Self Portrait Photography Tips

Self portrait photography is not a new concept to me as ever since I embarked on a solo travel adventure to Greece last year. I experienced liberation from being able to take my photos. In this post, I wanted to share my self portrait photography tips that will hopefully help you experience the freedom that comes from not having to rely on anyone to take your photos.

Now you don’t have to be a blogger, or Instagrammer does learn self portrait photography. You can do this for your clients primarily if you work in content creation field os embark on that solo adventure across the world and worry not about no one being there to take your photos. Let’s face it if we don’t document it; it’s almost as though it didn’t happen. Just joking 🙂

Do you and worry not

My favourite of self portrait photography tips is don’t care about what random passer by’s may think about you strutting in front of your tripod in the middle of nowhere. Just remember you are here for yourself and someone judging you, is probably all in your head, and even if they are judging you, that only shows their personality and not in the best light if you ask me. If anything, I have so many people come up to me and ask if they can help, which is so lovely.

Trust your gut

My second self portrait photography tip is to be careful in big cities like London and Paris and if you are shooting places like this, go early morning in the sunrise. I say this because unfortunately the level of petty crime in big cities in Europe is on the rise and I have almost had my camera stolen from me by two guys on a moped. I shot in the middle of the day on Columbia road in East London when they rode by and grabbed my camera.

Luckily I managed to rescue it but not without few bruises. Remain vigilant, and if your intuition tells you not to do it, so please don’t. Having said this, I only had one instance of negative experience in comparison to a full year of great experiences, so this bad experience taught me a lesson which I also want you to know. London is a fantastic city, but when you have so many people living in one place, unfortunately, crime is inevitable.

One of my friends Helen from the Style Structure self shot herself in New York and had no issues, but she mainly shot in the early morning. Sunrise is the best light, and you will be so happy to witness the sunrise and benefit from the golden hour light.

Tripod

Self portrait photography tip three is to get a good quality tripod. This will depend on what camera you have, but if you do have an expensive DSLR, you want to make sure that your tripod is sturdy enough to hold it. I go into more details about tripods in my Photography Guide for Beginners and the difference between different tripods. Since I carry my tripod on travels, I like to have its weight around 1kg.

I’m currently using Benro Slim Travel Tripod, and I love it. It’s not able to support my Canon 5D Mark iii with 24-70mm lens in portrait mode as the lens is quite hefty. However, if I shoot horizontally, I don’t have an issue. I shoot in the portrait mode quite a bit, so I always end up travelling with my 35mm lens which goes amazingly with my tripod. Another essential thing to consider when buying a tripod is its height. I like my tripod to be as tall as I am so it can shoot photos of me as a reasonable person would.

Intervalometer Timer Remote Control

My last of my self portrait photography tips is the VILTORX® Intervalometer Timer remote control. This little controller is a, and it will replace your need for Instagram husband instantly. You can set it up to take photos indefinitely on a time set that you prefer. You attach it, turn it on and voila it will shoot until you are tired of posing. It changed my life.

I cover how to pose, and differnely lighting techniques in my Photography Guide for Beginners so make sure you check it out if you are interested in taking your photogprahy skills to the next level by learning how to manoeuvre your camera.

Let me know in the comments below if you would like to try and take your own photos? Do you find these tips helpful? I have captured the images in this post by myself on my solo travels and as you can see, if you follow my tips above, you can achieve candid shots on your own.

Lots of love

Tania xxx