Hello 
I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.
Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...
Self-Portraiture Tid-bits
photography advice howto selfportrait
Aside from my little sojourn into my personal clothing fantasies of late, and slipping back into my 'tutorial' head for a moment, I thought it might be of vague interest if I shared a couple of the 'mechanisms' of my self-shoots. I presume all of us have our own little ways of doing things — and I wouldn't for one second suggest that my way is 'right' — it's just that I've found that certain things help whenever I'm plonked in front of a camera, and maybe someone might find them useful too...
Remote
The first thing that I've found absolutely indispensible, is a remote shutter release. I think, apart from the camera itself, my little remote is the singularly most useful thing I own (in this context 
). It avoids this for a start:
I don't know how many cameras come with remote controls these days, but being able to just stand there in front of the lens, rattling off shot after shot after shot without having to break your pose significantly to press the shutter is an absolute godsend.
Monitor
That's generally the set-up I use when I'm doing self-portraits. I've got the camera on a tripod (mine's broken at the moment — I'm using gaffer-tape to keep it secure), with the video-out cable plugged into a telly so I can see what the camera sees.
There have been so many times in the past that I've taken a CF Card full of pictures, and not one single one has come out looking anywhere half-decent. With a 'live preview', I can make sure that I'm at least getting close: tilt my head back or forwards, smile more (or less), you know — it basically takes a lot of the guesswork out of the whole process.
If you have a non-DSLR, you also get the benefit of seeing yourself before you press the shutter — it's like you become the photographer behind, and the model in front, of the lens at the same time. With a DSLR though, because of the way the shutter works (light only falls on the CCD when it's released and the little mirror inside flips out of the way) you only see the image after you take it.
But that's OK. With storage being so bloody cheap, you can just keep snapping away until you get it right 
De-Clutter
This isn't a 'tip' as such, it's just a general observation. I think it was Becky 
who said something along the lines of "Every tranny-photo has a radiator in the background", and as a rule she's not wrong. I think that a lot of the time, our brains selectively remove the background when we're looking at ourselves — focussing on the frock instead of the detritus behind us — but the act of taking a photo 'flattens' the entire scene, foregrounding the background and giving equal weight to us and the central heating
My house has very little space, so my opportunities for uncluttered full-length photos are rare. But what I do is make sure I spend a little time before I even start putting on make-up, clearing a space, and making sure that I can take a picture that only has me in it.
(Of course, K 
is the corollary to this. She's possibly the only tranny I know who can stand in a messy room and still completely dominate the photo )
You know what's good if you can't clear a space? Bedsheets. Just tie one up somewhere, and you have an instant studio
Patience
OK, finally, this is one I fall foul of all the time 
I dunno about you, but I get completely absorbed in the whole process, and I get a bit carried away. The more I look at me, the less objective ability I have — my self-delusional powers kick in, and the Desire To Post!™ overwhelms any sense of self-critique I normally have.
Even after an hour or two of downloading CF Cards to my Mac, and pootling around as usual in PhotoShop, I'm still in a bit of a whirr and probably not that able to make a decent judgement about which is a good photo.
Which is why I think it's a good idea to leave it a while — even if I don't always practice this myself. There were quite a few from last night that I thought were OK, but I figured it would be better to leave them until the morning before I made any final judgements.
Which reminds me, I've got an iPhoto Library to work my way through...
Oh, for a remote control.
I don't suppose you have any advice for those of us with cheap digital cameras? Other than don't bother, that is 
I'm afraid I'm going to be posting the exact same headshots to flickr for ever more.
Clutter is the bane of my life when it comes to taking pictures. I had to move back to my parents some time ago — which means I have a lifetime of stuff packed into one small room: two computers, 2,000 CDs, 1,000 books, boxes full of paper, two overflowing wardrobes (one male clothes, one female) etc etc. The rest of the house is even worse! I would challenge even Miss K to dominate the environment here!!
Re patience: I find I go through the same thing each time. First of all rush to download everything onto the PC — quickly look through everything — omg it's all crap. Then a few hours later look again — I must post something so a bit of desperate editing and I delude myself they all look good. Then a week later I look again — this time with a bit more objectivity and I can judge fairly well which ones aren't bad and which ones have to be deleted. Too late by then.
By the way, perhaps you should post some of this as the start of a thread on trannyflickr?
You can always use the self timer if you dont have a remote control.
I like the idea of connecting up to a monitor — might try that next time, although I still dont have the confidence to publish a 'head shot'! 
(in RL that is — SL no probs)
cheap digital cameras should still do a self timer, and you can get some nice cheap mini-tripods too.
Perhaps the elementary "use a tripod" should be in there too?
Actually, the first draft I did of this (I do write drafts sometimes) had "Tripod" in it. I'm not sure why I didn't include it in this version
I must post something
That's just it isn't it? You've gone to all that trouble, and dammit you've got to post something.
You know what I find? It's always a few months later, when I'm skimming back through my library, that on a whim I pull out one of the ones I hated, muck around with it in Photoshop, and end up with a good'un.
The way I like to see it, all the photos I take are just "sources" for me to play with.
By the way, perhaps you should post some of this as the start of a thread on trannyflickr?
Hmm, maybe — I'll have to edit it down a fair bit though.
Invert Tastes
The first two are my favourites.
But Misty/Joanna, I find self-timers aren't any good — they would be if you could snap a dozen pics one after the other but you can't, not with mine anyway. The problem I find with taking pictures — and I'm guessing I'm not alone amongst the newbies and amateurs in this (?) — is getting rid of the expression of grumpy surprise that is on my face in 95% of the photos I take. I'm hoping that isn't my usual look but is the result of either having the flash go off a few feet from my eyes or else from not having recovered from the "ten-second shuffle". A remote control and a tripod is the answer, I'm sure.
Hmm, you know these (↓) things..?
I betcha you could bodge together a manual remote using one of those and gaffer tape.
I'll give it a go with my little compact iXus and see if it works later today...
OSX Sux
Interesting. Erin is currently being attacked by a botnet of serval zombie machines all sending requests for "GET /2005/02//index2.php?action=http://www.aeroclube-castelobranco.pt/site/cache/osx-sux.jpg? HTTP/1.1"
How scarey
Attempted 'Denial Of Service' attack?
Wow a cable shutter release, I havent seen one of those for years, oh the joys of having an SLR (I wonder where my Olympus OM10 is these days — probably in a box in the attic)
No you are probably right the remote control looks better than self timer — and I could always cope with having another gadget (where do you get them from and can you use with a digital compact camera?)
Maybe thats why I never do any portrait shots when dressed, the problem is counting 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 before each shot! (so its not a wig I need its a remote — lol)
Back to pictures...how might one set up the camera (or at least aperture, shutter, ISO, whatever it takes...)to do a pretty-looking soft focus? And don't just say "Photoshop." Or do, and then tutorialize it. (I think I just made a word.)
My server at home was suffering the same attack a couple of days ago, first I noticed was my bandwidth getting murdered.
james
Perhaps the elementary "use a tripod" should be in there too? Sometimes I'm amazed at how steadily I can hold my lump of a camera at arm's length, but a tripod is one of those things I really ought to buy. It's like having the remote control: how did I manage without one?