Self-portraits are nothing new and have been done throughout antiquity by artists in painting and sculpture.  The artists would often incorporate their own images in major works that were not specifically about themselves.  Michelangelo, Leonard da Vinci, Rembrandt, and many others have created many self-portraits.  Of course, photographers through the years have continued to use their cameras to shoot themselves.  So, it’s an old tradition, and I figured it made for a fun little self-assignment. 

The funny thing is – and this may be why I never did it years ago – when you start thinking about how you want to be depicted, it gets more complicated.  What kind of pose will you choose?  You may want to highlight your various skills or possessions; you may want to portray a mood or emotion. You are doing a self-assignment, so you don’t want to just shoot something silly like this.

You can make your own choice without the discussion of all the psychological rabbit holes that surround your personal decision.  I chose to show some of my musical instruments because the music room gave me control and had the space to move around. 

I put my camera on a tripod and made sure the field of view allow plenty of room.  I bounced a flash into the ceiling and used a reflector to bounce light back from the front window.  I wanted to reduce the shadows because I was going to be standing in different locations in the final composite.  Four different shadows would have caused more post processing.  I shot four different photos in manual mode to keep the aperture and focal point constant.  If you tried to shoot something like this in one of the automated modes, you would have had obvious photographic inconsistencies. Since everything, except my position, was consistent from photo to photo, I didn’t have too much work to do in Photoshop.  Mostly, I added masks to allow only the appropriate part of the four layers to show through.  Here are a couple of the original shots and the final composite.

The entire process only took a couple of hours.  It provided practice in several techniques: planning the shot; working through the photography set-up; and working through the post-processing.  Give your self-portrait a chance to help you learn and have fun.

First, you need to make sure you always have a camera with you.  It certainly doesn’t have to be a fancy DSLR; any camera is better than no camera.  My Nikon point-and-shoot will fit into a shirt pocket and shoots RAW for maximum flexibility in post-processing.  People who know me are used to me taking their photo and are relaxed when I take it out.  Heck, they expect me to have a camera and are surprised when I don’t have one.

Set your camera to the fastest shutter speed to maximize your chances, and try to plan the shot before you lift the camera.  Longer lenses allow you to stand back, so you don’t encroach into their personal space.  Don’t use flash if you can avoid it; flash will kill any relaxed moods.

In my experience, men seem to be the most uncomfortable around a photographer, so be ready for their uneasiness.  Although people respond to cameras in different ways, they always respond. Even for the simple snapshot below, the viewer instantly can sense a pose.  Tina knew I was there to take her picture, and though she is always smiling, she smiled extra big for the camera. 

There are several ways to get your subjects to disregard the camera for a better candid portrait.  My favorite method is to ask questions.  In this picture, we came upon a vendor at her shop during a photowalk.  She was surrounded by several photographers and very aware of our gear.  She gave her permission for some photos, but really didn’t know how to react.  When I asked about her daughter, she relaxed and looked down at her with a mother’s love.  Her face instantly relaxed, and, for a second or two, she forgot that she was surrounded by cameras.  You have to be prepared to shoot because her facial expression changed when she heard the shutter firing.  It’s just a natural reaction for people to feel self-conscious when a camera is pointed in their direction.

For older folk, I let them tell me stories about the past.  Here, Carl (92) was telling me about his sewing machine store in central Wisconsin.  He’d been selling and repairing sewing machines for decades.  After a few introductory shots, I put my camera down and just listened.  As he got into his remembrances, the camera was no longer an issue.  I got about a dozen photos in between remembrances.

 Children are really fun to photograph because they haven’t learned to worry about someone taking their picture.  If you let them see the camera, mug for a few snaps, and let them see the results, they’ll go back to playing and ignore the camera completely.  They have more important things to tend to, like finding the perfect pumpkin.  I’ve mentioned before that kids are my favorite subjects.  They provide plenty of natural expressions that change in nanoseconds.  We’ve said this before: take lots of shots.  This applies especially to children, but apply the rule across all your people shots.

If you use long lenses, you can take candid photos before someone notices you.  This policeman in Aruba had no idea, he was having his photo taken until I walked up and showed it to him.  I correctly assumed that, since his post was near the tour boat docks, he was used to crazy tourists with cameras. You should be cautious with this approach, however, as you don’t want to create any kind of uproar.  It will not help your cause to upset your “models.”  I asked him for his permission to use it and offered to send him a copy.  I think I get their approval more than 90% of the time and usually take several more with them aware.  If they don’t want me to take their photo, I’ll erase it and show them that the photo is gone.  In this country, you can legally take photos of anyone in a public place, but why push the issue if it’s going to upset someone?  You risk creating a bad impression of you (not good for business) and can ruin it for other photographers.  I’m not out there to upset anyone.

Candid portraits are fun and a handy technique to practice.  As always, knowing your craft is important, but this is a time to concentrate more on spontaneity rather than technique.  By taking candid photos, you can create images that capture a moment in time, with a subject who doesn’t look like they’re posing.  These pictures can become treasures if you know how to capture them.

Mark and I are both music junkies.  We tote IPods with enough tracks to listen 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for more than a month before you start to repeat any songs.  Yeah, that’s a little ridiculous….  I even used to play around with several instruments, on weekends with friends.  So, naturally, we like to shoot photos while we’re listening to the jam session, and we both contributed to the text and photos in this blog.

