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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the place where most, if not all of my self portraits are made - the comfort of my apartment. However, as you can see there are actually two images, second being shot at Croatia's beautiful Plitvice Lakes National Park.Time
The headpiece was shot somewhat around noon, but for the photo of the trees I'm not quite sure. It was late morning I would say.Lighting
One important thing is that the main image (the image of my face) was shot during an overcast day, so lightning conditions were on my side. It really helps having difused light on your subject because it gives you such nice and soft shadows, perfect for portrait photography.Equipment
The camera which I used is Canon Powershot SX150 IS at f3.5, exposure time being 1/4 of a second and ISO 200. The trees, however, were shot on my old mobile phone - Samsung Cookie.Inspiration
At the time the photo was taken, I was still experimenting with my new camera. I played around and tried to capture a nice self portrait. It was all pretty new to me, balancing the light, shooting from the right angle and just getting to know all those buttons. If I can tell you anything about this photo, it is that it represents a successful experiment.Editing
The first thing I did was make the self portrait black and white. I really liked B&W photos back in the day. Then I proceeded to adjust the brightness and contrast. The whole image looked fine but I wanted to do something more. An idea came to my mind that I could merge another photo with this one. I saw many gorgeous double exposure photos on the Internet so I thought I should give it a try. I dug through some old folders on my computer and found this image which I took a few years ago while at the Plitvice Lakes National Park. I deleted the area which covered my hoodie, left the tree branches to cover my face and played with blending modes. I don't even remember which one I have used but it came out looking really awesome.In my camera bag
I'm still a 'newbie' in the photography world and except my camera, I have no other equipment. You must always carry a spare pack of batteries of course!Feedback
Experiment. Preparation does make everything a lot easier, that is true, but nothing helped me achieve the look I want more then shooting with different settings and in different conditions. Try things out and see what works the best for you. For double exposure photos, it's important to have a clear background so you can easily mask it out or erase it. Blending modes in Photoshop are so fun to work with and I recommend everyone who like this type of photography to take some time and learn how to use them. Good luck and have fun editing!
