Ah, self portraits, not everyone's cup of tea, but it's so nice to see all your beautiful faces (or other bodily parts!!!) as I feel like I know your kids, pets, kitchens, back yards etc... better than I actually know you! It's so hard to choose just a few to highlight here as there have been so many amazingly creative images posted, so I also want to say well done to everyone for embracing this challenging theme and I can't wait to see what you all produce in the next fortnight.
Abi xx
Gear: Sony a7iii; Sigma Art 35mm
Settings: 1/250, f/2.8, ISO 160
The Shot: How did you shoot this? I placed my camera up on a box, set focus on a laundry basket, metered off the tile, and used the Sony ImagingEdge app to take multiple images. My first shots were too dark where my spine was right up on the door frame, so I backed up into the bathroom by about 5 inches and that made the biggest difference. Then my little girl hopped in my lap and I told her to just let me give her kisses.
Post Processing: How did you edit this? Mostly in LR - black and white conversion, then basic panel adjustments, slight increase on the tone curve and modifications to the colors slightly (I started with the 'auto' option though for the color mix!) Then, I took it into PS to remove the faucet and a few of the things around the bathtub that I felt were overly distracting.
Gear: Canon RP with a Canon 35mm 2.0
Settings: ISO: 100 SS: 1/1250 fstop: 2.2
The Shot: I shot this with the camera on the edge of the pool using the in camera timer.
Post Processing: I edited this with a film preset that I tweaked myself, using Lightroom I added some other sources of light to give it a film look.
Gear: GoPro Hero 5
Settings: auto settings on burst mode
The Shot: I set up the GoPro propped in a pot filled with dishes and then said "GoPro shoot burst".
Post Processing: I composited more of the water bokeh / flare from another image to add more. Used my own black and white preset.
Gear: Nikon D850 + 35mm Sigma Art + Outex housing/105mm Sigma Macro
Settings: Underwater image - f/3.5, 1/8000, ISO 400, red flower photo (macro lens) 1 f/5.0, 1/100, ISO 1250, White Flower photo (35mm lens) f/1.8, 1/2000, ISO 250
The Shot: I used my reluctant husband as the tripod for the underwater shot. I showed him just where to hold the camera and just told him to fire away when I went underwater. Some how we managed to not cut off any limbs and get a photo that was in focus. For the flower photos, I shot some gerbera daisies in the window light with the light coming from behind them. I loved the shape the curvy pedals made. I also used an old shot of some white flowers on a tree that I found in my backlog.
Post Processing: I made very basic color edits in Lightroom to get it going in the right direction. I brought it into Photoshop, cleaned up the bubbles and specs, expanded the frame to get the composition where I wanted. I also pulled in more fabric from another shot since it was cut off in this frame. I fine tuned the color and levels. Finally I overlaid the flowers. I used several flower images until I finally settled on using these two. I created the double exposure and used the layer masks to get the flowers only where I wanted them. Finally, I added another layer of the red flowers, flipped it and added a blur to create the effect of showing it in the reflection.
Gear: iPhone 12 pro
Settings: ISO 80 f2.2 1/120
The Shot: I was getting dressed with my kids in the room. I was thinking how good the light is from the window but I didn’t want to go through the work of setting up a camera and tripod, so I decided to snap a few selfies. Natural light is coming in through the window in front of subject.
Post Processing: I used my own black and white preset in Lightroom, I erased away some distractions from the background. Cropped- this was originally taken as a selfie in portrait mode.
Gear: Nikon D750, 50mm 1.8
Settings: f/2.8, SS1/2000 ISO100
The Shot: This was a bit tricky, as I needed a friend to stand in position where I was going to be so I could grab focus. Then set the timer and do a quick switcheroo, so I could be in the exact same spot for focus. The more movement I included, the less reliable focus became, as some of the outtakes that I have demonstrate. But, I still got a few where the focus was where I wanted it.
Post Processing: In Photoshop, I cloned out a swimmer in the background, and used a Curves Adjustment Layer to emphasize the highlights on my skin and the skirt. Et voila!
Gear: Nikon D3400, Nikkor 50mm 1.4 lens
Settings: ISO 200, f 6.3, 1/250
The Shot: I used a tripod and the 10-second timer on my camera. I had tried some outdoor self portraits just before this but saw the stripes of light on the wall and decided to try some more. I also took a shot of just the light, before I sat down.
Post Processing: I used a black and white preset in Lightroom, then took both photos into photoshop. I layered the one of just the light on top of the photo of me, took the opacity of the top layer down a bit, then used a mask to reveal the photo underneath between the light rays.
Gear: Nikon z6ii, 35mm 1.8
Settings: ISO 800, f3.5, 1/125
The Shot: I used the wifi setting on my camera to connect to my phone to shoot this image. I was inspired by an image I had seen on pinterest, and decided to put my own spin on it.
Post Processing: Edited in LR with SMAL01 as a base. Removed matte, grain, and straightened the image a bit with the transform tool. Brought it into photoshop to add a few bubbles.
Gear: Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-70 2.8
Settings: F2.8, 1/160 ISO200 at 52mm
The Shot: I wanted to create a faceless self-portrait and I had some pictures for inspiration. I found a fabric flower brooch and decided to use it and make it the focus. I shot tethered next to a window.
Post Processing: In lightroom I did basic adjustments (increase contrast, reduce highlights and increase the temperature). Then in photoshop I used frequency separation for the skin, darkened the background to get rid of the creases, adjusted the colour of the flower slightly, dodged and burned the flower and sharpened the image. I also added a texture overlay on the background.
Gear: Nikon z6ii
Settings: 38mm, iso 640, f8, 1/4sec
The Shot: I had my tripod set up from doing another project so I took some quick shots after my last shift. I have a little portable diffuser light on the table.
Post Processing: Edit in Lightroom, used a BW preset and tinkered with the light features.
Gear: Canon EOS R6, with Canon RF 28-70 lens at 28mm with a neewer video stick light on shelf above washing machines and flashpoint zoom r2 flash off camera
Settings: 1/160, f3.2, ISO 1250
The Shot: I was doing laundry and my baskets were already full with laundry I hadn't put away yet so I was dropping clean clothes all over the place trying to carry a load upstairs. I felt super awkward and somehow that is what made me say, "Hmm, I should totally take a picture of myself." I got out my camera for the next load of laundry and set my lighting how I wanted it by having a laundry basket stand in for me. The lighting in the laundry room is terrible so I used a video light on a shelf above the washer/dryer instead. It wasn't quite enough light so I bounced a flash on a low power (I really can't remember the settings.) off the wall opposite where I was facing so that it could add some more light to the scene. When the laundry was finished drying I put my camera on an interval timer to take photos every 2 seconds and took the laundry out. I shut the dryer with my foot because that is normally how I shut it and I picked this shot because the washcloth landed on my leg right then.
Post Processing: I'm normally a minimal editor but this photo I wanted a look that was more stylized. I adjusted exposure, decreased highlights and increased shadows in LR. Increased texture and vibrance. Removed a red cast with tone curve adjustment. Opened in Photoshop to remove a radon mitigation pipe that I thought was distracting. Added a custom vignette to draw attention to the center of the photo.
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