Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing some of the “self-portrait assignment” contenders with you. I would love to hear your thoughts! Here’s the first, taken earlier this afternoon when I took my girl to the public library. I used some of the books on one shelf as a makeshift tripod, looking through to the next aisle in the stacks. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember all the settings I had, as I was kind of “flying by the seat of my pants,” so to speak. I do know I set the ISO to 1600 because I think someone told me that would keep the auto flash from popping up … 
Happened to notice a book about one of my favorite authors (Agatha Christie) and thought that would make a lovely prop to both tell something about myself, and to hide behind! LOL So I set the timer, ran around the corner and CLICK! So what do you think? Don’t be shy … and there will be more coming. I actually have another idea, but it will take a bit more staging than this impromptu portrait session.
A Scribbler & A Shutterbug 
This is impeccable! I love it. 🙂
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Are you supposed to be in the picture or is the picture supposed to represent you without you being in it? I think I would like this picture better if a couple of things were different…. it being closer up, and only your hands and a bit of the top of your head showing over the book, as though it were taken from below looking up. Great idea though.
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Oh, and how my daughter did a lot of her pictures that she had to “be” in was she would have me stand in her place and test out positioning and then she’d do it with herself beating the timer. 🙂 You could recruit your daughter to be you for test shots to see how the layout worked.
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@pottermom – I think it is pretty much up to us how much of us is in our portrait. I do know that some part of us has to be in the shot. He gave an example from a previous class — the woman most clearly saw herself as a “mom” — she had three very small children, so she had two of them hanging on one leg and the other clinging to the other leg and she shot down — so I guess the picture was of her kids clinging to her legs, looking up. This was a total moment of spontaneity … I am trying to remember to take my camera with me EVERYWHERE, and so I grabbed it when I got out of the truck today. I don’t even think I had it in my mind to do this shot until I was walking through the stacks.I think I’m okay with the angle, but I think I need to crop it in a bit closer. I’ll play a little more and upload it … see what ya’ll think then.
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Cropping is ok – but in this one you are lined up about 1/3rd of the way in the frame. My photography class from mumble years ago taught that photos are more interesting when the subject is lined up on a third, rather that square in the middle. I liked the cropped one too, though. You may play with cropping it where you’re a little off-center and see if you like that.
Good luck!
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