracting manner, plus on #3 the background is rather too light only in that it doesn’t quite correspond with the darkness on your head. #4 has a really ethereal quality about it with that narrow DoF, the focus on your eyes draws in the viewer and makes me wonder what you might be looking at and thinking about. For me, #4 is the most emotional, the most interesting and the most artistic!
Tricky. I like the drama of #2 but the soft lighting and shallow DOF of #4. They are totally different pictures, of course, so I guess it comes down to how you see yourself – hard edged or soft and fluffy? 🙂
The second one is my favourite 🙂