I get a lot of questions about self portraits, so many in fact, that I’m hitting the highlights to help you get started and feeling more confident having fun with your selfies.

I started taking self portraits over a year ago, with no tripod, on my bulky dinosaur mark iii, with no remote or anything. When I tell you that you do not need the bells and whistles, you really don’t. You don’t even need a fancy setup or fancy ideas. Most of the time now I do them in whatever clothes I have lying around, rarely do I do my hair, and I do not wear makeup. I think that being as creative as you want with your setup and makeup is so fun, so please, go balls to the walls if you want. Just don’t make excuses for yourself saying you need XYZ in order to take good self portraits. You don’t. You just need to start trying!

Here’s one of my first self portraits taken in 2021:

(it’s funny to look back and see the evolution of things- my face full of makeup and my editing style are giveaways of my own growth ha!)

Since then I’ve taken more selfies than I could count. I have started multiple personal self portrait projects and most of you know how much I enjoy getting in the frame with my kids. So today I am going to hit the highlights and try and answer a lot of the questions I get in my inbox about self portraits so you can have fun and start reaping the benefits too!

Let’s start off with the “why”, why self portraits? At first I didn’t really get the appeal. I felt self conscious and it felt way too conceited. Once I started doing them I realized there’s so much more to it than that. I started out of convenience- I needed some photos for my website/business so I tried them out. Now I do it as therapy. Self portraits are a great way to challenge yourself. It forces me to think from a different perspective. It’s different than just looking through the lens and taking a beautiful photo because you have to a) be relatively intentional, and b) you are thinking about both what the camera sees and how to move your body in a way you like as it’s reflected back to the lens. So in a sense you are both looking out and then flipping it around and looking back. Another reason I love self portraits is the ability to create solely for the purpose of creation. They are for nobody but you! so do whatever you want. Look ugly! Wear something wild! You can completely let yourself go because nobody even has to see them but you. It also allows you to do whatever you want in terms of styling, setup, and direction. That true creative freedom to just be, it’s liberating. I love being able to shut the world out and just focus on what’s in front of me. I am not directing anyone. I am not bribing anyone. Nobody is paying me. It’s just me and the camera. At first that can also feel a little scary, sometimes it can be really hard to sit with just yourself. It can be really hard to see yourself in a photo and love what you see. For so many reasons I love my time alone with my camera, for I have to confront my imperfections but can do so without extra eyes or judgment. I have also found the more often I face my imperfections the less imperfect they feel.

That’s a glimpse of my “why” so let’s talk “how”. First, if you don’t have a tripod, get one. $30 on amazon will do the trick. If not you’ll find yourself stacking random crap and praying your camera doesn’t fall off.

Okay let’s talk settings. My settings are going to change depending on what my intention is while I’m shooting. But generally speaking, I set my ISO and if I am shooting in autofocus, which I sometimes do for self portraits, then I will usually set my aperature between 4-6 so there’s more room for error on focus. HOWEVER. I will definitely shoot wide open if I think it will be better for my creative goal- like maybe I am kind of hoping for things to be out of focus or I really hope to get a creamier depth. I also vary my shutter speed depending on the same factors. I do not hesitate to have a shutter speed of 1/40, but if it’s important for everything to be crisp, then I’ll adjust accordingly. Though in my personal instance I cannot remember the last time I cared about having movement blur.. My suggestion would be to think about if you have a specific goal in mind, and if you don’t then push yourself to try new things because sometimes you fall into a beautiful mistake.

To set focus (a question I get a lot), I use two different methods literally just depending on my mood. For both auto/manual focus I use the same system. I think about how much space I’m going to take up, and I set a prop accordingly. My goal is to set my focus based off where I think my head’s going to be (give or take) in the frame. Sometimes I have one of my kids step in and get their faces about where I think mine’s going to be, sometimes I’ll set a chair or literally whatever I have that’s convenient to grab. But I do try to be mindful about my face, because even with a narrow aperature most of the time i’m looking to have my face in focus. I like using manual focus. I think it’s fun to experiment with getting the right amount of out of focus blur. Sometimes I do keep it on autofocus though, and just select my prop (again, where I think my face or whatever my main focus is going to be). I almost always check after my first snap of myself and see what the focus is looking like so I can make adjustments before doing more.

