Self Portrait Head Shots (Page 2): Just a little tip for you but best or easiest to do when you have a subject and you are the photographer. First off, good try on selfies, however...

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

maggiemae wrote:

I was mainly playing around, but I work at a bank ... (show quote)

Just a little tip for you but best or easiest to do when you have a subject and you are the photographer. First off, good try on selfies, however, the light is a little too flat. You need to create some shape to the face for it to look good. As for the double chin, even skinny people can have a sort of double chin look if they have their head tilted slightly down, so anyone past skinny will look even worse when doing this.

Here is the tip, when shooting yourself or anyone else, get the camera a little higher than the head so that you are shoot down. Do not tilt the head back like you are doing, that always looks bad. To avoid the double chin thing set yourself in a normal position with eyes looking up ever so slightly towards the higher position of the camera, then simply extend your chin out slightly. Best to try this in the mirror, so that you can see how much is too much and how much is just right to avoid that double chin look, yet still look like a natural pose. You will be amazed at how a slight extended chin can make a difference to your/anyone's face.

By extending the chin out slightly, it works to thin the face and avoid a double chin look. It is hard to explain but very easy to do, if I were able to show you. Tilting a head backwards never works well, if you wish to achieve a natural look. You might just try a shoot though umbrella rather than bouncing off something, that will save you on the purchase of a soft box too. A shoot through and a flat reflector disc can go a long way to get a nice look, if you know what you are doing with lighting.

To get an idea on how to light and where the light should be, go to a museum and study the portraits of various masters and take note of how they posed the subject and how they lit them and from where the light source was coming from. One final point, a plain white background is not really the best choice for a background, but if that is all you have, try applying a grunge filter to it in post to take away that stark look. Hope this helps and don't give up, you will only get better.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

You did very good, Maggie.

maggiemae Loc: North Carolina

jaymatt wrote:

Thank you for thumbs up Jaymatt!

maggiemae Loc: North Carolina

camerapapi wrote:

I make no claims as been an expert when it comes to studio photography. I have not done that in some time and lazy is the word that best describes my attitude.
I like No. 3 but as has been mentioned the head should be down. Soft shadows on the opposite side of the light does not bother me and they are preferable. It shapes and delineates the facial features.

The skin colors are slightly yellow for my taste but that is easy to fix.

Thank you for your input. I hadn't noticed the yellow, I may go back in and see if I can decrease the yellow some.

maggiemae Loc: North Carolina

jederick wrote:

I don't know, Maggie, they are all nice to me and think I would go with number two...you're a pretty woman and have an infectious smile in each photo!!

Thank you Jederick! Number 2 seems to be the going favorite. Thank you for the compliment.

maggiemae Loc: North Carolina

Lucian wrote:

Just a little tip for you but best or easiest to do when you have a subject and you are the photographer. First off, good try on selfies, however, the light is a little too flat. You need to create some shape to the face for it to look good. As for the double chin, even skinny people can have a sort of double chin look if they have their head tilted slightly down, so anyone past skinny will look even worse when doing this.

Here is the tip, when shooting yourself or anyone else, get the camera a little higher than the head so that you are shoot down. Do not tilt the head back like you are doing, that always looks bad. To avoid the double chin thing set yourself in a normal position with eyes looking up ever so slightly towards the higher position of the camera, then simply extend your chin out slightly. Best to try this in the mirror, so that you can see how much is too much and how much is just right to avoid that double chin look, yet still look like a natural pose. You will be amazed at how a slight extended chin can make a difference to your/anyone's face.

By extending the chin out slightly, it works to thin the face and avoid a double chin look. It is hard to explain but very easy to do, if I were able to show you. Tilting a head backwards never works well, if you wish to achieve a natural look. You might just try a shoot though umbrella rather than bouncing off something, that will save you on the purchase of a soft box too. A shoot through and a flat reflector disc can go a long way to get a nice look, if you know what you are doing with lighting.

To get an idea on how to light and where the light should be, go to a museum and study the portraits of various masters and take note of how they posed the subject and how they lit them and from where the light source was coming from. One final point, a plain white background is not really the best choice for a background, but if that is all you have, try applying a grunge filter to it in post to take away that stark look. Hope this helps and don't give up, you will only get better.

Just a little tip for you but best or easiest to d... (show quote)

Thank you Lucian for your in depth input! I do appreciate it as I am always trying to learn. I agree with the white and thought maybe I should have used gray. I do have a gray sheet that I may use next time either for "selfies" or for portraits of others (I much prefer, lol). I have always shot natural light so am still learning about lighting and such. I have watch many videos on YouTube and have learned a lot from this site as well, but it takes practice to learn those sorts of things well. Posing other people is much easier for me. I am too self conscious about the way I look and am never much happy with photographs of myself.

maggiemae Loc: North Carolina

Earnest Botello wrote:

You did very good, Maggie.

Thank you Earnest!

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Nice portraits, you should be in front of the camera more often.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

These are nice images. Don't you have a couple young fellows around your place who could be your assistants for a project such as this? lol

maggiemae Loc: North Carolina

Ched49 wrote:

Nice portraits, you should be in front of the camera more often.

Thank you Ched!

maggiemae Loc: North Carolina

RodeoMan wrote:

These are nice images. Don't you have a couple young fellows around your place who could be your assistants for a project such as this? lol

I do rodeoman. The are more interested in aying minecraft lol. I did get my older son to stand in my place so I could get the camera to focus. I was having trouble getting a good focus point on a white sheet.