Neither of us have ever shot a big name concert – that takes hard-to-obtain passes.  At a big name concert, you usually get in place for three songs, in the pits jostling with other photographers, and no flash or, if you’re really lucky, backstage.  It is a daunting task to get anything that stands out, but the request list is always long.  There are several musicians whose concerts might be worth this chaos.

We shoot small shows and jam sessions, consisting mostly of acts that we or our friends know.  There is a rich tradition of bluegrass and eclectic folk music here in northern Virginia, and we’ve been known to partake.  There are many local places here to enjoy these and other music genres.  Almost all of the artists are approachable and are happy to let you shoot and sign model releases, especially if you send them pictures.  Several of them have used our pictures, with photo credits, on their band sites or their Facebook/Myspace pages.  Mark even did a CD cover for one band.  As musicians never have any money, this is a good trade.  Sometimes you can even trade digital images for digital music.

It is tough to get the richness and depth their music conveys onto an image.  Lots of times, the poses are just, well, repetitive.  Microphones obstruct the faces and instruments; weird and bad lighting is the norm; and you have to be careful not to antagonize the audience as you move around to get a better angle.  We both try to catch the musicians’ expressions as they really get into their music.  This usually nets you the best shots but means you will spend most of the concert with the camera stuck to your face.

Make sure you know the rules before you start snapping.  If you talk to the management and artists before the show, you will have a much easier time.  Many venues and musicians frown on flash use during a set.  Talk to the venue manager and the artist, so you don’t interfere with what they are trying to do.   It won’t help your reputation as a photographer if you get tossed out of the show. 

Outdoor concerts are the easiest because you usually have lots of light and more room to move around.  Since these tend to be smaller concerts, the rules are often less onerous.  The picture on the left is from the Kerrville Folk Festival, in Texas.  This is Don Gibson and Jim Ringer at the 1980 show where I met Townes Van Zandt and Nancy Griffith.  The shots in the center and on the right are the Woodshedders at the Leesburg, Va., courthouse concert, in 2008.  Microphones everywhere!

If you do this enough, you get a better feel for when to shoot the shots.  The next shot is from the Bangkok Blues in Falls Church, Va., a blues club with great Thai food.  We know the former owner and always get friendly support when we take shots there.  Even though there is another microphone, the lighting was awful, and Ace from the band, Jubal Kane, was wearing a weird purple suit, this is one of my favorite shots.  No flash; no tripod; long lens (70-200, f2.8); and Ace really wailing on his blues harp.  Great band!

Mark got a good one at the Watermelon Park Festival, in Round Hill, Va., of Melissa Wright on the mandolin.  She plays with the Acoustic Burgoo, and they even remark at her laughing at the end of songs.

Mark had a jam session at his house while I was off – working hard – on my photography in Aruba and Curacao.  This is good portrait, from that night in November, of Ken “Harney” Harnage.

Finally, I shot the last image at our favorite wine bar, The Iron Bridge Wine Company, just a couple of weeks ago.  This was the first time Tina Hughes played at the IBWC, and we had made previous arrangements with her and management to shoot a couple of shots.  I didn’t want to shoot too many because it’s a cozy environment, and I had to use flash to get anything of use.  I shot exactly 15 frames (a new low count for me).  Mark held the flash outside the bar and pointed it through the window, while I triggered it from our seat at the bar.  It’s a standard shot, but she likes it and that always makes it a good shot.

One way to simplify this confusing litany of photographic rules?  Eliminate some of the distractions by going in close.  The face of your subject holds the viewer’s interest and conveys the most expression.  It can tell its own story.

A close-up portrait, however, has pitfalls to avoid.    Focus is critical.  Unless you are trying to create some special effect, you need to keep the eyes sharp.  People naturally look there first.    Generally, you want to use the fastest shutter speed possible, eliminating any camera or subject movement.  Vibration reduction in the latest cameras is a great feature, but don’t tempt fate – use shutter speed to your advantage.

Pay attention to your depth of field to keep the important parts of the face in focus.  One of the easiest ways to increase your shutter speed is to open the aperture wide, but this narrows your depth of field.  If you are using a lens that requires you to get close to fill the frame, you are also narrowing your depth of field.  It is better to use a lens with a longer focal length to fill the frame, but these lenses require plenty of light.  Long lenses that don’t require more light are available for all digital SLRs, but they can be more expensive than the camera you’re using.  Longer lenses also help you avoid the distortion that occurs when you get in very close with a wide-angle lens.

The human face has fine details and textures that give us our unique appearance.  However, some your subjects will not want you to capture all those in a close-up view.  Babies and young children obviously have the smoothest skin, but lines and wrinkles can convey character and evoke emotions of their own in your work.   Don’t avoid close-ups of grandpa and grandma, but avoid harsh lighting that will emphasize the wrinkles and lines.

Close-ups are a good place to practice your retouching skills, so that you can erase blemishes that might embarrass your subject.  Retouching with a light hand can enhance even the beautiful, young model.  But use caution here.  Smoothing out all the wrinkles from an older person may turn the portrait into an image that looks completely unnatural.  Some people are offended by retouching, so make sure you don’t do so much touch-up that you change someone’s natural appearance.  If the retouching is immediately apparent, you’ve overdone it.

Facial expressions change at a rapid pace.  Shoot as many photos as you can to capture a wide variety, especially with children.  Since we no longer have to worry about the price of film, there is no reason to purposely limit your shots.  Go have fun shooting close-up portraits.

Have a happy Thanksgiving holiday.  We’ll be back with more next week.