On your camera, you can set it up to where it’s continuously snapping for you at a specific time interval. I actually haven’t used this yet but it seems like it makes sense to try it out! I am really, really old school and set the self timer. 10 seconds. It’s usually plenty of time for me to get set. This might not be a practical option if you are a good distance from your camera or have an intricate or specific pose. I know some people use the remote shutter app on their phone so you can just tap when you’re ready. I don’t have it, so I can’t say much about it. Sometimes, I’m a cheater. I get everything set up and myself positioned, and then I have one of my kids tap the back of the screen (you can get really accurate focus if it’s on auto focus and you tell them where to tap lol), or push the shutter. So technically that way I guess it’s not a true self portrait, but literally everything but pushing the button applies. It’s also fun for them to feel like they’re the photographer, so we have fun with it even if I can’t claim the photo cred. I will also say having an assistant like a kid, husband, friend, whatever, handy might help you when you’re prepping and trying to set your focus too. Good times.

Another question I get asked a lot is about finding inspiration and planning. While this isn’t something I can really give a straightforward answer on, I can give a little bit of insight for myself. Before I take self portraits I almost always have some kind of intention, but that does NOT mean I have a specific pose, shot, or idea. Sometimes it’s incredibly generic and I just run with it. The theme on my mind might be “Monochrome” or revolved around color choice, “Shooting somewhere in the house I usually don’t”, “movement”, “reflections”, maybe I’m using it as an outlet when I’m going through something or I’m wanting to hold on to what feels like our everyday moments. Sometimes the less planning I do and the more in the moment work I put in, the more I like the result. For me, inspiration can kind of come like a lightning bolt and strike me randomly. I might be stewing on something for a while and then it finally hits me of how I want to try and execute. Sometimes stories play in my mind before I go to sleep. And sometimes there isn’t even a story there, I just want to shoot and I am the most convenient subject. I honestly believe, though, that by exploring self portraiture with whatever “story” or even lack-there-of, it has a million percent improved the way I work with my clients and approach other aspects of my photography work.

I feel like I’ve hit a lot of highlights, but I also think I could go ON and ON about this subject. Some final tricks that might be helpful for you:

*USE A MIRROR. set it up behind your camera so you can see how you look.

^^If you go to my BTS video on Instagram you will see that I have a mirror placed right behind my camera so I could check myself. I don’t do this every time, but sometimes it’s fun and helpful!

*if attempting double exposure- set your interval timer and do not just use the self timer option. It’s really hard to run back and fourth and try and get things in the same spot or lined up where you want.

taken without using the interval timer.. but because I was doing it with Maddox I could have him stand there and use him as a reference. I have also done them just with myself but holy cow it’s a lot of back and fourth and needing to be relatively specific.

*be overly weird with perspectives, crops, movement, etc. Playing safe leads to safe results.

*You will probably “fail” more than once. Especially if you have a very specific goal. Keep trying. You also might have a million shitty shots and only get ONE that you’re into. Keep practicing.

^^Here are a handful of my fails from my most recent self portrait session.

*You don’t have to take them with the intention to share with anybody. I have a million that I doubt anyone will see. I’m glad I took them.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared this series….
not my favorite, glad i have them.

*light and posing makes a huge impact just like with clients. You can change the feeling of your self portraits using the same exact setup just by switching up your angles, body language, or where you are in relation to the light source.

^^ These were all taken at the same time and copy + pasted editing settings. The difference is my position to the light source changed. In the last two I am very close to the direct window light. The first two I am further from it and intentionally going for a more cinematic mood with light and shadow play. Imagine if I was smiling or making eye contact and how that would change everything too.

Breaking down self portraits

Megan Springer

Breaking down self portraits

Permission

Home (with Henry + co)

Megan Springer