Self-Portraits

While it is difficult for people who like to be behind the camera to take self-portraits, it is something you ought to try out when you get the chance. I don’t believe practice always makes perfect, but it does push you further toward the finish line than those who do not try. For my twenty-fifth birthday, I decided to try a self-portrait inside a lensball to see how it would turn out. As seen in figure 8.1a, the concept was to have me holding a lensball with me floating inside. This project consisted of three separate images to build what you see in the final image. Although it is not one of my best images, it was still extremely fun to do and can teach you different ways of photographing and post-processing. Figures 8.1b, 8.1c, and 8.1d break down the steps I took to create the final image.

This next shot is one of my most seen images, which was shot basically on a whim (figure 8.2a). The picture, titled Reminiscence, is composed of two separate photos taken on two different occasions that were warped together in Photoshop. figure 8.2b is the first picture I ever took of a lensball, which wasn’t even mine. My friend Michael decided to bring the ball to the beach as a prop during one of our shoots. I took a few shots of it on the sand and in the water and didn’t think much of it for a while. I didn’t even create the final image until a few months later when I thought of a neat idea for a couple portrait for Nicole and I.

Figure 8.2c was an initial couple self-portrait I took with Nicole earlier that summer, and I saw that I could color grade it to match the tones in the lensball photo. After a few back-and-forth edits, I created one of the most recognized lensball photos just because I had an idea and ran with it. You never know when you will create your masterpiece unless you go out and keep capturing.

Create Props for Your Prop

There are some photos where your props may need props (figure 8.3a). At one point in my photography career, I designed bokeh filters with intricate cut-out shapes that could be placed over your lens to transform the background lights into whatever the shape was (figure 8.3b). Figure 8.4 is an example of a snowflake filter I made to frame a lensball photo of a Christmas tree. My other hobbies like 3D printing integrated well into my lensball photography as I designed and printed different stands to hold up the ball for a Halloween themed shot (figure 8.5). Utilizing your other creative outlets can make your photos stand out from the rest.

Word Play

Since the lensball is essentially a spherical magnifying glass, why not use it to highlight words or phrases for your photo? Placing the ball in front of neon text can help add emphasis to the message (figure 8.6). Typically, artsy neon signs have something meaningful to say, unless it is a sign for fast food. But because art is subjective, feel free to test it out and see which signs work best for your image.

Artificial Framing

Lastly, you can also resort to Photoshop when it comes to creating something interesting. To add an additional compositional element into your image, custom framing can be used to bring the viewer’s attention into the image. For example, figure 8.8 features an inverse square frame of the image to outline the lensball. Although this isn’t necessary for the photo, it does keep your attention a few seconds longer than if it wasn’t there. I did this by stacking a double horizontaland vertical-flipped image of the original photo as a layer in Photoshop, and then masking out a shape to act as a frame.

There are so many different ways to incorporate new ideas into your creative process. Find something that you think will look nice and go for it. You create for yourself, and if other people like it, that’s a plus. There are many concepts I have drawn up in the past that never left my Lightroom application, but it is because of those failures that I have learned what not to do in the future. Practice isn’t what makes perfect, but it does make you a whole lot more experienced.