There’s nothing wrong with taking a few photos to post online with your cheap old point-and-shoot digital camera. In fact, a lot of cheap old point-and-shoot cameras can take really amazing photos when they’re used right. And while there’s something to be said for snapshots for the right occasion, if you just went through all the trouble of getting dolled up in your sexiest outfit, nearly killed yourself walking down your stairs in your gorgeous heels, fought with your press-on nails for an hour before realizing that you didn’t put your pantyhose on yet, and agonized in front of the mirror to get your makeup perfect . . . you might as well take 5 minutes to make sure you get a decent photo of yourself
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The most important component to any photograph (especially a “portrait”, or really any photo of a person) is the lighting. And it’s the most frequently overlooked. Let’s get this out of the way right now, the built in flash on your camera is not what I mean by lighting. Some built in flashes are pretty decent, but they should still only be used to help fill in light, not as the primary source. And the reason is that you never see a person in normal life lit completely by a bright light shining straight at their face. It’s just not natural – it flattens out all your features, washes out the color in your skin, and just generally makes a mess of that beautiful makeup you spent all that time on.
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Here’s what happens when you take a good photo (left) and turn on the camera’s built in flash:
See what I mean? You don’t want to look like a pasty colorless ghost in your photos, you want to look like the glamorous woman of your dreams! Or at least that’s what I’m going for. If you want to be a pasty ghost, read no further!
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Right, so you’re still with me. I take it that means you want to be glamorous It’s not that hard, I promise. There are 2-3 important lights in any photo. Sometimes these lights are provided by sources that you wouldn’t expect. Like windows, or even light bouncing off walls (yes, this happens a lot more than you realize!).
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So if you only have 1 light (maybe a lamp in the room, or even an overhead light . . . or perhaps a window) you want to position it above the model, in front of the model, and off to one side. This is light 1 in the diagram below. This is always going to be your primary light, no matter how many lights you have. That’s why we pick this as the only light in a pinch. The drawback of using only 1 light is that you will leave the far half of your face in shadow. Let’s see if you can fix this.
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Light 2 is a very important light, but it’s easy to sub in a window or a wall if you don’t have an actual light. Light 2 is the second light because it should be less bright than light 1. This is really important. If you can’t control the brightness, move it farther away (which has the same effect). Light 2 is called a fill light because you want it to gently fill in the shadows cast by light 1 without scaring them all away. If you don’t have a second light, find a white wall, hang a white sheet, or put yourself with a window off to the side. The white objects will reflect some of the light from light 1, and trust me, this is often plenty of light for a fill light.
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Light 3 is called the hair light and is the least important but adds a very glamorous effect. It should be below and behind the model (you!), and preferably bounced off a wall behind you. Use it as if you wanted to light up the wall.
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Ok, final tip on lighting. Bare bulbs cast really harsh shadows. For a TG especially, harsh shadows are no good. You want to soften your features (without flattening them of course). So put a sheet in front of your lights. Or a lampshade. Or if you really have nothing you can soften the light with, move the lights far away, that also helps.