David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

The Self-Portrait

The portrait discussions on the previous pages apply to pictures you take of yourself, too, of course. But there are a few other considerations.

Find a stool or a low-back chair without arms, and position it about five feet in front of the background you've chosen. If possible, it should face the brightest window in the room.

Next, you'll need a way to position your camera. A standard tripod is best, but you can use a pocket tripod on top of a table, or even a pile of books, if necessary. Either way, position the camera about five feet from your stool.

Turn on the flash. The ambient room lighting is often bright enough to provide overall even illumination, but the flash will provide a little burst of front light to smooth out facial blemishes and put a twinkle in your eyes.

This job is easiest, of course, if your camera has a flip screen and a remote control. If yours doesn't, use the camera's self-timer. To help you frame the shot while you're not actually on the stool, use a table lamp as a standin.

Check your hair and clothes, press the shutter button to trigger the self-timer countdown, and then sit on the stool (preferably after removing the table lamp).

Once the camera fires, inspect the photo on the camera. Did you zoom in close enough? Are you in focus and framed correctly? How's the lighting?

If you need to add a little light to one side of your face or the other because it's appearing too shadowy, you can construct a homemade reflector out of white cardboard ...