Sep 11, 20227 min read

Self Portraits by Rebecca Congleton

An Introduction:

Hello! I'm Rebecca. I’m so glad you followed the link to this lesson, and I commend you for digging deeper into a sometimes intimidating subject, the subject of “self”, and specifically, capturing a literal image of “self” in your photography.

Canon EOS M50, Sigma Contemporary 16 mm lens

f/2.2 1/320 ISO 2000

I shot this on a whim, because I missed performing! It’s my husband’s guitar, I don’t actually play, just sing.

I’m an artist and professional photographer from Augusta, Georgia. I’m also a folk musician, and Christian worship leader/vocalist. I have two adult children and a wonderful husband. My photography journey has been a whirlwind one, so far. I first began intentionally learning in the midst of the pandemic, during the summer of 2020. I had previously been a journalist in a small, rural community in Indiana for several years, toting around a camera to point and shoot photos for grainy newsprint, but I knew zilch about exposure, composition, or editing. Within a year of beginning to learn, shooting almost daily, taking clients on the cheap, and opening myself up to harsh critique, I had been accepted as both a Hello Artist and a Click Pro Elite (go me!).

Self Portraiture has been one of the most transformative exercises I have practiced to grow, learn, and push myself as a creator.

I’m going to predominantly focus on the mindfulness of self portraiture, but also give a few practical tips.

Canon EOS M50, Lensbaby Trio 28, Sweet Optic

f/3.5 (fixed) 1/1000 ISO 100

I was traveling across South Carolina and stopped to stretch my legs. I loved this wall and the shadows. The simplicity is what makes it strong.

My Approach:

If you’re not interested in personality typing, this next section may seem irrelevant to you. I apologize! However, knowing yourself, what makes you tick, what lights you up, how you work (better alone or collaboratively?) can be extraordinarily beneficial to creating authentic and moving self portraits. I am an INFJ according to the Myers-Briggs personality type, and a 4w5 according to the Enneagram. Both of these personality profiles are strongly pulled towards individualism, solitude, and powerful emotional intuition. This translates into a very fluid, organic, often spontaneous approach to photography.

Canon EOS M50, Sigma Contemporary 56 mm lens f/2.5 1/400 ISO 100

Supermarket flowers inspired this shot. I try to shoot them, if I bring home a bouquet, so I can “keep” them forever.

I highly recommend taking a free online assessment. Both the Enneagram and the M-B tests are great for different reasons. Consider how your results might illuminate who you are as an artist and how you can adjust your approach to self portraiture to fit the way your brain processes the world. You might be like me, and turn abstract ideas over in your mind for several days before suddenly being ignited with a burst of inspiration, as you pick up your camera to make magic, or you may be better suited to plan every detail and set aside a very specific time to carry out your vision. Neither method is wrong! There is power in knowing.

Canon EOS M50, Lensbaby Trio 28, Sweet Optic

f/3.5 (fixed) 1/40 ISO 800

This was totally spontaneous! I felt inspired, threw a dress on, and drove a couple miles outside the city at 45 minutes to sunset. I captured myself coming and going and combined them. It’s one of my favorites ever!

You Don’t have to be ‘Beautiful’:

I took some time today to look at my own self portrait work and contemplate what I love about these images. I will tell you right upfront, I am not a confident person, when it comes to my physical appearance. I have a significant overbite (I was a childhood thumb-sucker who never got braces), and I was bullied pretty harshly in elementary and middle school for my smile. That paired with some other trauma from my early adulthood, has left me feeling very self-conscious, despite also recognizing I have plenty to feel good about. I don’t typically take self-portraits with the sole intention of looking “beautiful”, not that there's anything wrong with that. Everyone wants a lovely portrait of themselves, but I usually shoot to process emotion, communicate a belief or value, or capture what’s going on “inside”.

Canon EOS M50, Sigma Contemporary 16 mm lens

f/2 1/3200 ISO 100

This was just a test shot while I waited for my friend to come back from the beach. I ended up loving it, and the light changed before my friend made it, so I’m glad I captured it when I did, but I wasn’t trying to be “pretty”.

Let me encourage you to let go of the tendency to nitpick your self portraits much more harshly than you would ever criticize a portrait of someone else. It’s completely normal to feel exposed and flawed when you look at a photo of yourself, even more so when you are the photographer, but if you can release yourself from those unrealistic ideals of beauty you will find so much more value in the process of capturing self.

Canon EOS M50, Sigma Contemporary 16 mm lens f/1.6 1/125 ISO 400

I was feeling all kinds of feelings when I shot this. It reminds me of a Rorschach Test, and I see a butterfly, a symbol of transforming. It is imperfect. I’m okay with that.

