Milwaukee Wedding Photographer Self Portrait

I needed a new portrait to enhance the brand image I’m trying to create for my business as a Milwaukee wedding photographer, and in the process I thought I’d use it to educate others about photography. Since I am a photographer I knew exactly where to go for my portrait — my bedroom! I figured if I can’t make myself look halfway decent, I shouldn’t be in business.

So, here it is.

Milwaukee wedding photographer self portrait

Now for the technical stuff. Window light wasn’t cutting it, so I brought the Wescott Apollo 28″ soft box into the bedroom and set it up off camera right. I had the Nikon D300 with my 50 mm 1.8 lens on tripod. I stood next to the door where there was already plenty of empty space on the wall, making sure my position was in line with the front of the soft box. This minimized the wrap of light and created a bit more shadow, which I like. I knew the tan paint would make a nice background and the blue shirt would pop against it — purposeful color choices, and yes the shirt is that blue. This is as simple as a studio gets and you see the quality you can achieve with control of light, background, posing and expression. The hardest part was not being able to see what I looked like through camera. I used the self timer to trigger. It took many tries to get exactly the pose and expression I wanted.

Inside the soft box was my SB-800 Speedlight with dedicated SD-8a battery pack on a PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver. On the camera was the MiniTT1 transmitter and AC3 Zone Controller. I used the Sekonic L-758 light meter to get my initial flash exposure settings. Flash power was set to about 1/8 on manual mode. Camera settings were ISO 400, 1/200, and f/5 was just enough to keep me in focus. Why don’t I use 1.8? Couple reasons: shooting a self portrait at 2.8 or lower is difficult because you can’t focus through the camera and it narrows the depth of field. Also I don’t want to risk any ambient light coming in. The ambient light reading was about 1/13 @ 2.8. By cranking the shutter up to 1/200 and aperture to f/5, I cut out any ambient light and the only light you see is from the single flash.

Now, body position: My body is actually placed contra-basic position with the body away from the light and face toward. However, notice the head tilt is still in the masculine position, about perpendicular to the low shoulder (left) and eyes parallel. This is key. It portrays a bit more fun vs. the classic masculine pose with body toward the light but is still masculine enough. I just did not think a serious, classically strong portrait was right for the image I wanted to portray to brides, which are my main clients. Also, I didn’t like the way I looked in it. A female would be tilted toward the front or high shoulder. The head tilt is key. The lighting pattern is essentially modified loop. This is indicated by the small loop shadow that the nose makes on the cheek. Notice also that the face is in 2/3 view, with the left ear hidden, showing the notch of the left eye and the eye lash staying within the skin line. The near eye should be in focus but actually the left eye is in focus.

Again, this is a simple one-light setup in my bedroom. No fancy studio. I took a wider shot of the setup to show what I was working with. One last detail: I was holding a white reflector below the frame to soften my lines a bit. And I did some standard retouching and enhancements in Photoshop and Nik. Even a guy doesn’t want to look too ugly in a photo.

This is the original portrait file so you can see how important it is to get lighting and posing correct in camera. The finishing is simple, effective enhancements in Lightroom, Photoshop and Nik. And the receding hairline — gone! The power of selective cropping. I now look like a handsome guy who might have full hair! And once again here’s the finished image for comparison. You can’t tell flash was used. Looks like window light, doesn’t it? This is because good flash mimics soft directional light.

I hope this shows you the importance of hiring a professional. It’s not just about having the right tools. Without control of light, posing, background, expression and the equipment, you cannot make this type of portrait. It just won’t happen no matter what gear you have. However, with skill, I can set up a studio anywhere, and I could do the same thing with an entry-level DSLR and lens. If I can make this look good in my own bedroom, imagine what I can do in a more photogenic location! It’s an interesting challenge making a pleasing portrait of yourself. I’m satisfied with this one, even though I might do some more retouching later.

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