Self Portrait

Self portraits have always fascinated me. However, as I am not as photogenic as I would like (woe is me) I've steered away from my own self portrait in the past.

Recently though, I had to produce a self portrait for my coursework so I finally had to turn the camera on myself for a change. I originally planned a bit of a protest by using high key lighting and as much in the image as possible to distract attention away from me... time limited, I settled on water meaning I had to find a way to take pictures while I stood in the shower.

I covered my camera in a plastic bag, with a hole cut out for the lens, and sealed the bag around the lens with an elastic band. Placed two flash units either side of me and dialed up the flash until I got the lighting I was looking for - enough to blast the background and provide some depth to the image. Then it was a matter of setting the camera on timer and standing under the shower, taking as many pics as I could until the lens steamed up. I eventually ended up standing in a cold shower as the steam was getting out of hand.

Post processing was a little brightness and contrast adjustment and adding a blue filter to my eye to give the image a bit more pop... my eyes are probably the only part of the physical me with any real merit... but then I'm more than a little colour blind, so they probably look better than they actually work.

The experience was all a bit narcissistic and made me feel more than unconfortable at first, but I'm quite pleased with the outcome, and eventually had some fun with it, so I will definitely be doing more self portraits in the future.