Outfit: By the Water

All photographs are self portraits taken by myself.  

My favorite season is fall!  I love the sound of leaves crinkling beneath my feet, the smell of bonfires, and most of all the chilly wind hitting my face.  There's something comforting about wearing big sweaters and chunky socks.  I don't get much - well any of that - in Savannah really, but lately it's been about 70 degrees which is chilly enough (yes northerners laugh) to at least wear jackets which I've been pretty happy about! 

Outfit:  

Jacket:  Sheinside

Hat:  Red Clover Boutique

Top:  Forever 21

Skirt:  Thrifted

I've recently had a lot of people ask me about how I take my self portraits.  I wrote a post about this a couple of years ago and I thought that I'd share it again.  It's easy for posts to get buried in a blog so here's a link back to that post.

Here are the 4 big tips to take away about self portraits.

1.  Think of the background.  What's going on behind you?  Is it interesting?  Is it distracting?  I try to move my camera around and look through the view finder to get all the angles that I can, before I take the time to focus with the camera my tripod.  This saves a lot of time adjusting the focus later

2.  Double check that you're in focus.  I've had so many photos that I think are in focus, but once I zoom in I realize that it's completely blurry!  It's a very sad moment when you think you've got your shot and then you find out it's blurry.  So take one test photo, then walk back and zoom in on that photo to make sure that it's actually in focus.

3.  Find a place where you don't feel self conscious.  This can be really hard when first starting out - especially if one lives in a city.  If you're not able to find that, and you're in a busy park with people staring -remind yourself that chances are you're not going to see these people again, and just keep shooting.  That usually helps me when I feel awkward taking a photo.  It took years before that thought helped me though, so it's ok if you still need to go to a more hidden place while starting out.

4.  And this is the most important take away - just start shooting!  Take as many photos as possible.  I think that one of the biggest holdups in self portrait taking (and photography in general) is the fear of a photo not turning out well.  I've had countless shoots that have turned out bad.  In fact, I had a shoot a couple of weeks ago turn out bad.   I decided to re-shoot it in a different location and the new shoot turned out so much better. And remember - you get to choose which photos to share with the world.  If you don't like it, don't share it.  Delete it.  But please don't stop taking photos if your first try turns out less than you envisioned it.

Once you start taking photos you'll realize what tricks work best for you.  If you have any more specific questions feel free to leave it in a comment, and I'll be happy to try to answer it!  And for all of you self portrait pros out there, do you have any tips to add?  I'd love to hear your advice as well!