Self-Portraits
One thing that has been on my heart for years is the empowering movement of women feeling beautiful as we age. I know that once I hit 30, my skin started sagging, my metabolism slowed down, the bags under my eyes got more pronounced, and my body no longer looked the way it used to.
As I entered my 35th year, I made the promise that I would work on a self-portrait project. I spent time once a month working on them, and I hated every second. even so, it was the best thing i’ve done for personal and professional growth, and it was then that I realized how important pushing past comfortable really is. As I made my way through the project, I learned a few things.
It’s scary.
It’s hard.
It’s exposing.
It’s so much more liberating than I ever thought.
There’s something so freeing about looking back at those self-portraits and thinking “Hey! I still see me.”
This project has reminded me how important self-love is. In a world where social media reminds us that there will always be someone out there with prettier hair or teeth or someone who remains a size 0 after popping out a handful of kids, it’s helped me silence that noise and see me again.
As I moved along in my own project, I decided I wanted to offer the same opportunity to other women. and now this is a regular session offering for any and all women who want to work on this type of documented self-love. it’s more than head shots. I’ve realized just how much my self-portrait project grew me as a woman and photographer, so I can’t stress it enough. Shoot yourself. shoot for you. make mistakes. but keep at it.
if doesn’t matter if you’re a professional photographer or not, I’m sharing some of my best posing and shooting tips below, take these tips and run with them!
tips for self-portraits/portraits:
Don’t use anything wider than a 35mm lens. There’s too much lens distortion over 35mm. I shot all of these portraits with a Nikkor 35mm 1.4g lens. There was still some distortion, but I’m used to shooting with this lens so I could accommodate accordingly. If you shoot on too severe of a “down” angle when shooting portraits, the forehead will appear longer than it actually is. Be sure to shoot at a much slighter down angle, don’t be too dramatic. The 50mm and 85 mm lenses are great for head shots/portraits as well!
Be very particular about your white balance. You must make skin tone as true as possible. I shoot everything with kelvin white balance so I can customize to each person as perfectly as possible.
Don’t be scared of light and shadows. Play with light and shadows. The element of dramatic light adds a little something extra to your story, and it’s super flattering. I always meter my camera off of the lightest part of the photo so I don’t blow out the highlights.
Wrap up! A great pose for a woman of any size is the “hug.” wrap arms around the body and drop the shoulder closest to the camera. It creates a super flattering silhouette.
Touch. Touch, touch, touch. Move hair/chin/shoulder/hands/feet, etc. Women are at the mercy of the one photographing them. Move her so she’s at her most flattering angle. A great starting point? Ask her what her favorite side is to be photographed on (mine is my right side), and shoot her only at her favorite angle.
Use those hands! Have her place a hand in her hair, on her chin, even over her mouth to hide a laugh.
Movement. Movement is so important. It adds the perfect amount of something extra. If her hair gets stuck in her lip gloss, keep photographing as she laughs and pulls it out of her mouth. A natural smile is always the way to go, no matter how you have to get it!
Keep moving. Yup…movement again. But this time, not movement of hair or clothes. I’m talking about the movement of your subject itself. The more you move, the more likely you are to find her (or your own, if working on self-portraits) most flattering angle/pose. I often say “You have to keep moving. Move after every shot I take. The more you move, and the more awkward it feels, the more natural it looks. Keep moving.
Eye contact. If you’re focused on eye contact, move your subject’s head to the most flattering angle for her and tell her to look down with her eyes, not her neck. When you’re ready to shoot, that’s when you tell her to look right up at you without moving her head. She won’t have time to look uncomfortable if you shoot immediately when you capture it, and it always ends up looking very empowering and bold. If you’re practicing this in a self-portrait setting, look down and count to five, then look up and make eye contact with your camera for one shot. Then do it again. The eyes aren’t the window to the soul for nothing. It’s always intimate and empowering.
NO eye contact. Eye contact isn’t always necessary. Have her look down with her eyes just slightly. Have her look away. Highlight her gorgeous profile. Try every angle available to you.
Boobs out, no slouching! Remind her (or yourself!) to sit up straight or just use the words “boobs out.” Works every time.
Loosen up! Have music blasting, give her a glass of wine. Do a little dance to get the wiggles out. Laugh. Tell her to laugh until she feels stupid, and then wait for the natural laugh to come through. This should be fun. Empowering.
Know her (or your) favorite feature. Is it the eyes? Focus on them. the smile? focus there. the lips? get close. the hair? shake that mane around! These sessions are intimate. As we age, often women are used to hiding ourselves behind kiddos. This is exposing. You have to have some sort of intimacy with her to connect.
Get in close! Don’t be scared to get all up in her face to shoot these.
Keep that aperture high. You want to be able to get most of her features in focus. I shoot portraits at 3.5-4.
Pre-session tips. You must chat/email with your friend/client prior to head shots. It’s important to prep her prior to the session. Some important things to talk about:
Makeup. Even if makeup isn’t an every day occurrence (as it isn’t for me), there should be some applied the day of the portrait session. I’m not talking a full face or something that isn’t authentic to her, but something as simple as under eye concealer, mascara and lip gloss makes a huge difference. She should highlight her features. Now, with this said, there have been times I’ve shot my self-portrait with zero makeup. That’s me, and I embrace it. However, I do wear eyelash extensions, and those in themselves make a huge difference with no makeup photos. This is why I always recommend a minimum of mascara. I do run Portraiture on every portrait image I edit. It’s a quick and easy way to smooth skin without going overboard.
Neutral (or muted colored) clothing is best. Black, grey, white, ivory, blush. Anything neon or too bright will color cast on the face and neck, and sometimes it changes hair color. I’m all for a bright springy dress for family photos, etc, but for head shots, self-portraits and portrait sessions, neutral wins. I bring several neutral colored, cozy, over sized sweaters to portrait sessions because they’re super flattering, and off-the-shoulder is hella sexy without being too revealing.
Hair is a great accessory, so don’t put too much hairspray in it! Mess it up, flip it around, frame your face with it. Leave it natural and flowing.
Wine it up, if necessary. If she’s super nervous about portraits, tell her to bring a bottle of wine and have a glass before you get started! Remember. This isn’t supposed to be incredibly scary.
