Nov 22, 20207 min read

Self Portraits by Jyotsna Bhamidipati

Self portraits by Jyo

About me

Hey everyone! For those that don’t know me, my name is Jyotsna (Jyo) and I live in Sacramento, California with my 3 kids. We are a blended family, with yours, mine and ours; 12, 7 and 2 year old kids. I am a Clickpro and a Clickin moms mentor as well. I am a huge light nerd, a big fan of self portraits and a lover of low and harsh light in my work. I am an Electrical Engineer as well with a Masters in lighting design from Penn State.

I am so excited to share a few tips in this lesson as to how I work on my self portraits; documenting motherhood and my solo creative images and share some tips.

When Motherhood calls me

When my first son was younger (he’s now 7), I remember taking countless photos of just him. I was still learning my camera back then and if I ever wanted to be in the frame; they would just be cellphone shots and even then I remember never wanting to be in photos. I never liked myself in front of the camera and had a million and one reasons why not to be in the frame. However; I was just looking for one reason why I should be in the frame and not just behind the camera...and when my last baby came along, I knew I found my reason.

For the kids.

Working up on my self confidence to be in the photos with my kids; was a big deal for me. It wasn’t easy but I knew I wanted to do it; for them, for me. for us. To me, figuring out the technical aspects of it was more easier than actually liking what I saw in the frame. To date; I struggle with accepting certain things about my physical appearance but I have learned to tell myself over time; that no matter what; my kids and my family will always find me beautiful. In fact; when my kids sit down to look at some of the photos I take of us together; they are most often loving the fact that I was in the photos with them, laughing, cuddling and enjoying the moment with them. Two years of doing this and today, even though my insecurities creep up time to time; I see my kids and know that these are treasures that we will appreciate down the line. That makes it all worth it. Even the ones I take solo for me!

With my son.

My Gear

My main camera body is my Canon Mark 4 and I mostly use my Canon 35mm L ii lens indoors and my Lensbaby SOL 45 and edge 35 for my creative self portraits.

I use an inbuilt timer for my Mark 4. In the past, when I had my Canon 6D, I used an intervalometer with it that took images with a set timer.

A tripod usually really helps to keep your camera be stable, avoiding any shake as you release the shutter. A flat surface works in a pinch, but a tripod will likely be safer and easier to maneuver.

Tip 1 - Being Playful

One of the most important things to keep in mind while getting in the frame with toddlers is to keep things easy, light and playful. I personally like using a tripod when I can as I find it super easy and my tripod and camera is always at a hands reach for me. However; like I mentioned earlier; you could always set your tripod on any flat surface and it should work fine as well. When I get in the frame with my littlest; most often we are playing. We are reading things together; tickling each other; telling stories or doing something else relatively fun that would engage her than make her feel it’s a chore. One thing that helps is to ‘set up’ your scene before having your kids ‘in that scene’ (whatever your location, setting or scene is) and then just to get in there and have fun. It doesn’t matter how perfect those set of images turn out. In fact; the more ‘real’ or playful they are the more you and your kids will have fun.

My daughter loves to climb on me most days and this was something that I wanted to document for the longest.

Here we got dressed up in some beautiful outfits I loved and I just let her play with some polish. She had gotten it on her hands and was showing it to me!

It was her birthday and we were celebrating together.

Tip 2 - Understanding light and composition

While getting in the frame is important; knowing light, where to stand/sit in the frame is equally important to tells a powerful story and make an impact to the viewer (and it could totally be you!). I am a huge lover of dramatic light and low light especially indoors and I often use it to tell the story in my work. It also helps me to highlight the colors I most often love to use in my images. I am a huge fan of mustard/yellow, reds, white and green in my work. Dramatic light helps bring out those colors naturally and helps with the story.

If you are working indoors with your kids; know your house. Where the windows are, which room gets most light, or even the least light. I don’t always use the entire house for my images; but there are a couple favorite rooms/spots in my house that I do love to use often.

With regards to composition; working with toddlers can be the trickiest. They really don’t want to be in one spot and hence it’s important to consider ‘adding’ a few things of interest in the ‘scene’ if you may. I often use small props like books, flowers, balloons, or anything that may spark her interest to grab focus. When my daughter was younger; it was much easier to ‘set things’ up and take my time to get things ‘right’ per my vision. However, as your kids get older, you keep changing your process as well, so as to ‘keep evolving’. Another important thing to consider is Perspective. Change your point of view in the frame. Consider shooting from high up, down low or even from your kid’s perspective. It makes a huge difference!

Here are a few examples.

Working with my toddler's hair. Notice the light, shadows, the milk bottle warmer in the background - all a part of an everyday scene.

Get down low with your kid. Let them touch you. Hold you. Keep talking to them.

Shoot from above. My tripod was set right next to us here and I had it pointing down here.

Framing. Low light/Dramatic light with shadows. Notice the intense gaze at the camera and how my daughter walked into the frame which made this image even more sweeter to me.

Tip 3 - Don’t be afraid to show emotion.

Emotion is a very important aspect in storytelling and I love portraying that in my work as much as I can. Without it; to me; it’s a mere photo with no meaning. While happy is an emotion that we love all love to see; there are other emotions too that are equally important (remember Inside out and how all emotions were important?). Whether it’s kids throwing a tantrum and you trying to pacify them, or it’s them looking up to you asking for something, or whether is something that you feel yourself and use your art to express that; all of that matters. Don’t be afraid to hide those real feelings. The more you let them out and showcase them and just be; the more you will feel connected to those when you look back.

When she was upset.

A portrait of self with the feeling of being lost and 'finding myself..

Hoping to rise up despite whatever was going on in my life at that point.

A feeling of sadness. One of the most difficult portraits I had ever taken of myself to date.

Mother's day portrait

Tip 4 - Don’t try too hard. Let it be.

There are times when I try and keep trying to go for a certain something that I have in mind and it doesn’t happen and for the sake of the effort; I just roll with it. More often than not, those images have become my most favorite ones ever taken. I start with an idea and then just go with it. Keep in mind that it starts to appear too hard when you aim for that perfect shot and set the bar too high for yourself. Give yourself some grace and know that not all days are created the same and if today your plan didn’t work out as you wanted to, maybe tomorrow will be a better day. Sometimes, even if an image doesn’t turn out the way you envisioned; remember you can possibly transform it in post processing.

This was an image that I had taken with my lensbaby sol 45 and my focus was soft and it was too blah when I had taken it. I just worked with it in LR first and then took it to PS and kept playing with it to give it a more dreamy feel which is what I love in most of my images.

Somewhere in a dreamland. Final edit.

This was one of the most boring images I had possibly taken..! I decided to work with it more in PS and give it a more dreamy feel as I had originally envisioned.

Tip 5 - Get Creative

Self portraits are so fun to experiment with an idea! All those burning ideas you may have; those are all just perfect to try with self portraiture. Think outside the box. Work with slow shutter. Work with double exposures. Work with colors, props and other ideas that come to you and just experiment with them. The goal is to be just let be and not be afraid to try out a new idea!