"How to Give Good Head" by Ciscley
I'm not an extremely skilled photographer, but there are a few things I know how to do well and one of them is self portraits. These tips will also help you when you pose for pictures someone else is taking.
Obviously, ignore these tips if you know what you are doing or want a non-standard effect.
- Keep the light behind the camera.
That seems obvious when you think the opposite is having the light behind the subject, back lighting it and throwing it into shadow. But it's also true when talking about over head lighting. If you only have overhead lighting, I tend to tip my head back and hold the camera at arms length above me. I'm short so this also mimicks how most people see me, at a somewhat downward angle.
The best lighting for a self-portrait, though, is soft natural lighting or lamp lighting that is behind and slightly above the camera. It puts just enough shadow on the face to contour it well and yet doesn't make your nose look three feet long from too much shadow.
For the natural lighting, about midday you can go stand by an open door or a brightly lit window. Don't face directly out or away from the window, position yourself sideways (90 degrees) to it. A solid color door makes a good backdrop for a photo. Which brings us to point number two -
- Keep the background simple.
This is particularly important with portraits, though it tends to be true for all photography. I like to use just enough light to illuminate my face and throw everything behind me into total darkness. I do that with a table lamp. With natural light, I use a very short depth of field on my camera (either zooming in close or setting the aperture - depending on the camera) that keeps my face in focus and everything behind me gets blurry and greyish.
If you're stuck using flourescent (bleh) lights or only have a camera with a fixed focal length, use a sheet for a back drop, or go stand outside near a nice tree (just don't stand where any branches poke out the side or top of your head.)
- Get close up.
Some people seem to think that the further away they position the camera the better the photo will be. If you don't like your face but love your body, take a closeup picture of the body part you like, there's nothing that says self-portraits have to be of the face. I love photographing my nail polish colors, some people like having their backs photographed. Usually faces are easier to photograph because you can just hold the camera at arms length, but you can always setup a tripod or put the camera on a table and use the timer to take a picture.
It's just always much better to fill the frame with the subject, especially when the subject is the face.
- Move the camera around.
When I photograph someone else, I take photos at eye level, from above, from below, 360 degrees around them. I move myself and them and keep snapping. When you take photos of yourself, move the angle of the camera, move how you're holding it and also move how you are holding your head. Tilting your chin just a little up or a little to one side can make a big difference in the mood of a photo.
Don't be afraid to hold the camera at a funky angle if it gets the shot you want. There's no reason you have to hold the camera perfectly upright or perpendicular (for horizontal or vertical photos.) Diagonal photos look really great! Diagonal photos from below and to one side of the face are a favorite of mine.
- Where to look.
If you want to look like you're not looking at the camera, like you're not aware the photo's being taken or whatever, look downwards.
If you want to look into the camera, DON'T. Look slightly above the camera. It will give the same effect as looking into the camera, but without any red-eye. Obviously red-eye only happens in very dark conditions, usually when the light is behind you and usually when a flash is being used. All portrait no-nos. And yet, the most common situation. So, avoid those times whenever possible, turn to the side of the light if you can, but always look above the camera. It makes a big difference.
Either way it is important to focus on one point in space. If you don't focus your eyes will look really bizarre.
If you wear glasses, you can look at the camera, just look at it from under the glasses. If you wear glasses you know what I mean. I don't wear my glasses if a flash is being used.
- Finally, pick an expression and wait.
The worst thing that can happen when you're using a self timer or someone else is taking your photo is to change the expression you're wearing. That is inevitably when the funny or scary faced pictures happen because in mid yawn or switch from toothy smile to closed smile, the camera will snap and the photo will be ruined.
Pick an expression and stick with it. At least until that photo is taken. Then choose another one and keep going. When I'm taking webcam stills I always start by sticking my tongue out at myself and then laughing. Sometimes those pictures are actually cute / funny enough to keep and use, but usually they are just a warm up to relax my face and produce the slight smirk smile I mostly have in photos.
A great way to take self portraits is with a mirror and a digital camera with an LCD screen. What you do is stand in front of the mirror and make faces at yourself until you get a natural looking pose that you like and then you hold the digital camera in front of the mirror where the camera is facing you and the LCD is facing the glass. You can see the LCD to line up the camera and get the picture in focus, and then you can change where your eyes are focused and snap the shot.
No more photos of you with your camera, just photos of you. Though I really kind of like mirror project style photos, but this is just an alternative for when you aren't going for that look.
I'm sure I'll think of more things later. This and this and this now infamous photo are some examples of my self-photographing. There are better examples sprinkled throughout the website, including the old logo for this site.
-- The original copy of these tips can be found here at Ciscley's blog, On My Mind....
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