"Made in His Image" - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

[jayardamasin]

This is also from my personal 52-week project. A self-portrait using natural light. Thanks for any constructive feedback!

[Shadowman]

Nice effort, the exposure and conversion looks good. I would tilt your head towards the light source to get some reflection within the eyes; otherwise the eyes will look lifeless.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Jay-Ar,

I appreciate this is your personal 52 week project - and you are welcome to continue simply posting in to separate new threads each week.

However, the downside to that approach is that I don't have the time to locate and link individual weekly threads in to our CiC P52 Index. That's why we suggest, borne of experience, that it is better to keep one thread going for say 'a quarter' (3 months). This also allows you and others to more easily look back across the weeks and months to see your progress.


Now, let's provide some feedback.
Self portrait, camera steady (probably on a tripod), frame up on chair, set self timer, whizz round the front, sit down and 'beep', shot taken.

You haven't said much about any post processing (PP), so I am wondering whether the vignette is something you did, or if it is just a lens artefact?

You did manage to get it sharp, so I guess it Auto-Focuses as the shot is taken.

You are off-centre from the chair and perhaps a little high, a re-shoot might have produced a more symmetrical image - although I'm not necessarily saying that is necessary or better, I don't shoot portraits often (and selfies even less), so I'll leave that aspect to others with more experience.

John has made a good point on (lack of) catch-lights in your eyes, a reflector card (especially silver) might have helped provide this. Possibly sitting further back in the chair would have helped to, depends upon positioning of light source and face.

Did you consider cropping (in PP)?

Just some thoughts which I hope you find useful, Dave

[pnodrog]

Nice effort, the exposure and conversion looks good. I would tilt your head towards the light source to get some reflection within the eyes; otherwise the eyes will look lifeless.

Yes I agree. Tilting the head slightly and rotating your shoulders so your torso is a little bit towards the window would also help the composition. As taken with you absolutely square the composition needs you to be exactly central rather than the just off center position in the image. The main focal point in most compositions needs to be either central or far enough offset that it does not come across as a failed attempt to be in the center. Actually the same approach applies to chopping off the top of the hair. Chop off a significant amount for a tight crop or none at all. As a photographer you need to take command and not let the viewer ponder whether it was a mistake or intentional (most viewers will assume it is a mistake).

[jayardamasin]

Nice effort, the exposure and conversion looks good. I would tilt your head towards the light source to get some reflection within the eyes; otherwise the eyes will look lifeless.

Thanks! Catchlight. I have not thought about that on the moment I took this photo. I'll keep that in mind. I did manage to have a very tiny one though on the right eye. Lol. Thanks for that input.

[jayardamasin]

Yes I agree. Tilting the head slightly and rotating your shoulders so your torso is a little bit towards the window would also help the composition. As taken with you absolutely square the composition needs you to be exactly central rather than the just off center position in the image. The main focal point in most compositions needs to be either central or far enough offset that it does not come across as a failed attempt to be in the center. Actually the same approach applies to chopping off the top of the hair. Chop off a significant amount for a tight crop or none at all. As a photographer you need to take command and not let the viewer ponder whether it was a mistake or intentional (most viewers will assume it is a mistake).

Thanks! The crop on top the head is intentional. I did not do it liberally though, just a preference. On centering, I tried to put my dominant eye on the horizontal center. Thanks for the inputs. I appreciate it.

[jayardamasin]

Hi Jay-Ar,

I appreciate this is your personal 52 week project - and you are welcome to continue simply posting in to separate new threads each week.

However, the downside to that approach is that I don't have the time to locate and link individual weekly threads in to our CiC P52 Index. That's why we suggest, borne of experience, that it is better to keep one thread going for say 'a quarter' (3 months). This also allows you and others to more easily look back across the weeks and months to see your progress.

Hi Dave,

Thank you. You don't have to locate and link my post to this forum's project. I really don't think I can keep up to submit once a week regularly due to my day job. But I really appreciate the offer.

Now, let's provide some feedback.
Self portrait, camera steady (probably on a tripod), frame up on chair, set self timer, whizz round the front, sit down and 'beep', shot taken.

Sorry for that. I will put some background information on my next posts. The camera was on top of a table. I used my smartphone as a remote control with live view function, and also a focus function. It's single AF somewhere on my right eye. I was actually not on the chair. It's a meter away from where I was at. And I was actually kneeling during the capture since the table's height is fixed. :-D It was just a spontaneous thought to take some photos after shower. Prep time was maybe less than 5 minutes, I think. (Configured my phone to connect with the camera via wifi. Sit the camera on top of the table.Made adjustments on the focal length. Made sure the door where the light was coming from was not swinging. Kneeled on the floor. Adjusted the AF area. Half-smiled. Then, shutter.)

Focal length was on somewhere on the long tele's end (somewhere in 85mm to 112mm), to at least compress the background and flatten the subject. As to the DOF, the camera used was a point-and-shoot with a 4x crop sensor, so no shallow DOF especially on a small area.

You haven't said much about any post processing (PP), so I am wondering whether the vignette is something you did, or if it is just a lens artefact?

Lightroom. Vignette is artificial. Since DOF is not shallow, I used vignette to emphasize the subject.

You did manage to get it sharp, so I guess it Auto-Focuses as the shot is taken.

Pre-AF. AF-S on the right eye.

You are off-centre from the chair and perhaps a little high, a re-shoot might have produced a more symmetrical image - although I'm not necessarily saying that is necessary or better, I don't shoot portraits often (and selfies even less), so I'll leave that aspect to others with more experience.

John has made a good point on (lack of) catch-lights in your eyes, a reflector card (especially silver) might have helped provide this. Possibly sitting further back in the chair would have helped to, depends upon positioning of light source and face.

Did you consider cropping (in PP)?

Just some thoughts which I hope you find useful, Dave

I did crop it on Lightroom. I experimented to put my right eye on the horizontal center. Also, cropped some from the top.

Thank you for the feedback, Dave. It's really been helpful.

[Dave Humphries]

Thank you for the feedback, Dave. It's really been helpful.

As has yours, glad we can help each other.