Bodybuilding.com - Mastering Self-Photography!

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Did you know?
Each body part you work needs at least 24-48 hours of adequate rest and sometimes up to 5-7 days.

Don't you just hate it when you try to take a picture to show your bodybuilding progress and it turns out awful? A lot of the problems can be solved by properly positioning yourself, the camera and the light source. Learn how to take great pictures.

By: Skip Albury

As a general rule of thumb, you should always position the camera between yourself and the primary light source.

You ----> <---- Camera <---- Light Source

You'll often see guys post pictures with the light source behind them. The subject of the picture thinks he looks good in that lighting, so he decides to take the picture that way. However since the light has to bounce off the subject and strike the camera in order for an image to form, having the primary light source behind the subject gives the camera an excellent picture of all the junk in the background but not of the subject.

Examples Of Bad Pictures:

However, you might get the camera placement right and still mess things up. You could suffer from the dreaded "$3.99 Webcam in a dark closet and a handheld flashlight" syndrome.

Or you might be just dark (like I am) and forget that you need "extra" lighting:

All of these guys have improved their photography techniques and take much better pictures now.

For example, look how much better LancerPlaya's (1st example of bad pic) pictures are now:

And he's a big guy, so you hate to take the time to take photographs and not be able to see all the muscle density and definition you work so hard to get.

More lighting is better, but no lighting is really something to avoid.

Since I'm so dark, I often take my pictures outdoors, as sunlight provides the intensity I need as well as even color tones. Indoor flourescent lighting can make pale people look sickly, and without a flash, dark folks like me don't even show up.

Remember...

You ----> <---- Camera <---- Light Source

U-C-Light

You see light.

So for those of you out there having trouble, I hope this helps.

Also, see if you can either use the auto-timer on your camera or have someone take the picture for you.

Or... mount a light source above your mirror like I did here: