How to Take a Self Portrait

Like most photography techniques, there will be a lot of trial and error involved to get the best results for a self portrait. You’ll usually have to shoot photos over and over again, trying to achieve a perfect combination of pose, coverage and focus.

This is because a self portrait is one of the best ways to express oneself and to portray your personality, which is not easy for most people to do.

For each method below you’ll first set the camera to auto-focus and then change the setting to manual focus. This prevents the camera from refocusing while you move around to the front and get ready to take your photo.

The Camera

You can start by setting the camera on self-timer mode to shoot your photo however, a remote will certainly come in handy and will probably be almost essential for self portraits. You can likely get one for around $20 and having one will significantly simplify the process of taking a photo of yourself.

Coming to Terms with the Shots

There are times when it’s probably going to be difficult to relax in front of the camera. This can cause your portraits to end up looking stiff and lifeless.

In this situation, simply do whatever you’d normally do to relax either before or during the shoot. For example, you may wish to listen to music, sing a favorite song, or think of something that would relax you and make you feel at ease.

Editing your Photo

Once you have a few shots that you think portray what you believe should be your self portrait, it’s usually a good idea to edit the photos further.

It’s rare that a photo will come out perfectly just like as it is. Most times they require cropping, resizing, and anything else.

Experiment with framing, cropping, lighting and saturation until you’re satisfied that the photo truly represents you in the best possible way. You can use any photo editing software to do this, such as Photoshop.