Self Portraits

lamplight

I am looking for a tutorial on how to do self-portraits for indoors and outside.

bruto

Most rules will be about the same as for any portrait, so I'd look for tutorials on that first.

Set an aperture that gives you the right combination of depth of field and soft focus to the background. Wide open for the kit lens is likely. If you're not entirely sure of the focus, close it down a little more than you might for a regular portrait, to give you a little more latitude.

Try to stay clear of background objects and walls. The further you are from background the better, unless you want it to be a real element in the composition.

It can be hard not to grimace or wince in anticipation of the shot. Practice a bit.

Selfie requires a couple of extra steps. One is to make sure you know where the focal point will be. If you cannot be sure the AF will hit your face correctly, you'll have to manually focus first. Make sure either way that you have prefocused on where you'll be when you take the picture. You can prefocus with AF then turn the AF on the lens off, to hold a reading. It's very helpful if you have a spare person to stand in for you, or another object you can place where you expect to stand.

You can use self timer, if you're sure you can get into position in time. Otherwise, use the IR remote. You can set this to a two second delay, so there's time to put down your arm after pushing the button. The IR remote does not work at great distances, though, so for a wider environmental portrait you'll probably have to use self timer. Practice getting to your spot.

If you're using flash, set the red-eye on. It will do fill flash if you're in P,S,A or M mode, but you still want red eye on. Fill flash can help outdoors if the light is natural and from above.

If at all possible get the focus point to your eyes, as this is the best point of sharpness in a portrait. That can be hard with a self portrait, and might take a bit of experimenting.

lamplight

Thank you, that was very helpful