How to make taking self-portraits for your business easy (and fun!)
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After showing you my how-to for stunning product photos, we’ll move right onto one of the most annoying and uncomfortable, yet most important, ways to use photography to market your business on social media: self-portraits.
You might ask, but what’s the difference between a selfie and a self-portrait?
A selfie is any photo where you are physically holding your phone or camera to take the photo.
A self-portrait is a photo taken utilising a self timer on your phone or camera.
While there’s nothing wrong with taking selfies and using them on your business social media pages (I do, too), my social media coach Jasmine Star highly recommends learning how to take self-portraits as a way to make your photos look more put-together.
Here are a few tips that will help you take professional looking self-portraits!
#1 Aim for natural light
You might remember it from my blog posts about product photography and flatlays: I am a huge fan of natural light.
Natural light, that is light provided by the sun, is a great tool to make your photos look natural.
Natural light is, in my opinion, the best way to light your photos. It not only looks great and more authentic on social, it’s also free and available everywhere…kind of. I’ve just moved into a new place and I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to figure out where the best spots for natural light are, depending on time of the day, weather… we’ll see what autumn and winter will be like.
The best natural light is usually next to a window (inside) or outside in the shade. The goal is to avoid direct sunlight to limit harsh shadows and extreme contrast.
#2 Use the self-timer and different framing techniques on your camera or phone to take great self-portraits
No photographer? No problem! Today’s phone cameras have brilliant self-timers, which make it easy to time your self-portraits. The same goes for cameras. Or you can get a cheap self-timer trigger for your camera.
#3 Stick to easy poses at the beginning
Hands in pocket (cool and casual), leaning forward (avoid looking stiff or overly-posed by leaning forward a bit), looking down / away (you don’t have to be looking at the camera), over the shoulder (gaze off into the distance…), touching hair (if you don’t know what to do with your hands, like we all do)… there are so many options!
Don’t forget: practice makes progress.
If you wan’t to learn more about photography for social media and how to create the most engaging social media content, take Jasmine Star’s SOS (Selling on Social) course and become an alumni like me. Or join her social media membership Social Curator and learn how to make your business stand out on a monthly basis , including captions, photos and more! I can’t thank Jasmine Star and her team enough for all the knowledge they’re sharing with their community and I want to share it with you too.
