SELF PORTRAIT IDEAS TO TRY AT HOME
10 CREATIVE SELF PORTRAIT IDEAS TO TRY AT HOME!
I’ve been getting into self portraits a lot recently because of being stuck at home, so I thought I would share some creative ideas with you to try out! If you also want to join me, I post a new challenge every week on my instagram @capturedbyabbey where you can shoot along with me!! LETS GET STARTED
BE INSPIRED BY ONE COLOR
All you literally have to do it go to your closet and find a shirt you like and just go off of that. I found this yellow shirt and put it over a yellow dress and decided I wanted to add some yellow paint to my face. I recommend you have 2 or 3 things in the image that are the same color if you do this idea. For example have the backdrop, a piece of jewelry, and your makeup all be purple. This makes it easier for people who see your image to realize that you wanted it to be focused on just one color! It also makes your image stand out more!
2. USE RANDOM OBJECTS IN YOUR HOUSE
Take a nice little wander around your kitchen, or your bedroom and see if anything stands out or inspires you. You could use fruit, glass cups/vases, pets, something sparkly, etc. This is honestly what I do whenever I can’t think of anything for my portraits and they always turn out so fun!!
3. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF NATURAL LIGHTING
Lighting is key when it comes to photography, especially portraits! The best is to take note of the lighting in your house and see if you can see any cool shadows the windows make or to just shoot at golden hour. The best is playing around with shadows! You can use different items to create unique shadows on yourself. It can also make for awesome shots of your eyes and up close face photos!!
4. MIRRORS !
Whether it’s a small makeup mirror or a giant one you have in your room. Mirrors make for an awesome object to spice up your images and can help you be more creative. I’ve seen lots of videos on tiktok of people putting a mirror on the ground outside and shooting through the mirror and the images always turn out awesome! The lighting is always great, and the angle just makes it look cool. You can also use mirrors in rooms, for example you could shoot in the bathroom with a little mirror, or even a mirror on a car!
5. TRY PROJECTOR PHOTOS
This photo is not edited or anything my apologies, BUT I have a mini projector I got from amazon here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/Leisure-Upgraded-Portable-Projector-Compatible/dp/B078KF8CSX/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=mini+projector&qid=1587168786&sr=8-3
With projector photos you need to find photos on your phone/computer that have a cool pattern or color you think will look cool for yourself. Once I found the photos I wanted to project on myself I just started playing around with it and it was super fun to shoot in a darker setting instead of just have a white background.
6. SPICE UP THE BACKDROP/BACKGROUND
I have three backdrops that I have been using the past three months here’s a link to the brand I use:
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Seamless-Background-Paper-Coral/dp/B000B782ZC/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=seamless+backdrop+pink&qid=1587169029&sr=8-3
BUT these are just plain colored backdrops and we are tryina get creative here! I have a few table cloths that I bought from dollar tree that I hang over my backdrops all the time to change up the color and to add some texture. You can also get so many other items from dollar tree to add to your backdrop. You can also create stuff at home to add to the backdrop. In this image below I just happened to walk into my little sisters room before shooting and I noticed to had some butterflies she had colored and hung up and I thought they were so cute, and I asked to use those for my backdrop. I just tapped them to a dollar tree table cloth and that’s how it turned out! The simplest things make for the greatest photos.
7. BODY PAINT
Paint can honestly turn out to be THE COOLEST thing in photos. There’s so many ideas on Pinterest with body paint, but you can do whatever you want. If that means you’re going to paint your whole entire face, paint something on your hand, or do a few doodles on your face. Paint itself can lead to so many fun ideas and concepts! I’ve shot a lot with paint and the images never turn out the same! Highly recommend paint!
8. BASE YOUR SHOT OFF OF A SONG OR MUSIC ARTIST!
A while back I was really inspired by billie eilish’s music video “when the party’s over” so I decided to take some self portraits based off of it. I used a white sheet from my house and went out in my garage and hung up the sheet and put a cardboard box on the ground and mixed up a little drink and started shooting. Yes it did take some photoshop because it may look like a studio but it definitely was not haha. So don’t expect them to turn out exactly like this if you try a sheet, because it might take some editing and photoshopping…but TOTALLY worth it in the end!
9. TRY PUTTING THINGS BY OR IN FRONT OF THE LENS
Putting something in front of the lens gives for an AWESOME effect and makes your photos stand out so much!! This is a fake flower pedal that I used and I love the results! You can do this with literally anything! A piece of paper, a prism, a blanket, your hand, etc. the possibilities are also endless with this one and it makes for a really creative shot!
10. MAKE A COLLAGE OUT OF YOUR SELF PORTRAITS
Whether this means learning some fun new things on photoshop or making a collage on an app on your phone! Both are so fun to do and make your work so much more creative. I make all of my collages on photoshop and just play around with different colors and shapes.
I hope you can try out one of these 10 ideas! I love taking self portraits and i’ve been learning so much about them that I hope I could help you out in any way! Blog posts are definitely new to me and I’ll have a new post up every week! So stay tuned for advice, tips, and just how my creative process works. Photography is very special to me and I love sharing my work with you guys. Art is something nobody should ever take for granted and I am so very passionate about it. Art is an individual, personal thing for everyone. I want to spread inspiration, joy, and passion through my art and that is why I have decided to start a blog to share that with you. Thank you for following along my journey as I continue to learn and grow throughout these years. Love you all, stay safe, and you will hear from me next week.
<3
abbey raynor (@capturedbyabbey)