Are you looking for tips for taking your own photos? Here are a few tips to help you with your next self-timer photo shoot!
We’re going on month 3 of our Stay at Home Order and I’ve fully transitioned to taking my own photos at home. While I do miss shooting with my blogger friends and photographers, I feel like I’ve gotten the hang of self-timer photo shoots.
If you’re trying to figure out how to take your own indoor photos,
Here are 7 Self-timer Photo Shoot Tips:
1.Pick a your location
One of the most stressful things about learning how to take my own photos was figuring out where to take them in my apartment. I share in a one bedroom apartment that’s a little over 800 sq ft with my dog Boone and fiancé Brandon. We have a ton of natural light and a whole wall of floor to ceiling windows but we don’t have much blank wall space.
During this time at home, I finally ordered my own backdrop set up from Amazon for $40 and several twin flat sheets in different colors. Now when I take photos at home, I move our coffee table, move our loveseat couch, and open up our blinds to let the natural light in. I set up my back drop and pick a background color (one of the twin flat sheets). In just 10-15 min, I transform my living room into an indoor photo studio!
2. Make sure you have even lighting
I’ve always preferred using natural light in my photos. So I always shoot near the windows to make sure my photos have plenty of even light.
If you’re apartment doesn’t get great light, I’d recommend investing in a ring light. There’s some great ones on Amazon.
3. Set your camera up to 10 second timer and/or download your camera app for remote shooting
One thing that’s made taking self-portraits on self-timer is the Canon app. I bought my Canon M50 from Amazon last year for $650 and this year, I found out you could download the Canon app for free to use remote shooting. I Googled and found a YouTube video that explained how remote shooting works. It wasn’t too hard to set up!
Even on remote shooting, I keep the 10- second timer. 10 seconds gives me enough time to adjust a pose and make sure I’m capturing the shot I envisioned in my head.
4. Start with an idea
Usually for outdoor photo shoots I have several places that I’ve researched and want to shoot at that day. I know if it’s going to be outdoors or indoors and I know if there’s going to be an Instagram-worthy wall.
Since I’m shooting with a solid color backdrop at home, I like to have a central idea prepared for each photo shoot. I’ve used flowers, magazines, desserts, a scrabble board, uno card game, and post it notes as indoor photo shoot ideas.
I recommend bringing 1-2 ideas to your self-timer photo shoot. Planning ahead, even if it’s one or two props you want to play with during the shoot will help you figure out your direction and poses.
5. Pick out your outfits and your props
Personally, I’m still trying on outfits ahead of time and seeing how they look in the mirror. I usually do this for outdoor photo shoots but I’ve found that planning your outfits ahead of time still helps you be more efficient with your time.
Even if you just have a few dresses or tops you want to wear, it helps to have those nearby for your wardrobe change.
6. Look up self-portrait poses ahead of time
After you’ve figured out your self-timer photo shoot ideas, I recommend looking up self-portrait poses on either Pinterest, Google or Instagram. I like seeing how other people decided to pose with flowers, board games, or whatever else props I’m playing with that day.
Sometimes I’ll screenshot the poses I want to make sure I want to try or I’ll pin them to my Pinterest so I can reference them back later.
7. Take a few photos and see if they’re turning out the way you envisioned
Have you ever taken a photo and realized you had something in your teeth? Or that your hair was sticking up? I have… and luckily I took a look at how the photos were turning out and took the something out of my teeth and smoothed out my hair.
I recommend taking a look at every 10 photos (or more) to see how your photos are turning out. You can make sure that you’re capturing what you’re envisioning and you also give yourself the opportunity to adjust if you need to.
What are your tips for taking self-timer photo shoots?
Thank you for reading!
Love,
Emma