You don’t need to be a professional photographer to create your own baller self-portrait. With these easy tips and tricks, you’ll be on your way to capturing your own portfolio-approved shot.
I’ll be introducing two tried and tested methods of taking your own headshot. Regardless of which one you choose, remember that a self portrait is just that — a reflection of you. Don’t get too caught up in the technical, and to focus on capturing your beautifully created selves.
METHOD ONE: THE SELFIE
Here are four easy tips to create a perfect headshot by yourself:
1. Find your location
Location is important. Take a walk around and snap photos of potential locations. Pay attention to the light – I prefer natural, sunlight, whether that be outdoors, or behind windows, indoors. If you’re shooting with natural light, try not to shoot in direct sunlight which can be harsh and unflattering, but find shady spots that you can get comfortable in.
My tip is not to look for “perfect†locations. Get creative and remember that no one ever sees any part of where you shoot aside from what is inside the frame of the photo. My personal favorite locations when taking headshots are never big beautiful studios or billowing forests with dancing elves, but tend to be weird wonderful accidents stumbled into.
These photos were taken in a pedestrian tunnel between two buildings at my alma matter. It provided an awesome location – the look of daylight while indoors, all at the cost of the occasional confused college tour group.
This photo was taken in a dirty and small parking alleyway in London. We found this beautiful wall of vines – what you don’t see are the large dumpsters a couple feet away, and the food delivery workers on their bikes trying to run into us.
2. Focus on what matters
One of the trickiest parts of taking your own portraits are getting correct focus. This photographer favorite trick is so simple, it’s stupid. Place your camera on tripod, flip your lens to “manual focus†and place an object right where you want to be in the photo. Focus on that object and you’re done! Swap yourself into the shot, take a couple test shots, adjust, and success!
Another handy trick is to either use a DSLR that has a flip screen or use your camera software to connect it to your laptop or television so that you can see yourself without being behind your camera – like the world’s most ultimate selfie. This means you won’t have to blindly frame and focus.
3. Take a lot and get a lot
Many self timing cameras have an option to take multiple at the same time. This eliminates having to reset the camera once per photo as well as gain variety in your shots. Take advantage of this and vary your poses and expressions so you have a lot to choose from. If you prefer, use a shutter release remote (they’re generally not too expensive) to control when your camera shoots a photo without ever leaving your spot.
4. Get your best side
A tip to get the perfect shot, starts before you even touch your camera. Use your cell phone to take selfies and find out how you like being photographed. Analyze why you like some more than others — is it a certain smile or a particular side of your face? Pay attention to these physical nuances and use them to your advantage during your shoot to get a photo you’ll be proud of.
Beyond these things, remember that a self-portrait should be a reflection of who YOU are. Make sure to let your personality shine through, it’s all that really matters.
METHOD TWO: THE OL’ SWITCHEROO
If you rather not take your portrait by yourself, don’t worry, you’re in luck. The idea is this — take a friend (doesn’t matter if they’ve never ever held a camera before), find a kick-butt location, and take their photo. Perfect it, dissect it, and make sure they look killer, then switch! Most of my headshots have been taken this way – my roommate starts as my model and then turns into my photographer. It works each and every single time.
Find the best lighting you can, set your ideal settings on your camera, and create the best angle you can find. When you’re happy with the photos you took, its time to swap roles! It’s pretty simple, show them the photos you just took and have them copy it! Make sure you’re in love with your photos of your subject and have them simply click the shutter to take the headshot that you set up. If they seem like they’re struggling, check their photos every once in a while, show them what you want done differently and keep going at it! Don’t be afraid to experiment and try different angles, or switch locations! At the end of the day you should both be thrilled with the photos you have.
I took this photo on the left of my roommate, Carissa. We got “adventurous” walked one block over and took mines – all in the same hour. It’s that simple!
(Hint: Remember the dirty parking lot from the photo shown above? Take a look and see if you can spot the same wall in the photo on the left – all we did was move a couple steps over to create a whole new location. Also, that pretty bokeh in the background? It’s a blurred-out Carphone Warehouse. It’s incredible what you can do with slight shifts.)
Which ever way you choose, I hope you walk away with an incredible headshot that shows you, for you. Leave a comment with your photo, or if you have more tips and tricks to getting the perfect self-taken headshot.
Kristine Tsui is an Associate Producer at Bindery NYC and founder of Headshots With a Mission, a fundraising tool which hopes to equip and empower young creatives with tools to create tangible change in their local communities and abroad through giving back with their artistic gifts.
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