self-portraits, tripods and timers.....

23 January 2013

whenever we were posting some self portraits we had been knocked by many, asking how the photo was taken.... at least, one of the blogs that I've written back in November 2010 tells me the same thing.... quite obviously, the first suspect is the tripod+timer combination.... yes, of course.... simple?.... definitely not!!.... self portraits are some of those efforts that you can choose to do extremely cheaply with minimal effort or you can choose to spend a considerable amount of time to make the image stand out.... in our part, most of the time we go for the tougher option..... our philosophy is always to get a small number of quality photos rather than going for a lotta average ones.... we push ourselves until we achieve the ones we really desired.... that said, this post is more about getting portraits with tripods and timers rather than just taking photos of one's own self.... we would also talk about photos where its not just a self portrait, but the photographer himself featured in the photo along with other subjects...

whenever the photographer features in the photo, it poses some challenges.... the first problem is to get the frame right.... its just too easy to make a mistake... and the longer the focal length or the tighter the frame, the tougher it is get the framing right.... some sort of stand-in always helps to get a general idea about the frame.... the longest focal length I have used was a 150mm one.... a close head-shot.... it was extremely tough to get the frame right.... and that also complicated the second problem, focusing, even further.....

to get the focus right, it helps to choose a smaller aperture.... but the photo that I chose to do with 150mm was more about shallow DoF.... so, a larger aperture (f4) was almost like, required.... but for couple photos, it was an easier choice.... no stand-in required... your partner always gives you the convenience of focusing.... though, for individual photos I always preferred manual focusing, for couple photos or other photos with more people in the frame, auto-focus worked nicely...... but bringing in more people in the frame presented with a new problem.... time....

setting the timer is the third challenge.... you can use a remote in some cases, but without any delays set, you may find your photo with you clicking the shutter!!.... and that too, may be tricky in some cases, if the remote shutter featured in your hand.... I always found the timer to be the most convenient way to go.... it also helps to get prepared after pressing the shutter.... the distance of the camera from the subject(s) and the complexity of the pose would dictate the timer length.... sometimes a 10-sec timer is enough, but sometimes a 20-sec time is required.... a 20-sec timer can potentially make the session very lengthy and tiring if perfection or variation is expected from the shoot.... we spent as much as 90 minutes for a session with 20-sec timer....

 

but because of the 20-sec timer, there can be a fourth challenge, especially if there are several people in the frame.... everyone in the frame getting tired of the timer, and when the shutter finally closes someone is not ready.... and the more people there are in the frame, the more problems you're gonna face..... for a ground shot, we don't prefer more than 10-sec... for couple photos with more complex poses, a 20-sec time works well, giving chances to fine tune or correct some things regarding posing and framing....

another interesting option can be a combination of tethered shooting and remote trigger... I haven't used that option so far though..... do you have any experiences with tripods and timers?.... why don't you share your views?....

thanks for reading and don't forget to leave your feedback....

its been a while since I've done this......

26 November 2010
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

its a self-portrait..... the last time I can remember taking a self-portrait was probably back in September 2006...... and that too, was a ghostly portrait, experimenting with long exposures....

anyway, just came back from a party, so, I thought it wouldn't be too bad if I can utilise the wardrobe a bit..... but it was a pain to get a good shot..... I don't know how some others do this so efficiently.... but I struggled.... struggled to focus and frame correctly..... so, it took me quite a few tries to get a decent shot....

used the Elinchrom Ranger as the main light...... and very interestingly, my Simpex accessories seem to be going with Elinchrom somewhat.... not 100%, but certainly workable.... the Simpex 25"x25" softbox sat on the Ranger A-head almost perfectly.... wooooha!!!...... one light, thats it..... camera was on a tripod with timer.... Elinchrom Skyport used as trigger.....

as the setup was more-or-less ready, we carried on with some more portraiture..... put an SB-900 (in SU-4 optical trigger mode) with grid-spot for hair light..... had to push the power of this one up to around 1/4, as I was shooting at f10.... still, the SB-900 was struggling to make its presence felt.... the 28-80mm lens is producing some awesome images at lower apertures.... images at f10 are freaking sharp!!.... any lens is supposed to make such sharp images at lower apertures.... so, no point breaking the bank if you are shooting f10.....

I suddenly decided to do some sort of editing that I usually don't..... used the Old Image effect in Lightroom and kinda liked it.... so, kept it that way..... and as both the subjects were wearing black, it probably wasn't a bad idea to try out some different stuff in editing....

still have been shooting the Ranger in low power settings..... have to take it out some day to see what it can do.... but one thing is for sure, this is only one light.... and that much power from one direction may cast some stark shadows on the other direction.... other lights in my possession are not even nearly as powerful as the Ranger..... so, there may be some challenges ahead.... lets see....

much more to come....