ART First Self Portraits C&C

[hurleyint1386]

So I talked to my mom and she said she had a tripod I could use that she got as a graduation present about 10 years ago. I found out it was a Bogen 3001 brand new in the box. She had never even taken it out. It's pretty nice, though. Better than a cheap Circuit City one. With the tripod, I decided to try some self portraits. I also did the white balance trick by taking a picture of a gray card then adjusting the pictures afterwards. Please critique the pictures, not my ugly mug

#1

#2

 

[hurleyint1386]

I'd like to hear any tricks you guys have for auto focusing. I don't have any remote triggers or anything for focusing.

 

[xenon supra]

neither are super sharp, the 2nd is worse than the first.

i like the first one better, but i keep wanting to see a tiny bit more space on the camera-right eye, its cutoff in a weird spot to me

not a big fan of the pose in the 2nd one, empty space should be on the direction you are facing IMO

try brightening the eyes a bit in photoshop, it works well for portraits.

ps, not at all what i pictured you to look like!

 

[xenon supra]

what camera are you shooting with?

 

[hurleyint1386]

neither are super sharp, the 2nd is worse than the first.

i like the first one better, but i keep wanting to see a tiny bit more space on the camera-right eye, its cutoff in a weird spot to me

not a big fan of the pose in the 2nd one, empty space should be on the direction you are facing IMO

try brightening the eyes a bit in photoshop, it works well for portraits.

ps, not at all what i pictured you to look like!

Ok, thanks a lot. I'll definitely work with that. A lot of the posing was just improvising. I agree that neither of them are real sharp, that's why I'm asking for any tips on focusing. I'll see what I can do about the eyes, too.

What'd you think I looked like? haha

Also, I'm shooting with a Canon 40D and 50mm 1.8

 

[xenon supra]

well, the first pic was taken at 1/25 a second

for this kind of stuff you should aim for at least 1/200 or 1/250 to get it nice and sharp.

I don't know what the 40D offers, but my D300 has "interval shooting" where I can say "hey d300, take 5 pictures in a row 3 second apart" - and it does, and it autofocuses before every shot, so the first shot is always fucked up but the last 4 are perfectly focused

 

[xenon supra]

What'd you think I looked like? haha

 

[hurleyint1386]

well, the first pic was taken at 1/25 a second

for this kind of stuff you should aim for at least 1/200 or 1/250 to get it nice and sharp.

I don't know what the 40D offers, but my D300 has "interval shooting" where I can say "hey d300, take 5 pictures in a row 3 second apart" - and it does, and it autofocuses before every shot, so the first shot is always fucked up but the last 4 are perfectly focused

Ok, I'll make sure to use a faster shutter speed. Also, I'm not sure about interval shooting. I'll look into it. If anyone else has a 40D or knows, definitely let me know.

 

[hurleyint1386]

You thought I was an asian math geek. I think I'm the exact opposite.... ok, well the geek part is pretty much spot on.

 

[xenon supra]

You thought I was an asian math geek. I think I'm the exact opposite.... ok, well the geek part is pretty much spot on.

its OT, were all geeks

 

[hurleyint1386]

well, the first pic was taken at 1/25 a second

for this kind of stuff you should aim for at least 1/200 or 1/250 to get it nice and sharp.

I don't know what the 40D offers, but my D300 has "interval shooting" where I can say "hey d300, take 5 pictures in a row 3 second apart" - and it does, and it autofocuses before every shot, so the first shot is always fucked up but the last 4 are perfectly focused

I'm trying to get it up to 200 or 250, but even at ISO 1600 and f/1.8 it's not properly exposed. I can do 1/60" @ f/1.8 ISO 1600

 

[EWhytsell]

No interval shooting on 40D. You can buy a remote timer that will do it, but thats it other than the 2 sec or 10 sec delay, but the delay won't focus before shooting as far as I know.

Also at F/1.8 your gonna have just a few inches of good focus from your DOF so use a flash and get that camera down to ISO 400 or something.

 

[hurleyint1386]

No interval shooting on 40D. You can buy a remote timer that will do it, but thats it other than the 2 sec or 10 sec delay, but the delay won't focus before shooting as far as I know.

Also at F/1.8 your gonna have just a few inches of good focus from your DOF so use a flash and get that camera down to ISO 400 or something.

I've got my built-in flash and a 560EZ but I don't know how to use it in manual (actually, I don't know how to use it at all haha and I know it's for film not digital, but it works in manual mode I was told)

 

[EWhytsell]

I'm just learning what flashes can do for pictures myself. Very interesting and the most important thing I've learned so far I think is; Shutter speed controls ambient light, and aperture controls your flash's effect on the scene. Find a bottle, fruit or what ever and try adjusting those and see the effect. I'm excited about flash lighting now that I get it.

 

[xenon supra]

You Just put the flash at 1/4 to start with, and then adjust it from there to get what you want. I'd probably point the flash straight up at the ceiling so its somewhat diffused.

You should be able to shoot at 1/250, ISO 200, and f/2.8 using a flash, but you may need to crank it up almost all the way.

 

[Spurious]

Hollow, flat and underexposed.

 

[hurleyint1386]

What do you guys think? It's still not as sharp as I'd like it to be, but I think it's better.

 

[xenon supra]

^definitely an improvement

 

[hurleyint1386]

^definitely an improvement

Thanks. What I did was pointed the flash to the left and bounced it off of the wall for the chiaroscuro lighting. Also, it's not just my head floating.