Selfie-Portraits 101: Testing ideas on yourself.

I have been in my own vortex of inspiration today.  Between new things on my horizon and trying to get appointments set with creators...and planning some photo shoots....it has been a whirlwind day!!!!

I have been winding down my evening with some creations that SHOCKINGLY became very very fun.  I am designing a moldable prop for a shoot on Monday...and in doing so I find that TESTING ideas on myself is typically the best way to see how something could be improved.

I can tell you right off the bat....ohhhh boy - this is going to be interesting! :)  The shapes come out great and so does the metal - but I still have some tweaks on the props to make them semi-perfect.  I would love to say I'll do less photoshop - but some things I just can't always fix "pre". :)  Let's just say - I'm learning a lot.  Not bad for 3 days out from deadline. :)

So here is what I started with:

I am taking this in my bathroom - no glasses - no hair....and just trying to play with face stuff.  Now, my model will be super cute but again, NOT ABOUT ME, i'm just the test subject!!!!  I thought about moving my hand around the face - but previous shots were like "meh" at best.

The props I'm using made it a tad difficult in post because there was still a lot of light in the rolls.  Here you see I've darkened some stuff and added an overlay of the rolls again...to try and make it a tad more interesting.  I wanted to see......WHAT IF? 

Moving on downward...I took myself to another photo and tried to see about my one eye and how i could highlight that.  In doing this - I'm also really removing "me" from the photo and I'm just looking at this character.  I changed the eye color and let the skin stay a tad on the yellow side.  This one had NO lightroom done to it - I opted to use FILL instead of the other method to see what would happen.

You know?  There is a tip, tool and technique for a lot of stuff...but you gotta figure out what works for you and the image.  I'm happy with this...because not only did i get the rolls to look kinda cool - but I added one of my textures from the Creative Live journey in the seminary!!  I have to say, it turned out REALLY WELL.  A great ending AND starting point to new ideas. :)  

TESTING IDEAS ON YOURSELF:

---you get the ideas hammered out quicker than say the DAY OF your shoot.
---tweak the lighting, the props and post-editing to see what will work.
---bring about NEW ideas, different than what you started with.
---helps you SEE yourself differently (removing "you" and focusing on the character)
---and then? more fun for everyone! - if you are comfy in front of the cam, your clients will be too :P