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self portrait behind the scenes

NIKON D700

upload_date

May, 2016

Views

1601

Likes

+42

Awards

Contest Finalist in Creativity At Home Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in Experimental Photography Project

Contest Finalist in Games of Flash Photo Contest

Peer Award

Outstanding Creativity

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

Absolute Masterpiece

All Star

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

I took the photo in my study. It was a spontaneous idea for trying out a multiple self portrait by showing a kind of "behind the scenes of a portrait photo".

Time

It was a sunny June afternoon, but as I had the idea of creating a picture with the help of my flashes, I closed the shutters.

Lighting

I wanted to do a flash-only picture, so I used my two external flashes which I could control via the integrated flash of my camera. As the flashes were the only illumination within the room, I had to use a flashlight to find my way to a new position between the shots without tripping over a tripod. Only when merging the pictures, I realized that the idea of using a flash-only scenario did make the editing process more complex. As I moved around for the different source images, my body would cast different shadows which increased the time I had to work on the pictures.

Equipment

I made this picture just after I bought my Nikon D700. In the picture, I was holding my previous camera, a Nikon D2Hs which I sold shortly after. I used a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom (which is meant to be used with crop sensor cameras, but at 17mm, it also worked fine with the D700). The camera was mounted on a tripod (which is essential for this kind of picture) and was remotely triggered.

Inspiration

This kind of multi-shot self portrait became popular at the time, so I thought about a variant which I didn't see yet. I thought the picture of myself taking a picture was a reather neat idea.

Editing

The picture is (obviously) composed from 5 pictures. For each picture, I changed my position.In post processing, I stacked the photos and masked the different layers to merge those areas which display myself into one picture

In my camera bag

As my Nikon equipment grew too heavy over time, I switched to Olympus. Nowadays, I have an Olympus E-M1 MkII with about 10 lenses. Recently, I switched fo Godox flashes which can be radio controlled. The decision which equipment to put into my bag depends on the occasion.

Feedback

For cool photos, you do not have to travel to spectacular locations and hike in the night to a vista point to be there at sunrise (although this also can lead to great photos). With a bit of creativity, you can make interesting photos even without leaving your home. Which is especcially convenient on days with bad weather...

See more amazing photos, follow pixelmac

pixelmac

pixelmac

self portrait behind the scenes

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow pixelmac

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