End the overwhelm with culling your self portraits

End the overwhelm with culling your self portraits

Follow these simple steps and you’ll go from pulling your hair out to patting yourself on the back for a job well done!

So, you’ve decided to take a series of self-portraits that you want to use to promote yourself online.

That’s great!

Once you open up your camera roll to check out your photos, you have over a couple hundred photos staring at you right back in the face.

That suuuuuuuuucks!

I know, I know - it’s a lot.

For many people, when they get to this part of the high-quality, self portrait process, their first inclination is to close the camera roll, turn off the phone, and place it as far away from them as possible.

The next inclination?

Immediately skim through the first 5-10 photos and grab whatever looks good to them and delete everything else without even bothering to review them.

And that’s a shame.

Why?

There might be some untapped gold in the rest of that set that was never even looked at once! It’s a crime against good photography, folks - please don’t do that shit.

I do understand why many people do it - it's arduous, frustrating, and in some people’s eyes, a self-indulgent activity in which they have no interest.

But, photos are valuable currency in this day and age - whether you leverage them for personal and/or business reasons - and it’s essential you choose photos that present you in a compelling and flattering light.

What if you took an organized approach to culling down your high-quality, self portraits from a gazillion to a select few in a timely and organized manner?

Here’s how I do it:

Step 1 - eliminate the obvious deletes

Go through the entire set once and immediately delete the ones that you will never use.

Are your eyes closed? Is your hair whipping in the wind? Is the shot out-of-focus? Does it look like something is growing our of your head based on what you’re standing in front of?

Get rid of ‘em and slim your pile down immediately.

Step 2 - eliminate the poorly composed photos

Take another pass through the set, and this time, be mindful of the photos that feel off based on how you are situated in the shot. 

Is there a ton of space floating over your head or did you unnecessarily chop the top of your head off? Does the photo feel imbalance based on how your sitting or standing in the frame?

Dump ‘em and never look back.

Step 3 - eliminate photos with ehhhh facial expressions

This is where we start to get more into the nitty gritty and really select the keepers that you will use across your online presence.

With the images that are left on your camera roll, scroll back and forth between similar shots and zoom into the photo to compare your facial expressions. 

When doing so, assess whether the expressions feel natural to you. Also, think whether or not this is the type of expression that you want to share publicly.

If so, then keep it. If not, you know where the delete button is, so use it!

Step 4 - back and forth

The next step is optional, as some people prefer to keep less photos than others. 

If after Step 3, you still find yourself trigger happy with wanting to hit the trash can icon, continue to swing back and forth from some images and debate over the merits of keeping one instead of the other.

If you want more screen space to do this, send the photos to your computer, either through AirDrop (IPhone to Mac computer only), or simply upload them to your cloud storage and open them up on your computer to really compare and contrast.

If you take a more systematic approach to culling down your pile of high-quality, self portraits, that will go a long way to ensuring that you will select the very best of the best, which will ultimately make your social feeds look more magical, overall, :)

This is just one of the many insights and strategies shared in my online smartphone self-portrait course: 

Shoot It Yourself: Develop A Portrait Photographers Eye With Your Phone

In addition to reviewing and selecting photos, this 9-module course touches on a variety of topics related to making that camera sitting in your pocket turn into a magical way to capture photos of yourself. 

And, as I mentioned in the previous article, I’m offering a 25% discount for a limited time, so no dilly dallying over there, okay???

For more information on SIY, you can check it out - and grab your own copy - here.