I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing that I got through (just?) 24 days without resorting to just taking a picture of myself.
Putting someone near a window is the best way to get interesting lighting for a portrait without resorting to strobes or modelling lights. I was aiming for the back part of my face to be intentionally underexposed which I managed to achieve quite well, though it took a lot of frames before I got an expression I was happy with!
In Lightroom I primarily edited the lighting; intentionally blowing out the highlights which neatly hides the harsh pentagon-shaped bokeh of this lens. I also couldn’t help but touch up my face a little.
If there’s one thing I would change I would increase the exposure of the original shot. I had to dial it up to +1.5 so I’ve lost some detail and introduced some noise in the darker areas of the photo. My parents will probably also say I look too moody. But otherwise I’m actually really happy with this.
Lens: 50mm f/1.8 II
Focal length: 50mm
Aperture: f/5.0
Shutter speed: 1/80
ISO: 200
Flash: Did not fire