Four years ago, when I was 15, I took a self portrait which has become one of my favourite self-portraits to date. I used my Canon G2 with flipout screen. It was quite simple - just hold the camera in one hand, turn it towards me, compose in the LCD screen, and snap away till I got that lucky shot which I liked so much!
It was for the "Black & White Portrait" Challenge on DPC. Initially it was another shot from the series that I liked best and entered, and I got a respectable 7th place from it, but over time the outtake grew on me. A couple of months ago I decided to enter it into the "Best of 2002" Challenge here, where it also did quite well!
For the Free Study challenge last week, I thought it would be interesting to try and reproduce that shot. I would have a more up-to-date version where I didnt look so young, which could perhaps replace the old one as being my fav, and I wouldnt have to show people such an old picture of me if they wanted to know what I looked like! It was also an experiment to see if I had the skill to reproduct something exactly which was just pure luck the first time around.
It was very challenging! Getting the lighting right was very tricky, since before I'd just placed my desklamp on my bed randomly, and setting my 300D up in the right place on a tripod was just as challenging because before it was hand held. This time I didnt have a flip-out LCD screen to compose on either! After a few attempts I managed to get the pose almost the same, and the lighting roughly correct, but it took many attempts to get it as close as I did in the end. I still don't think it's spot on, especially the placement of the hand, but after such a long time I was getting fed up, and it was the best I had!
So, here are the 2 shots, side by side, so you can all see how I've "matured", hehe :)
 
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