How to create a sparkle in the eyes of a portrait shot?

Question

In this photograph I have been told, that the eyes are looking like "black pools", which I do realize now.

What should be an ideal placement of ONE artificial light source (lamp/flash), so that eyes have a sparkle in "portrait" shots?
If this depends on certain conditions please list down them too.

Answer

To get a "catchlight", which is the term for the reflection of a light in the eyes, you'll need to put a light somewhere that the eye reflects. (Sorry if that seems obvious.) Essentially, this means someplace that the eyes can see.

If your subject is facing the camera, the obvious place for a light is near the camera -- this will create a reflection near the center of the eye. A popular way to do this in portrait and fashion photography is with a ring light -- a light that wraps around the lens. This creates a circular catchlight that will wrap around the subject's pupils if they look directly into the lens. Another way to do this is with a catch card or bounce card, as Gapton points out, or with the on-camera flash. In this case, I think a bounce card will be too high, and be shadowed by your subject's eyelids.

Likewise, a light placed above and to the right of the camera will create a catchlight above and to the right of the center of the eye.

In your case, since your subject is looking down and to the left, you'll probably want to place a light at low camera left. You could also place the light near the camera, and get a catchlight to the right of the pupil. If you place it to the right of your camera, your subject's left (camera right) eye might catch it, but on the outside edge. Chances are, the nose would shadow the other eye, preventing a catchlight from appearing.

Adding a light to create a catchlight will affect the mood of your photograph -- for one, the catchlight "puts a sparkle in your eye", literally speaking, and will convey that emotion onto your subject. Second, the light that creates the catchlight will also light the rest of the face, and may take away the shadow that makes the photograph seem somber and pensive.

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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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How to take self portraits without a remote?

Question

How can I take a self-portrait without using a remote?

My camera is a Canon Powershot SX210 IS. I do not have a remote, but I do have a tripod.

Answer

A timer. Your camera should have a timer. In fact your camera should have what it calls a 'FaceSelf-Timer' I believe.

In general, with a timer - you set you camera to take a picture after a predetermined set of time (like 2 or 10 seconds). You press the button, hop in front of the camera, and it takes the picture after the number of seconds.

A'FaceSelf-Timer', a Canon feature, takes a picture a number of seconds (2 I believe) after it detects your face. So you the camera in that mode, press the button, hop in front of the camera, it takes your picture two seconds after it detects your face.

Some general self portrait tips can be found here and here.

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How can I get a 'touristy' photo of myself when travelling alone?

Question

I'll shortly be travelling to new york and staying with a friend (but mostly touring on my own). As much as I enjoy regular photography my only regret from my last holiday is that I didn't have any photos of myself there! So I'd like to take some touristy photos of myself infront of some of the big landmarks.

I've got a crop sensor Canon with my widest lens being 18mm and a point and shoot, neither of which give me a wide enough shot hand held at arms length. I've considered hiring a wider lens, using a wide angle filter, asking others or putting the camera down and using timer but I was wondering if anyone had better solutions?

Answer

I once saw someone taking this kind of picture using a light monopod. He hand-held the monopod and used the camera's self-timer to get the shot. The camera was a Point and Shoot. He sometimes used street objects such as park benches, trash cans, cars, etc, to help reduce camera shake.

The monopod was used just to avoid being so close to the camera, it was still being handheld. I asked him what he was doing and he showed me some of the pictures. He had some practice doing it because he had some real good shots. In most shots he tried to frame himself with elbows out of the picture, thus hiding the monopod!

Hope this helps! ['O]

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