We’ve all done it at one time or another; used our camera or phone to snap a self portrait for something. Back in the MySpace days, I would often use the look up at the camera pose. While a classic, it can get a bit boring. I’d like to think self portrait taking has evolved a little bit. (Hey, at least I never did the scary kissy face thing!)
Self portraits have really evolved. The New York Times Style page recently had an article about the new self portrait. I tried to locate it so I could share it with you, but was unsuccessful. The point is that self photography has moved on from the old days of cameras with film. Now that we’ve gone digital it is oh so much easier to get creative and get a good photo. Or, I can at least not care if the photo does not turn out well, it is really easy to hit delete.

Now, for those of you with smartphones there are plenty of apps that will let you kick it up a bit when trying to capture your essence on the digital canvas. Here are some of my favorites (in no particular order).
Gorillacam: This iPhone app has one very very very handy feature. It lets you take a picture by touching anywhere on the screen. For those of you who have tried to snap a self portrait by hitting the little camera button, you know how much easier this is. It also has a level to make sure that your pictures aren’t a bit askew. Unless that’s what you’re hoping to achieve. Then askew away I say!

PS Express: Here we have a very handy little Photoshop™ application that allows you to do some basic editing on the fly. You can crop, tint, make black and white or add all sorts of effects to photazzle your picture. I’m a fan of black and white myself, so I tend to use that feature quite a lot.
Pop Art Lite: Are you a pop art fan? This is a great app that lets you pop art any photo. How cool is that? It’s ice cold it’s so cool.
Polarize: This one is useless but so much fun. It makes your portraits go all old school funk by turning them in to Polaroid™ style photos. You can even tag the bottom with something witty to share with your friends. For those of you who don’t know Polaroid (or other instant camera makers), here is a little link to help you out!

There you have a few of my favorite ways to make a self portrait look not so self portrait-y. It only takes a few minutes and some ingenuity, and people will look at my Facebook account or Twitter page and wonder how I got so crazy creative.
What are some of your favorite ways or tools to shake up a self portrait?
P.S. I would like to add that I paid absolutely nothing for these apps. How’s that for a bargain?
Photo credit: me!
Tagged as:
photography,
social-media,
technology