I hate being photographed!!!
A goofy self-portrait. I'm working on a series of self-portraits to help me be more creative and to help me feel better about being photographed! Maybe I...
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A goofy self-portrait. I'm working on a series of self-portraits to help me be more creative and to help me feel better about being photographed! Maybe I will even learn a thing or two about posing people, ah, I mean me! :)
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Oct, 2017Views
1185
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Awards
Featured
Winner in Self portrait Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Superior Skill
Virtuoso
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
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ChristopherLB
March 07, 2018
Well deserved. Not too many people seemed to read the part where I said 'be creative'. Its a good study of the nutty character you must have.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took the photo in my living room. I do not like being photographed so I started a personal project to do more elaborate selfies. I post them on my website in order to challenge myself to create something hopefully funny and unique. The selfies are also helping me with seeing how different poses look on camera. What looks, or feels, good in real life, many times, looks awkward on camera. But what looks or feels awkward, actually looks good in camera! I am also using the "selfies" to help me to improve my skills with lighting.Time
The three photos used to create this final image was taken during a late afternoon. I'm an consulting engineer in the Oil & Gas Industry and I have the luxury of working from home most days. I finished my project work early that day so I had time to setup before actually taking the photos.Lighting
I use to struggle with using flashes and strobes so I started practicing at home. Taking the selfies with using flashes and/or strobes has helped me improve using them and modifying the light with use of different light modifiers and/or gels.Equipment
I used my newly acquired Canon 5D Mark IV with my Sigma 24mm F/1.4 Art lens setup on a tripod. I triggered the camera with a 2 sec delay using my cell phone as the trigger. For lighting, I used my Elinchrom ELB-400 strobe with a 39" deep octabox as the main light.Inspiration
I started taking elaborate selfies to help me feel more comfortable in front of camera. As a photographer, we are behind the camera and we forget how awkward it feels to be in front of the camera if you are not photographed often. I hate being photographed so this project is helping me feel more comfortable in front of a camera. I'm also learning a lot about posing and lighting.Editing
I process all of my photos in Lightroom. I rarely go into Photoshop. But for this photo, I had to composite the three photos together. I do not do compositing so I had to watch a few YouTube videos to get this done. After compositing the three photos, I did the final adjustments in Lightroom. Overall, my processing style has been evolving since I got serious with photography a few years ago. I use to process all of the photos very similariy. Now, I process them to get the feel and/or vision I had while taking the photo. With the use of the strobe, the processing time has come down. If I get the lighting to be as close to being right in camera, I only need to do tweaks to get them to "pop". I tell people that my photos are 50% in camera and 50% post-processing. When properly lit, I say it's 75%/25%. I prefer to capture a moment or feeling then to get everything perfect in the camera. If you get both at the same time, then it's just icing on the cake!In my camera bag
The equipment I bring with me depends on the photo shoot. I like to use two cameras during my shoot with a 24-70 f/2.8 on one and a 70-200 f/2.8 on the 2nd. I have a Canon 5D Mark IV as main and a 5D Mark III as my 2nd (or back up) camera. Those 2 lenses are in my bag ALL of the time. I bring a 16-35mm f/4 in case I want a really crazy looking shot where 24mm is not wide enough. I recently took my 16-35 and used it photographing people during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I shot a ton at 16mm and my camera was right in their face. I got some very cool shots. I've never done that before so I was nervous and excited about doing that. I captured some unique shots and nearly all of the people did not even care that I was that close to them! I have a few other lenses but I only bring them if I think I may use them. For portraits, I love how people look using my 70-200 f/2.8. But I love using my 24-70 the most! I use to own a 24-105 f/4. I miss the 70-105 range but I prefer what a F/2.8 can do to the background! I now use a strobe at most of my photoshoots so I bring a heavy-ish 12ft tall light stand for my 400w strobe. I use a 28" or a 39" octabox depending on the number of people or wind conditions. I tend to use my 28" more often since I don't normally having a lighting assistant. Walking around with my gear, I can't carry sand bags so my lighting stand has come down several times! Thankfully, the strobe has not been damaged (except for bumps and bruises to the strobe's flash head). Luckily, the strobe still works perfectly (for now...).Feedback
To do a shot like this one, you need to see the final image in your head before setting up and taking any of the photos. I thought about the shot for a few days before setting anything up and testing the lighting. As I was shooting, I noticed that the "middle me" did not look balanced after the first shot at that spot. I got up and put my trail running shoes on the floor to get a balanced shot. I got a better triangle with the shoes there. My three heads was a triangle. Once I put my shoes there, the 2 shirts and the shoes was a second triangle. Without the shoes, I think the photo would not work as well. I caught this before changing and taking the photo of the "right" me.
