May Self Portraits | Camera Settings and Thoughts

May. Well, it’s gone and I’m not quite sure where it went. Life does this odd simultaneous speed up and slow down around the time that the school year ends and starts. Here is the month in self portraits, mainly prompted by the Instagram project #portraitsofme , but including a couple from a fantastic escape to the British Virgin Islands.

The below image was created for the prompt {In my Bag.} I wanted to be a little less literal than simply shooting a picture of the contents of my purse. I decided to shoot to show one of the constant inhabitants of my bag and chose this window/wall set up as it allowed me to use rather flat light, to evenly illuminate the scene. Moody, dramatic light with deep shadows wouldn’t have suited the moment as well.

3pm, North Facing Window, 52mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/250
3pm, North Facing Window, 52mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/250

I had been shooting with my 24-70 almost exclusively for several months and decided to pull out my 45mm tilt shift in order to change things up. Originally, I was planning to grab a slice of focus down my arm, but I ended up liking the total lack of focus and the dream like quality that it added to these images. Prompt was {I know for sure} and I know for sure that bathroom light is regularly some of the best in a house.

2pm, East Facing Window, 45mm Tilt Shift, ISO 3200, f/3.5, 1/800
2pm, East Facing Window, 45mm Tilt Shift, ISO 3200, f/3.5, 1/800
2pm, East Facing Window, 45mm Tilt Shift, ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/800
2pm, East Facing Window, 45mm Tilt Shift, ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/800

The next four images were shot on our trip to the British Virgin Islands. I did have a personal photographer (kidding… but we were traveling with Courtney of clickitupanotch.com and her husband) so I knew I’d be in plenty of pictures, but I still made it a point to include at least part of myself in some of the images I shot.

12pm, Open ocean under boat awning, 34mm, f/2.8, 1/1250
12pm, Open ocean under boat awning, 34mm, f/2.8, 1/1250
1pm, Under patio cover, 24mm, ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/1600
1pm, Under patio cover, 24mm, ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/1600
1pm, Open ocean under cloudy sky and boat awning, 24 mm, ISO 100, f/4.0, 1/3200
1pm, Open ocean under cloudy sky and boat awning, 24 mm, ISO 100, f/4.0, 1/3200
3pm, South Facing Window, 24mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/200
3pm, South Facing Window, 24mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/200

Prompt {Black & White} I wanted a moody, but not overly angsty feel for this image, so I chose light that was directional, but diffuse. I did push contrast quite a bit in processing as the softer light gave me less contrast than I wanted between highlight and shadow SOOC.

4pm, East Facing Window, 52mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/320
4pm, East Facing Window, 52mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/320

-M

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