Self Photography Techniques

[NoH8]

Well I've been hanging out here a while with no galleries so as I'm going away for a short beach-side holiday, I thought I'd take my camera and new tripod along to take some nude indoor and outdoor shots. I'll be visiting a nude beach for the outdoor shots.

I'll be travelling alone, unless I meet someone on that beach, so I need to ask those with great galleries here how to get good self-images, so to speak. What are the tips for:

- Lighting
- Flash
- Props
- Poses
- Angles
- Equipment
- Post production?
- Laptop use
- Camera settings (What modes etc)
- Clothing
- Setting (e.g. bedroom/bathroom/beach/car/living room etc)
- Artistic v's Hardcore
- Frontal/full body/rear other?
- Time of day / natural light

Any tips would be greatly appreciated and then you will get to see the results when I post the new gallery - hopefully!

I have a Canon Powershot 10Mpixel camera, a tripod and a MacBook.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Eris]

The human body is art unto itself, just let it do the work for you!

 

[NoH8]

The human body is art unto itself, just let it do the work for you!

My body's done too much work already! I don't know how much more it can do!:biggrin1:

But thanks for the thought - I was hoping for something like a work of art to result from all this.:wink:

 

[pierceplace]

bump

 

[hud01]

Don't over think it. One basic rule is to have the camera facing away from or to the side of the sun. With digital you can try all the settings on something else and then whatever looks best you can use on you.

 

[chatterbox2010]

i personally don't have a gallery really (lol i have one pic in there), but i am a photographer. I would suggest shooting in mid to late afternoon light, esp. since you are at the beach. it always provides a softer, warmer light, rather than say noon, where the sun is right above you and creates harsh shadows. You might even want to try some silhouette shots for a bit of artistic appeal where you face the camera towards the sun and stand, backlit, so all the camera catches is your body, but in silhouette form. Be careful with cameras on the beach though. Even though it is a powershot, so interchanging lenses won't be an issue....sand likes to creep into anything it can get in and is really hard to get rid of. For indoor shots, natural light is always the best option, unless of course you have a studio set up..but in this case that's beside the point. Usually near a window will provide the best option for you, and anytime of day will be good for this. Just make sure of the shadows and how they fall on your face...or other parts If necessary, bring a reflector (i have used foam core board before, but pretty much anything white and flat will work). what this does is helps eliminate some of the shadows that are causing problems by directing reflected light onto the dark areas. You can try some unique things with natural indoor lighting, by positioning different ways around the window, maybe by shooting frontally, or with the window to either side of your body. If you decide to shoot WITH clothes on lol try to choose colors that flow well with your skin tone. White is usually not a good option, esp if you are white...it will tend to wash you out. the same applies for cream, peach, etc. any type of skin tone other than brown will have the washed out effect. And patterns and logos are never a good idea. it will eventually date your photos and thats no fun! as far as settings go..."automatic" is BAD! I'm not familiar with your PowerShot's settings, but there are possibly manual modes. Use the "P" mode, which is similar to automatic in that it gives a guess of the appropriate aperture and shutter speed, but gives you the freedom to change this by adjusting up or down. The aperture is what lets the light in the camera. You will most likely see a number like f/3.5 of perhaps just 3.5 on the bottom of your screen. This is the "f-stop" number. The smaller the number, the more light gets in and a faster shutter speed is used. The higher the number like f/11 or 18 (which the camera will most likely give you when you shoot outside), the less light is let in and a slower shutter speed is needed. You won't have to worry as much about this because "P" mode does this for you, but you will probably have the freedom to adjust up or down, depending on your situation. For post production, Photoshop all the way. If you don't have access to photoshop, Adobe allows 30 day free trials, or you can always use Picnik, a free photo editing website. Try not to over edit, like bad clothing choices, it will also date an image. Poses and props...these are all up to you. whatever is you...do! Hope i answered some of your questions!! GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY SHOOTING!!!!

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Look at a lot of figure photography and determine what you like.
Pay particularly close attention to the lighting.
Maybe buy a book on lighting techniques ... there's a lot to learn.
A digital camera is complicated to really master, so take your instruction book and work your way through everything. Learn how to depart from automatic settings. Learn how to set your ISO rating to achieve a visual sense of darkness or highlighting. Learn about depth of field.
If your current skills are really rudimentary, you might find a cheap little get-started course at a photo shop or at a college.
Your Canon will have come with some software that will allow you to manipulate the images. You should master that software ... or you apparently can download Photoshop Elements free here (I don't know why).
Practice, practice, practice.
No secret, really.

 

[NoH8]

Hi all, thanks for the tips. Today's the day to start shooting. If anything decent results, I'll post it. Thanks again.

 

[chatterbox2010]

Learn how to set your ISO rating to achieve a visual sense of darkness or highlighting.

forgot to talk about ISO!! ISO is how sensitive your camera is to light. and like the aperture, it will cause adjustment with shutter speed. For daytime use when a lot of light is provided, a lower ISO speed will be used, just because there is available light. If you shoot in darker conditions however, a higher ISO is needed, so as to boost the light you have available and make the shutter speed faster, to give you a quicker shot with less slow shutter blur. A downside to a high ISO though is image noise. Because you are making the sensor more sensitive to light, it creates a grain in the image that is sometimes hard to get rid of, but it is possible with post production,however you usually tend to lose some detail. thats pretty much it for ISO though again...have fun!!

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

thats pretty much it for ISO though

Well, you can also use ISO interpretively, to affect the mood of a photo.
But Ahz too tired to go thar raght now.

 

[chatterbox2010]

Well, you can also use ISO interpretively, to affect the mood of a photo.
But Ahz too tired to go thar raght now.

this is true...but, for what he's wanting to do (and the little experience he has from what i gathered), i doubt interpretive ISO is what he's looking for. But yes, i completely agree. I have a lot of fun with ISO