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How To Take Good Portraits With Dslr – Hiring a photographer is the best way to ensure a quality capture of yourself, but sometimes you want a do-it-yourself option! Here are some quick tips on how to take your own selfies with a DSLR camera.
Matt and I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! We had originally planned to celebrate with a long-awaited trip to Europe; however, unexpected expenses and life circumstances came up (as they so often do) and changed those plans. I’m not going to lie. I was disappointed. To soften the blow, Matt surprised me with a beautiful and unique anniversary gift! He designed, carved and built a beautiful gazebo in the woods for me, truly fit for a bride. Although the gazebo wasn’t quite finished on the day of our anniversary, I wanted to take some photos to commemorate the moment. I didn’t have time to hire a photographer and decided to take the pictures myself. I thought I’d share my process in case you want to take family or self portraits too!
How To Take Good Portraits With Dslr
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You can take great photos with your camera phone these days, but nothing beats the photos I take with my DSLR. I currently shoot with a Nikon d810, but you don’t need the fanciest cameras to get great photos! The lens I used for all these photos is my Sigma 35mm 1.4. This is my favorite lens, and it rarely leaves my camera body! Other great portrait lenses to consider are the 50mm or an 85mm lens. The 50mm Nikon lens is the most affordable and does a beautiful job of creating bokeh around your subject. For self-portraits, I also recommend investing in a good tripod, remote control and reflector. The remote control is optional, but will make the whole process easier. You can also use the “timer and run” method, which is what I did for all the shots of Matt and I together!
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Here are some photos that demonstrate the magic of using a reflector! The reason I look a little gold and glowing in these two photos is because I propped my reflector up against a tree and used the gold side to reflect light back onto my face. I took these photos during “golden hour” which is the hour before sunset. The light is behind me and illuminates my hair, but my face looks dark. Using a reflector in front of you is a brilliant way to brighten and illuminate your face.
I know I know. This is a post about how to take your own self-portraits, and I suggest you get some help! But seriously, if you can call in someone (ANYONE) who can press the shutter button, or hold a reflector for you, then take advantage of it! It could be a family friend, neighbor or even an older child. They don’t need to have previous camera knowledge to help. You’ll do all the hard work here to set up the camera and frame the shot. But having someone who can focus on you and press the shutter will save you time. If you don’t have help, don’t worry. Only a few of the photos in this post had someone other than me help capture them!
I take most of my portraits at apertures between 2.8-4.0. I like to have a blurred background (bokeh) and sharp subjects and find that between these fstops works best for me. Feel free to use the settings that work best for you!
For the photos of just myself, I had my son sit or stand where I would stand and I took a test shot and adjusted my camera setting accordingly. Then I switched places with my son and let him press the shutter to take the picture of me. If you don’t have someone to help, you can use a stuffed animal, pool noodle or body pillow as a stand for yourself to focus on. You may also need to increase your aperture to bring more of the picture into focus and better ensure sharp focus.
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Once we were both in the frame, I focused on Matt and then set the timer and ran into the shot. I tried to stay as level with him as possible in the photos so that we would both be in focus. It didn’t always work. In the photo below you can see that the camera focused sharply on the leaves behind me but not on my face. I still love this photo and am glad to have it! It doesn’t always have to be perfect to be precious.
If you don’t have a remote control, set your timer to fire with a few second delay between shots. This will allow you to quickly reposition yourself and take multiple photos at once with different poses. Check your camera manual for instructions on how to set up your timer for your specific camera model. I like to set mine to shoot 10 seconds after pressing the shutter and then take 5 photos with a two second delay between shots. Below are some photos taken on an interval timer.
The best thing about taking your own photos is that, apart from investing in camera equipment, your session is completely free. You have no one watching you and besides chasing the light, you have all the time you need to be comfortable in front of the camera. Allow yourself to be playful and just have fun with your own session! If the photos don’t turn out exactly as you wanted, you can try again. There’s no pressure to get the perfect shot on the first try. Just do your best, enjoy the process and embrace your work—imperfections and all.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my post today! I hope this was helpful. You can buy my dress here and my flower crown here
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This article was co-authored by Stephen Cardone and by staff writer, Eric McClure. Stephen Cardone is the COO of NY Headshots, a New York City-based studio specializing in shooting and producing headshots for individuals and businesses. Stephen has over four years of professional photography experience and over six years of experience in documentary filmmaking. Stephen also works extensively as a photographer at NY Headshots. His work includes events, environmental photography, as well as headshots for actors, models and corporates. He earned a BA in Non-Fiction Writing from the New School.
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Adjusting the manual settings on your DSLR camera can help you capture striking, unique photos, but you may be wondering where to start if you’ve never used them before. While a majority of the DSLR’s buttons and settings can be ignored most of the time, you’ll want to master the elements of exposure. Once you’ve done this, you can start creating unique compositions by experimenting with the settings in your camera, using flash in unconventional ways, and changing the perspective you use to shoot.
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This article was co-authored by Stephen Cardone and by staff writer, Eric McClure. Stephen Cardone is the COO of NY Headshots, a New York City-based studio specializing in shooting and producing headshots for individuals and businesses. Stephen has over four years of professional photography experience and over six years of experience in documentary filmmaking. Stephen also works extensively as a photographer at NY Headshots. His work includes events, environmental photography, as well as headshots for actors, models and corporates. He earned a BA in Non-Fiction Writing from the New School. This article has been viewed 350,823 times. Today I want to discuss my self portrait journey and give you some tips on creating your own self portraits!
Not everyone knows this, but I started my photography journey by taking self-portraits. I was in my early teens when I first discovered photography and photo manipulation (back in the days of the online communities of DeviantART and Flickr!). Choosing to photograph myself helped me hone my photography skills and helped me with my confidence. High school is not always easy and not always friendly! Photography was my escape from reality and I created my own projects at home whenever I could.
During my first few years at university (where I received a diploma in photography), many of my projects were based
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