Five or six years ago (Christ, that seems like an eternity) I became really interested in photography and because I had no willing subjects around I took a lot of photos of myself. I wanted to play with a more editorial type direction and in doing so learned quite a bit about how to work in front of the camera. I also had a lot of fun learning fun tricks in Photoshop, especially because I was using a cheap point-and-shoot camera.
Part of me would like to start doing this again, not only because it’s fun and a creative challenge, but because in just a few years I have turned into the lamest camera subject on earth. Any posted photograph makes me stiffen and I always managed to look…awkward. I would love to to retrain myself a bit to make my time in front of the lens less stressful.
Do you have any tips for looking your best in photos?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
oh my gosh penny. I am the worst at posing for pictures. the best pictures of me are always taken when I’m drunk because I’m the most relaxed/don’t give a fuck.
Oh how I wish I had some tips. I’m the person who always ruins group shops because somehow, no matter how hard I try or what I do, my eyes always end up closed. I take just terrible pictures. At first I thought I just wasn’t very photogenic, but now I’m starting to think that I might just be freaky looking :)
i hate, hate, hate having my photograph taken mostly because i have always taken really bad pictures (or i’m just really critical of myself?). but my husband is a professional videographer and semi-professional photographer so i am his constant subject. he has taken some amazing still shots of me over the years. most of these have been the result of simply composed shots where i can relax and “get soft”. he’ll shoot a ton of frames from a tripod and then we’ll look at them quickly, without judgment. maybe he’ll sit with me for a while and use the remote shutter. then he’ll take the camera off the tripod and move around. we’ll just have fun. and i almost NEVER look directly at the camera – it takes a lot of work to get satisfying shots when looking directly into the lens. i also find it really helpful to realize that candid, point and shoot pictures taken at parties, charity events, etc. always have the potential to turn out badly – you’re caught off guard, have food in your mouth, are in an uncomfortable outfit or standing with someone you don’t know or don’t like. but you can practice for these kinds of photos by setting up the tripod (or camera set on a stack of books, a box, etc.) and letting the auto-shutter do its job.
Claudia- all of my best pictures of myself are when I’m drunk. I don’t know if its because I’m relaxed or what but when I’m drunk I totally know my angles.
I was doing my own self portraits for awhile but since my auto focus on my camera isn’t working right now its kind of hard to do it
My dad has this childhood friend who is a photographer for like, Surfer and Motocross magazines and stuff. Once when I was twenty he took a bunch of pictures of me, promising to put me in a shoot in one of his magazines, and every single one of them he was like “um… urrr. Wow. You’re so pretty in person, but…”I swear I have like a biomagnetic field that makes pictures go wonky. I don’t just look ugly in photos, I look like a Picasso painting. I would seriously attend a one hour practicum on posing for photos just so I don’t ruin my friends’ wedding pictures and stuff.