For this week’s Shooting Challenge, 168 of you were brave enough to not only share your photography, but to share a little piece of yourself with it. The results are sometimes funny, sometimes haunting and sometimes beautiful.
https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-self-portrait-5548426
Lead Shot
Black backdrop behind my head
2 Costco cat food containers on either side of my head
2 Nikon SB-800’s with a 1/2 cut of blue gel on top of those containers, sitting flush against the lips of the containers so the light does not spill down, just straight out
I put a clear cooking dish on those flashes, resting the handles of the dish on the heads of the flash so they fire directly into the dish
I put 2 black material go betweens on top of the dish’s handles to direct the light into the dish and not up, making the dish and the water the light for the face
Shot with a Nikon D700 with a Nikon 17-35mm lens at F8, 1/250sec at ISO 200, shutter and flashes were wireless
-Ryan Holloway
Sketchy Character
i used a 10 MP Sanyo camera, Photoshop CS3, gimp 2.6, and graphite pencils on paper.
The reason i didnt use a real photo of myself is because i hate having my picture taken. I think my art and were i make it shows more of my personality than my own appearence, thats also why i drew it in pencil, gives it kinda a wispy look but also to be an impermanent medium.
[Ed note: I didn’t make much clear regarding Photoshops for this challenge—my fault. But I love these sketch-based photo compositions, and this has a particularly wonderful mise-en-scène.]
-Nick Strait
Shot on a Cellphone
Self-Portrait shot with iPhone 3GS, using the Hipstamatic Camera app with ambient light from my MacBook Pro.
-Justin Berger
My Little Angel
Shot with a Canon 30d
Sigma 17-70 lens
Handheld shot of myself, addition of a halo with some post editing. Converted to Black and White.
[Ed note: Is the halo sincere? I think so…but the slightest touch of ambiguity in the expression leaves me wondering. Love that.]
-Andy Graber
Photoshop-free
This photo was taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XS. I used a 50/1.8 lens reversed onto a 100-300 zoom lens to capture it. Other settings: ISO-400, f/4.5, 1/100th of a second.
[Ed note: A fantastic take on the classic camera-forward reflection self-portrait.]
-Andy Cribb
Ginger Jokes Will Ensue
Camera: Canon 50D
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8
ISO 200
f/1.8
1/50 second exposure
Taken by holding my camera at arm’s length in between reading a few magazines at Borders.
[Ed note: Perfect crop]
-Donny Warbritton
Nothing Subtle
I shot this picture using my Canon EOS 7D with the kit lens, 28-135, mounted on a tripod. The settings for the final shot were F/7.1, ISO 100, 1/250
-Branden Kerr
Wake Up
Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: Nikon 18-105mm
ISO 1600
f/3.5
1/8 sec exposure
Nobody is more themselves than when they first wake up in the morning, so I set up my camera on my bedside table the night before. The first thing I did when I woke up was to grab the remote and click off a few.
[Ed note: Clever and effective.]
-Sean Edwards
Revenge of the Nerd
“Giant Rampant Nerd” The background picture was taken on my commute home. Picture of myself, smoke, and helicopters were added later in PS
-Phil Gullett
Photoshop-free Part II
Camera: Sony a700
Lens(es): Minolta 50mm 1.7 / Sigma 24mm 2.8
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/80
Aperture: 1.7 / 2.8
Lighting: Alien Bees ab800 (camera right high through octabox)
For this shot, I first used my 50mm at 1.7 for the portrait of my face (the photo on the iPad), the bottom half of my torso (photo on the Macbook) and used the iphone’s camera to take a picture of the couch behind it. I then put the photos on the devices an spent about an eternity lining up all the devices with my body, shooting almost 100 takes with the 24mm lens at 2.8.
-Jonathan Vazquez
WTF?
Canon EOS 5D MARK II, F/4.0, ISO 250, Alien bee B800 flash unit with rectangular giant softbox, plain black paper background
After watching Hellraiser, I was reminded of the infamous chains pulling a poor man apart death scene
[Ed note: I say “WTF” with love.]
-Severine Arend
The Impressionist
The image was captured using a Canon G9 placed inside a shoe-box-camera-obscura. Tech specs: Canon Powershot G9, 15 sec exposure, f/2,8, ISO400
-Tommy Poulsen
Floating
Canon G11
I used ISO 80, f/4 at 1/640
[Ed note: The execution crossed with the grain makes this shot wonderfully eerie.]
-Loui Nydelius
Beers on the Front Porch
Nikon D80, Homebuilt Budweiser pinhole lens mounted on a drilled lens cap, ASA 3200, 4 second exposure.
[Ed note: Something about a guy drinking a Bud on his porch, lighting a cigarette, potential bottle of moonshine at his back, captured with a Bud-based camera…it’s bursting with charm, topped off with the lightest touch of self-deprication.]
-Jay Wood
WINNER
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: 24mm
F: 2.2
Speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
the flame is real as well, ie not photoshopped in. i set up my camera on a tripod, set up the lights and had to take the picture very quickly
[Ed note: loved the subject, the composition, and the (possibly unintentional) literal but playful take on the old idiom, “out of the frying pan, into the fire.”]
-Josh Romine
Thanks to everyone who participated for elevating what could have been a bunch of lame Facebook portraits to real art. Enjoy all the entrants in the three galleries below or on flickr. Just note, there are occasional reasonable but possibly NSFW photos mixed in—depending on the prudishness of your workplace.
Gallery 1 (single page view)
https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-self-portrait-gallery-part-1-5551930
Gallery 2 (single page view)
https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-self-portrait-gallery-part-2-5552103
Gallery 3 (single page view)
https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-self-portrait-gallery-part-3-5552127
