Mike Spinak
pro member
Lately, I've been taking a lot of handheld self portraits. I take care of my dear friend's two year old daughter (who is a dear friend, in her own right) whenever I can spare the time. She likes for us to take pictures of the two of us, so I take lots of handheld self portraits, with her (and sometimes her mom).
I imagine almost all of us take handheld self portraits, at some time. Though there is an intrinsic element of informality about such pictures, along with the issues that arise from not being able to see through the viewfinder what the picture looks like, I still desire... as in all areas of my photography... to do the best I can.
What tips could you all share, about how to do the best handheld self portraiture? How do you create a composition with intent, well communicated, when you are working blindly? How do you frame? How do you focus? How do you expose? How do you prevent looking like you're in a contorted position, holding your arm/s as far away from your torso as possible? I'd appreciate any general advice.
Here's an example of the type I've been doing, lately: a picture of me along with two generations of beloved friends:
I took this picture with both hands on the camera, framing as best I could. (This square crop is the full vertical height of the original frame, with a bit of the right and left cropped out.) I used my Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L lens set to 24 mm, with an aperture of f/8, and a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. I used the Canon 550 EX flash, set to +2 stops, with a Lightsphere II Clear Photojournalist diffuser bounced off the ceiling.
I like the results, but I always want to do better. Criticism of this handheld self portrait is welcome, too, but I am mainly looking for more general comments about how to do handheld self portraiture as well as possible.
Mike
www.mikespinak.com
I imagine almost all of us take handheld self portraits, at some time. Though there is an intrinsic element of informality about such pictures, along with the issues that arise from not being able to see through the viewfinder what the picture looks like, I still desire... as in all areas of my photography... to do the best I can.
What tips could you all share, about how to do the best handheld self portraiture? How do you create a composition with intent, well communicated, when you are working blindly? How do you frame? How do you focus? How do you expose? How do you prevent looking like you're in a contorted position, holding your arm/s as far away from your torso as possible? I'd appreciate any general advice.
Here's an example of the type I've been doing, lately: a picture of me along with two generations of beloved friends:
I took this picture with both hands on the camera, framing as best I could. (This square crop is the full vertical height of the original frame, with a bit of the right and left cropped out.) I used my Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L lens set to 24 mm, with an aperture of f/8, and a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. I used the Canon 550 EX flash, set to +2 stops, with a Lightsphere II Clear Photojournalist diffuser bounced off the ceiling.
I like the results, but I always want to do better. Criticism of this handheld self portrait is welcome, too, but I am mainly looking for more general comments about how to do handheld self portraiture as well as possible.
Mike
www.mikespinak.com