Monday, September 17, 2012

Week 11 Boc: Self Portrait




This week the photo challenge was to create a self portrait with full creative range. I quickly realized that while I take well over 2000 photographs a month and have no problem being creative I have no creative examples of me as the model. The next thing that I realized is I truly enjoy photographing models and not being the model myself. I enjoy retouching images for my clients, fixing blemishes things like that but when I have to retouch my own image it’s different. I decided to stay simple headshot in black and white for no other reason than it’s my favorite type of self -portrait. I used one Paul C Buff Einstein Strobe with a 36 inch soft box six inches from the side of my face, placed my Nikon D700 with a 70-200 lens at 200mm on a tripod set to the timer and got in position. Actually I lied first I placed my son in as a test subject to test lighting and focus then I got in position. Once everything was set I started shooting, it took a few shots to get the framing and expression the way I wanted it but I got there. The next step was processing the photo in Adobe lightroom and Nik Silver Effex to make it black and white and finally in Photoshop to retouch and sharpen. I think the end result was a success and I definitely learned that my place is behind the camera and not in front of it, being behind the camera I have a level of security and comfort where in front of the camera even when I’m setting the timer and taking the shot I feel a certain level of vulnerability that I don’t like. 

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