My newest self-portrait and me

Let's start with this, study it for a minute and then look at this, to see how it was made. Roll over the picture for notes, equipment, etc..

---background---

A small batch of Twitter friends joined together a few months back and started a Flickr group know as... #TOGether. Get it? Like TOG, phoTOGrapher... And no, before you even ask, we dont do ether! It's not the 80's anymore! Anywho... Every month or so we have a "contest" with no prizes but to brag and boast, no not really either. This latest, lets call it a project instead, was to do a self-portrait. Not just any self-portrait but a self-portrait using a.... mask! Woohoo!! Thanks Suzy.

---process---

I knew right away what mask I wanted to use. OK, now what? Do I just slap the camera on a tripod and take a picture of my ugly mug? That's it? Nah, you need more. So the mask I chose is pretty DRAMAtic. I figured I needed some dramatic lighting as well. What's more dramatic then a black background? (I'm sure there's something more dramatic but just go with me here, it's MY blog! If you dont agree...get your own blog and then talk about dramatic backgrounds! Sorry... didnt mean to be so dramatic! If you dont like it, get yo... OK enough) So I put a portrait sized black foam board on an easel, placed the mini-chair down in front of it. Attached the sync cord, place the settings... I used f16 on my Canon 70-200 f/4 at 118mm at 1/125. It's difficult to get the focus point on what you want exactly when your doing a SP. Using f16 should put everything important in good enough focus. I sit and start snapping away. It probably took about 20 pictures before I liked what I had, the placement of the lights. (Thanks to digital! I can only imagine the waste of film before this.) Then.... I had to enter model mode!! I hear the music change from this to this Aaawwww yeah!!! Uh, uh yea! I rip the glasses off and start posing. I pause to check to see how good im rocking it. I think to myself, what am I doing? Why is my shirt still on? Off comes the shirt, spin it like a helicopter! So after many other pictures, I realize that I didnt shave my face, the "hair" on my head needs to be shorter, I'm a hair beast, Im overweight and oh... Im not a model! Finally, after getting depressed, my real emotions start to show. The sad, I'm a nobody phoTOGragher, loser emotions, etc. You know, the ones we ALL feel, come on, I know you do! And its not even winter! I tried more and more and saw that one that I liked. I did slight variations. I did not crop that photo at all, framed it that way. I loved it right away. Sure I brought it into Lightroom and Photoshop. You're supposed to!! I dont care what anyone says! (maybe a topic for another blog?) I enhanced and cleaned up as I usually do. I liked this enough to treat it as I do for clients and more importantly as a piece of art.

There! I finally have it! I now have the picture I turned in and a picture I really like.

note to self: When editing a full resolution file with layers... make sure you "save-as" before you make it web-size.

Moral of the story... (do I have one?)

1. Have an idea? TRY IT!

2. You have to shoot. Get off the couch, off the twitter and off the facebook.

3. Experiment, try different things.

4. Put your light where its supposed to go, then move it around, closer, farther, behind you, over you, etc

5. Think of something unique! Think different.

6. Don't just take a picture... MAKE a picture! (quote stolen from somebody)

— Aldo Risolvo