Childlike Behavior:

Think about what pulls you into an image of a child. Sometimes, it is because the child is physically beautiful, but more often, I find myself intrigued by movement, honest emotion, and the child’s lack of embarrassment or restraint. Their freedom and “realness” in front of the camera is what makes the photo magic.

Canon EOS M50, Sigma Contemporary 56 mm lens

f/1.8 1/160 ISO 400

I was trying to take a professional looking headshot, but my fails were making me laugh.

When I’m shooting self portraits, I often have a very similar experience, especially if no one is around, and I feel secure and safe, either at home, or in a location where I don’t expect onlookers. I allow myself to relax and be completely in the moment. The next time you set up your camera for a self portrait, focus less on looking “picture perfect” and try to be like a child, unaware of the camera, unembarrassed, imaginative, and full of wonder. An imperfect but wonderful image may result.

Canon EOS M50, Lensbaby Trio 28, Sweet Optic

f/3.5 (fixed) 1/320 ISO 250

I’m five. What can I say?

Getting Technical:

If you are not a touchy feely person, and you’ve made it this far, waiting for me to get around to something “useful”, thanks for hanging in there! Before other technical tips, I want to talk about gear. Let me say right away you do not have to have the newest or the best. I shoot with two Canon EOS M50s, two budget-friendly Sigma lenses and a Lensbaby Trio 28. My camera bodies have cropped sensors, and cost around $650 each. I hope to upgrade to full frame soon, but it has been more beneficial to have two bodies for weddings (yes I shoot weddings with M50s!) than to have one full-frame, and I don’t have enough client work to justify the upgrade yet. If you master exposure and elevate your compositions, it won’t matter what you have in your camera bag.

Canon has made self portraits much easier by creating the Canon Connect app which you can use to shoot remotely and adjust your settings. I think other brands have similar technology, but I’m only familiar with mine. That being said, I have taken self portraits without the app, by focusing on an object at the distance where I want to pose, starting the timer, and rushing into position, sometimes tossing the “object” out of the frame. You can also set the focal distance by getting in position, holding your camera, and then focusing on your tripod (make sure you switch to manual focus so it doesn’t change after you set it).

Canon EOS M50, Lensbaby Trio 28, Sweet Optic

f/3.5 (fixed) 1/320 ISO 100

Here I had my daughter stand in for focus, then I gave her a good shove! Haha just kidding…sort of.

I recommend trying an aperture around 2.8, while you’re getting the hang of it, even if you’re typically a wide open shooter. I regularly shoot self portraits at f/1.6 or f/1.4 these days, but I would have missed focus a lot, trying to do that when I wasn’t as rehearsed in the process.

When it comes to shutter speed and self portraits, I experiment more than I do with other portrait work. I sometimes play with a slow shutter to capture motion, and it’s a great way to see how that affects the mood of an image. Have fun with it!

Canon EOS M50, Lensbaby Trio 28, Sweet Optic

f/3.5 (fixed) 1/200 ISO 1000

This is a favorite location, inside a parking garage, and nobody ever bothers me! I added layers of Christmas, lights from a local festival, in PS.

Lastly, on the technical side, is of course ISO. I’m trying to make friends with noise, but I admit I sort of loathe it, so I do everything I can to find enough natural light to keep it under control, but that’s just my personal preference. Having a cropped sensor does make this more challenging, but it’s still completely manageable, if you learn how to use light.

Let Me See Your Hands:

This is getting long! Can you tell I was a newspaper reporter now? Ha! I won’t go deep into composition, but I will give you my number one posing tip: Let me see your hands! Our hands tell so much of our story, sometimes even more than our facial expressions. I shoot faceless self portraits all the time, but I wouldn’t set out to shoot a “handless” one. Be aware of your hands, their position and what they’re doing. If they’re pushing back your hair or slightly behind your head, try to keep them visible so that it’s not a “chop”. I have a few self portraits where I wish I could see both of my hands. I still like them, but I regret not paying attention to that detail. I have very long fingers, and I used to think they looked odd in photos. I’ve learned to “pose” my hands as much as my body so they look natural and contribute to the story I’m telling.

Canon EOS M50, Sigma Contemporary 16 mm lens

f/1.4 1/100 ISO 250

I was playing the role of melancholy introvert at a party, hiding in the bedroom. Also, that’s a root beer. If you can drink and shoot I’m impressed. We’re teetotalers at our house, because my husband is 14 years sober!

Self Care:

Finally, I want to encourage you to view self portraiture, not as an exercise in vanity or attention seeking (as some may insinuate) but as therapeutic self care. Lay aside those critiques and judgements and allow yourself to explore the creativity and passion, which make photography so beneficial to our brains, our spirits, and our relationships, even the one we have with ourself.

Thanks for exploring a mindful approach to self portraiture with me!