Self portrait
I recently received a free copy of a magazine, Digital SLR Photography, after seeing an advertisment on a forum I frequent. I have to say the magazine has been good inspiration for getting the camera back out. One shot in particular got me interested in portraiture so I thought I’d have a go at a moody self portrait. The following was the result.
I was trying to make this pretty moody. I frowned at the camera to try and get some character in there. For now I only have lightroom available so the range of filters I can apply is slightly limited (photoshop would be nice), but I really like how this turned out. Fairly sinister. In hindsight I should have worn a leather jacket, but this was more an experiment than a finished article. I expect to try this again in the near future.
I like what you are doing here, but I think the frown a bit overdone. And your eyes are *really* dark and shadowed, so much so I can barely see them.
So all I see is a guy with creases in his forehead!
BlueRose
February 4, 2011 at 12:20 am
I see what you’re saying here. The really dark eyes were a consequence of the lighting, I set the camera on a tripod around 3 feet in front of me and bounced the flash vertically off the ceiling. The goal was to emphasise character (hence the frown), with the penalty of losing the eyes. I’ll have another few goes at this I think to see if I can retain detail in the eyes.
James
February 4, 2011 at 10:02 am
a reflector held under your chin should bring some light back, thats what they do with models and professional portraits to reduce the shading from the brow
the is a book on lighting by michael freeman which is excellent but the last section of it is about portrait lighting and has pages and pages of examples using one or two lights at a range of diff angles – you might find it a useful reference. Is your library likely to carry it?
lensaddiction
February 4, 2011 at 8:30 pm