How do i focus a self portrait?

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holderbeam

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M J Holder
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Well it isnt quite just a self portrait i am planning on taking a picture of a party scene and all the guests will basically be me. So what i plan to do is take several pictures of me in different positions and im going to photoshop them all to gether to get a whole party scene heres an example of what i plan to do on a larger scale

(didnt want to post pic without permission)
http://www.michellewilliamsonline.com/news/michelle-williams-alter-ego-photo-shoot

so any tips for how i should focus each picture?

cheers
 
Manually.

Put something in the position you will want to be in, focus on it, shoot with enough depth of field that a few inches either way is not going to be crucial and off you go :)
 
holderbeam said:
Well it isnt quite just a self portrait i am planning on taking a picture of a party scene and all the guests will basically be me. So what i plan to do is take several pictures of me in different positions and im going to photoshop them all to gether to get a whole party scene heres an example of what i plan to do on a larger scale

(didnt want to post pic without permission)
http://www.michellewilliamsonline.com/news/michelle-williams-alter-ego-photo-shoot

so any tips for how i should focus each picture?

cheers
Click to expand...

Funny, most of the parties I go to are like that...
 
If you are going to be in a number of different positions, you are going to need an aperture that gives you sufficient depth of field to keep all of those positions in focus.

If you try to change focus between shots, it may give you problems when you try to merge them later.
 
Scarecrow said:
If you try to change focus between shots, it may give you problems when you try to merge them later.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Also using soft furniture is a problem, hard furniture doesn't squash and move so much :D

For mine I just set the focus and exposure for the scene, leave exposure in manual and switch focus to manual.

Not very good but it was just for a 365

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq311/cyclone_2008_photos/365/365_16.jpg

honestly if you can avoid the sofa then do :lol:
 
Scarecrow said:
If you are going to be in a number of different positions, you are going to need an aperture that gives you sufficient depth of field to keep all of those positions in focus.

If you try to change focus between shots, it may give you problems when you try to merge them later.
Click to expand...

Having a shallow DoF wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing but you are right, it must not change from shot to shot. If you want all the versions of you in focus you'll obviously need a high F number but don't re-focus between shots. Just pick the 'main' focus point (put something there in your place to focus on) and then shoot all the images with that focus point. Best way is to use manual focus or change to manual focus after you've used auto focus so it doesn't change when you press the shutter each time.
 
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