Self portrait (2)

[Melanie90]

another self portrait

[rpcrowe]

I don't klnow if it is my monitor but the focus seems to be on your shoulder (note the blue knit) rather than your face...

[Manfred M]

+1 to Richard's comment on the focus. In portraiture we tend to focus on the eye closest to the camera and it should be quite sharp.

Let me write about the lighting. You are using something called "split lighting" which is quite dramatic and is sometimes used in portraiture. Here the light falls on one side of the face and the other side is often quite dark. You are also using a very hard light source; it tends not to be used in the type of portrait you are shooting as it tends to not be all that flattering.

This hard light and rapid light fall off suggests a small light source that is close to you. The light source seems to be low down and is pointing up (called up-lighting) and it tends to not be used for this type of portrait either. In most circumstances our light source, whether it is the sun or artificial lighting tends to come from above, not below. In feature films, the criminal element or monsters are often up-lit to represent the bad / evil in a subject. This is probably not what you want to do here.

[rpcrowe]

If we do not have a remote release for our camera, we will frequently use the self timer for self portraits. The problem is that achieving correct focus (i.e.: focusing on the eyes) in a self portrait is often difficult when using the self timer.

In the case of this image - it appears that the camera's autofocus chose the point closest to the camera, your shoulder...

[Manfred M]

The problem is that achieving correct focus (i.e.: focusing on the eyes) in a self portrait is often difficult when using the self timer.

In the case of this image - it appears that the camera's autofocus chose the point closest to the camera, your shoulder...

Richard - while I suspect your assessment of what went wrong is correct, the solution I use when doing self portraits is to prefocus the shot (and disengage the camera's autofocus).