How to focus manually on the eyes, for a self portrait without a remote?

Question

Any out of box idea to manually focus on the eyes, for a self portrait? I do have a tripod and the camera has a timer too.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX210 IS

Answer

This is a bit tedious to set up, but it should work:

1. Put the camera on a tripod.
2. Place a stool or chair or a broom or really almost anything where you will want to be in the photo.
3. Focus the camera on that object.
4. After you have focused, switch the camera to manual focus so that it won't change where it's focused.
5. Set the camera to use a self-timer. You'll probably want at least 10 seconds.
6. If you're comfortable with manual exposure settings, use the smallest aperture (larger f-numbers like f/5.6 or f/8) that you can get away with. This will put more in focus which will give you a greater margin of error. (It also helps that your compact camera will have a larger depth of field compared to, say, a DSLR). Using a flash will let you use a smaller aperture also.
7. Remove the object that you focused on, but mark on the floor where it was. The idea is that you've focused the camera at a certain distance, and you're going to place yourself there.
8. Trip the shutter release.
9. Quickly get in position, standing on the mark.
10. Smile!

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