I love photography. I mostly love portrait photography. Or to put it broadly, I love taking pictures of people more than sceneries or inanimate objects. There’s something I find magical in being able to capture a fleeting moment: of beauty, or stark emotion, or visual translation of an abstract idea. Something so easily lost in the blink of an eye…

It just follows that I gotta have some gear to pursue it. That’s why I bought a DSLR in the first place, my much beloved Canon EOS 450D.

Canon EOS 450D
Canon EOS 450D

It’s an entry-level DSLR (now superseded by the 500D and 550D), but to the generally uninitiated it’s pretty intimidating to look at, much less to use. A big reason why I have very few photos using this camera. And most of them look like this:

me with my EOS 450D
me with my Canon EOS 450D (taken 11/30/08)

Sad to say, my camera is not in tiptop form anymore. Sometime last year, its AF motor stopped working and I have been manually focusing eversince. It could be repaired of course, but I never really had the time. And that right there, you have another bigger reason why no one could use it to take my picture. I mean, using a DSLR with AF is complicated enough as it is (for a newbie anyway), without having to fiddle with the manual focus ring.

Yeah, I am narcissistic enough to want decent, high-res pictures of myself on my own camera (love your own, right?). But like I said, no one could properly use my poor camera. Until our company outing, that is.

photo taken using my camera
photo taken using my camera

Pretty decent pic, eh? Yep, that’s me right there and this was from my camera. Focus is pretty sharp, and the high-key background works to draw attention to the, ahem, subject. And would you believe this was taken by a complete newbie whom I haphazardly taught to use my camera just a few minutes prior to taking this shot? Nifty, eh? Makes me wonder now if I’ve been too contemptuous of non-DSLR users. Hehe. A big bite of the humble pie right there. I love this shot, I gotta say.

Makes me look forward to having more of my pictures taken. Haha. What en egoist.

6 thoughts on “On the other side of the camera

  1. sala malaikum nath! I completely understand what you are feeling (from a narcissistic point of view, hehehe!) Sinong kukuha ng photo ng photographer? Kawawa naman ano?

    If you want to have more non-mirror shot and with decent sharpness photos of you using your own cam, i would like to share some of my simple ways of taking self-portraitures:
    > Use self-timer.
    > Use tripod, o kahit anong patungan lang.
    > Sa pag-focus naman, i find it hard to focus myself pag masyado ako malapit sa camera kasi nasa unahan ako, tas ako lang din pipindot, kaya ang naging solution ko dito ay ang paggamit ng isang dummy (stuff toy, chair, or kahit sino)
    > after ma-focus mo si dummy, since naka-timer ka (10s), you have enough time to replace the dummy, then strike a pose. hahaha! mukhang tanga lang pag ginagawa ko to, but the result is good naman. 😀

    try it nath. uulan ng nath-self-portraits. hehehe!
    God bless!

  2. I also use Canon, but just a point and shoot one. I’m thinking of upgrading to using SLR soon, which model would you recommend for me?

    PS, sorry I have no tips for self-portraits! 🙂

    1. Haha. It’s okay sis! 🙂

      For someone upgrading from a point-and-shoot (like me before), I think the EOS xxxD line would suffice. Latest in the lineup is the EOS 550D. It has more than enough advanced features to keep you occupied before you outgrow it. 🙂 But if you have more moolah to spare, you could go for the higher-end EOS 60D. 😉

      1. Thanks! just looked it up. The price is not that bad, is the lens changeable(I think it is)? Do I need to buy one if so, or the default lens okay already? (haha, sorry if any of this sounds lame :D)

        1. Yes sis, that’s the *main* selling point of DSLR’s, having interchangeable lenses. 😀 The most common kit lens included in the package is the 18-55mm normal zoom lens. It’s okay for normal, everyday shooting and basic portraiture. Truth is I still haven’t upgraded from my kit lens but it is still serving me well anyway so I still haven’t gotten any other lens even if I want to. 😉 Haha.

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