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Okay, I only have a few photos of me in full dress. I don't have any friends who know I CD anymore and I wanted to take more pictures. So I've been getting dressed, setting the timer on the camera and taking some photos.

Sadly it's not the same as someone getting that great shot. It's a lot of running over to get in front of the camera and hoping you get the a good pic.

The photos aren't coming out the way I'd like and could use some tips on the best poses, makeup tips for pictures, anything that can help.

Lily,

I too have no CD friends and my family does not know about me. I have taken a few photos with my tripod and timer on my camera. They are not great but do show me en feminine. I do need some work and much help too especially in the makeup area. I would love to chat with you about this. I do not know if I could advise you or not, since I am still new and very much under wraps still. I would love to hear from you.

Erica

The photo thing is highly difficult to get right. I've taken several hundred pics over the years, and there are only a couple of dozen worth sharing. Photo skills are still lacking, but I've managed to relax my standards enough to go ahead and post a few.
I'll never be perfect. Good enough, maybe.

Photography is a deep subject and photographing yourself can be extremely tricky. A lot depends on the environment you have for taking pictures and the equipment you have at your disposal. A few thoughts ...

Telephoto lenses are more flattering than wide angle. Zoom in and move the camera further away for a better look (I like to use at least the equivalent of a 100mm lens on a 35mm camera body.) Don't crowd the frame but crop liberally to make up for not being able to see exactly what you're photographing. Put the camera lens close to eye level unless you have something specific in mind - looking up or down at your subject can be disconcerting.

Lighting also plays a major role in looking your best. Natural light tends to be the easiest to work with. Indoor lighting can be particularly unflattering, and an on-camera flash works best as to fill in shadows and complement natural light. To light yourself well with flashes alone typically requires multiple flashes diffused by bouncing them off something, etc.

The good thing about taking pictures of yourself is also the bad thing: still photos reveal way more than anyone notices when you're right there in front of them in person. So they're great for learning but they're also pretty hard on self-esteem. Just remember how much more critical you'll be of your own appearance than most people when you look at them, and have fun learning!

When I started CDing, there were no others to give me feedback, so my camera was the only feedback. The timer is a nice feature, but in general you are more in hurry to got to the right place than to get the right pose. Upon that issue, the auto-focus is set, when starting the timer not when taking the picture. This often leads to pics with a bad focus. This is problem can also be solved, when moving the camera to the farest possible point and use the optical zoom. Anyway I got tons of shots with reasonable sharpness but me partially cut off the edges.

As Kimburly said: take lots of pics and u will get a few you might like. Even professional photographers take lots of pictures to get the one suitable for the customer. Of course, he has better equipment (esp. lighting) and more experience, so his percentage will be much better. He might get 1 out of 50, I might get 3 of 300 shots. Well... the best feature of digital photography is the fact, that it does not cost money to erase the 200 bad shots and just keep the single one you feel comfortable with.

One idea just come up in my mind. Maybe a webcam can be a reasonable solution. You can watch yourself posing in the screen and then take shots by some sort of remote control (could even be a mouse with long cable). Thats more like a mirror (be sure to activate the mirror option for the screen) with the shooting option. Of course picture quality is not best, but you can control the result before taking the shot. Just an idea...

Web cam. Interesting idea. I gotta try that!

Does anyone know of any photographers that take CD photos in the New England area?

Kimberly Kael wrote:The good thing about taking pictures of yourself is also the bad thing: still photos reveal way more than anyone notices when you're right there in front of them in person. So they're great for learning but they're also pretty hard on self-esteem. Just remember how much more critical you'll be of your own appearance than most people when you look at them, and have fun learning!

I've got an old digital video camera (which also has a freeze frame) and I tried videoing myself on that. The results were quite shocking. What looked more or less like a woman's face in the mirror just dissolved and I could see what is my normal face is under the makeup. I assumed that was something to do with the contrasty nature of the picture the camera produces and also the low (standard indoor) lighting. But I got a very similar result with a (cheap 2nd Hand) digital camera I bought recently.

It does set you back that sort of thing. Apart from anything else, it set me thinking "what do I really look like?" (and therefore "what would I really look like if I appeared in the street, dressed up?"). I know, for example, that when I tilt the makeup mirror I use at various angles I can see that the foundation etc. is kind of a mask on my face, but I never can make it nearly translucent, as it appears with the two cameras. I also know that softer lighting tends to give a more feminine appearance to my made-up face (I guess obviously).

I have the impression that professionally applied makeup and a professional photographer in the right environment can get over these problems. But I would really like to get a record of what I see in the mirror - and also get some sort of reassurance, by taking pictures, that there is some reality to it. Perhaps I should "Woman Up" and spend lots of money on a proper, quality camera but I don't really feel like doing that unless I'm pretty sure of getting a result (eventually).

Lily, one of my GG friends and I will eventually be doing Glamor Shots. What I'm trying to say is just call any one you want and tell them what you are doing and let them set it up so you can get the pictures you want.

Your money is good and I've been out en fem in New England and heck even shopped for breast forms when drab. I don't think people up there will be all stuffy about taking a lovely picture.

If you're worried about what they will think, that's the magic of a phone call. They don't see you and you can just move on if you aren't getting cooperation.