This blog post was inspired by a challenge I faced in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on a lookout over the river, parliament, and the locks of the Rideau canal. The view from that lookout was absolutely perfect, so I took a lot of pictures. I also wanted a picture with me on it, and not just any picture. I knew exactly what I wanted: I found the angle and composition so the picture would have the locks on one side of me, and parliament on the other.
And then came the challenge of getting this picture. I went through several photographers over a span of two days (exhausted the supply of people on the first day and I had other places to be so I had to come back later) before I finally found someone who both saw the possibilities of the angle and understood the directions I gave her.
Suffice it to say I was very happy to finally get what I wanted. It got me thinking about what I (can) do when I want a picture of myself that is not a selfie (selfies I only take as a last resort).
Tripod: The easiest way to get a picture of yourself just the way you want it is to take it yourself, using a tripod. I have a lightweight tripod, but it still takes up a lot of room, so I usually don’t bring it with me. In this case it wouldn’t have helped me anyway since the angle I wanted was too high to achieve with my tripod. But if you don’t mind carrying one around and have the time to set it up to take a picture, then this is by far the best course of action. If the photo fails you have no one to blame but yourself.
Look for fancy cameras: Usually, though there are exceptions, a person with a good and expensive DSLR camera knows what they’re doing. They’ll understand the composition you’re going for either without prompting or by your directions. Of course this is no guarantee, but you stand a better chance of finding a good photographer this way. There were none on the lookout point on both days that I was there, unfortunately.
Give directions: Speaks for itself, but if you want a certain picture you have to explain what you want to the person taking the picture. Hopefully they understand and have skill enough to at least approximate what you want. My frustration that first day came from the fact that everyone I asked managed to put me in front of the locks or in front of parliament, rather than get the locks on one side of me and parliament on the other.
Reverse it: Take someone else’s picture first and then tell them you want it just like that. Sometimes this doesn’t work either.
Ask for multiple pictures: Memory is cheap, having one photo that turns out blurry is the absolute worst. There are so many times when you ask for a picture that someone does just that, one picture. Nowadays I ask if they can take a couple pictures. That helps.
Hand over your phone: Basically everyone has a smart phone these days and knows how to take pictures with it. Instead of handing someone your camera (which they might not be experienced enough to handle) give them your phone when you ask for a picture. I’ve had some luck using this approach. Only downside, no RAW format photos, but at least you get the shot you want.
Persevere: Maybe the most important thing. Keep going until you get what you want. This may be the hardest thing because it’s easy to get dejected when things don’t work out, time after time, after time.
But it does get you results!
