I Took 100 Self Portraits—Here’s What I Learned (and How It Might Inspire You)

First of all, let me say something that may be surprising to hear from a photographer who exclusively takes self portraits:

I have a love-hate relationship with self-portrait photography.

Taking my own picture can cause incredible highs, especially when a self-portrait photo turns out exactly how I imagined it in my head.

On the other hand, I’ve felt all the possible lows, too:

• frustration about choosing the wrong camera setting or an out-of-focus image;
• the lack of technical knowledge on how to create the image I want; 
• or, the worst kind of low, suffocating creative block for weeks or months.

Despite these challenges, I’ve managed to take well over 100 self-portraits over the last couple of years.

Some of them have never seen the light of day, while others have been widely shared or even won awards.

One of my older self portraits.

100 Self Portraits = 100 Lessons Learned

The great thing about self-portrait photography is that you are entirely in charge of all elements.

At the same time, one could say that the worst thing about self-portrait photography is that you are entirely in charge of all elements 🙂

This is because you have to learn how to do everything yourself, from framing and composition to posing to editing.

However, this also means that once you figure out how to take self portraits, you become a true all-rounder with lots of different skills.

But more than that, you will also grow as a photographer and artist and become so much more confident.

In today’s blog post, I have rounded up my five biggest lessons from taking self-portraits; some of them may be expected, some of them less so.

I hope that these lessons will inspire you to grab your camera and start or deepen your own self-portrait journey.

(If you need help with the technical aspects, check out this blog post: Self Portraits in Photography: Everything You Need to Get Started).

By the way: I have also made a YouTube video about this topic, you can watch it here:

But now, back to the blog post!

Let’s start with the first lesson I learned from taking over 100 self portraits:

1. You Will Never Run out of Ideas

You will never run out of ideas because you evolve.

To illustrate this point, let me quickly digress and talk about this blog:

When I first started it, my biggest fear was that I would run out of ideas for blog posts.

I clearly remember sketching out post ideas at the time and not being able to come up with more than 20 or so.

This made me nervous:

How would I be able to generate weekly blog post ideas after having crossed off all items on the list?

Well, the funny thing about starting a long-term project like this is that your project (and you) evolve all the time:

You come across different influences, change your focus, discover new techniques and theories, and so on.

With my blog, this meant that ideas would naturally come up without my having to force it:

Every time I took a new course, met a new interesting person, read a new photography book, or tried a new technique, I had fresh material for my blog.

And in fact, I’ve noticed the same in my self-portrait photography.

You may think that you will quickly run out of self-portrait ideas, given that you’re always photographing the same subject.

However, you will be surprised that the more self-portraits you take, the more ideas you get!

So, don’t worry about running out of ideas.

As long as you make sure to get enough creative input (visiting museums and galleries, seeing other photographers’ work on social media, learning new photography skills), there will always be something new to try in your self-portrait photography.

(If you still need some help with idea generation, check out my blog post Self Portraits Photography Ideas: 21 Creative Self Portrait Projects).

Before I move onto the next point…did you know you can download my free self portrait photography ebook? More info below:

…and now, onto the second lesson I learnt from taking 100 self portraits:

2. Your Artistic Eye Deepens as Your Skills Expand

Have you heard of the Dunning–Kruger effect?

It describes a cognitive bias where people with low ability or knowledge in a topic overestimate their competence.

In turn, those with higher ability or expertise tend to underestimate their relative competence (because they’re more aware of how much they don’t know).

Basically, beginners think: 

“Oh, this looks easy; I’ve got it!”. 

Experts, on the other hand, think: “Wow, this is so much more complex than I thought.”

I’m adding this in here because I think it really fits my self-portrait journey.

In the beginning, I simply took straightforward images of myself, in JPEG, with autofocus and a remote, and I thought that’s all I needed to know.

However, the more I dove into the topic, the more I realised that achieving a professional-grade self-portrait worthy of exhibitions and awards is actually a lot more complex.

I had to learn hundreds more lessons, for example, how to achieve high resolution and excellent image quality for printing, how to get truly sharp images, how to properly retouch skin, and so much more.

The great thing is:

The deeper you dive into a topic, the more discerning your artistic eye will get–because you will understand more and more what distinguishes a great picture from a mediocre picture.

You will become slightly obsessive about image resolution, composition, colour grading, or retouching, having to learn more and more skills as your self-portrait journey progresses.

This may sound frustrating, but for me, it’s been incredibly rewarding, as the more you learn, the better your self-portraits will look (and the more satisfying the process will be).

One of my most recent self portraits.

3. You Will Find People Who Your Art Resonates With

As you probably know, taking self portraits is a very isolated pursuit:

You work independently, without a model or client, handling everything yourself.

Now, I’m a complete introvert, so I’m usually happy about this solitude.

However, there came a time when taking self-portraits felt a bit like an echo chamber, as I didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off or share my passion with.

But then, something funny happened:

I started posting my images online, taking some self-portrait courses in person, and submitting my images to open calls.

Suddenly, I noticed something I had never been aware of before:

That there was a community out there of people who wanted to connect, such as other self-portrait photographers with whom I could share deep conversations about the craft.

Furthermore, I began to receive inquiries from independent publishers and curators who wanted to showcase my work to others, as well as from prospective students wanting to learn from me.

Finding this community was a real gamechanger for me:

Suddenly, I felt like I was part of something bigger; a group of creatives who all shared the same passion.

Your Community Is Out There

The lesson: If you keep taking self portraits and sharing them with others, you will find your community, too.

There will be people who your work resonates with; who may want to hear more about your craft, or even who want to buy prints of your images.

So, don’t hide your self portraits from the world, even if you think they’re not that great yet.

Share them on social media or even just with friends and family; you may be surprised what kind of conversations and connections will arise.

(I would also highly recommend entering your images into competitions; read more about why and how in this blog post: Entering Photography Competitions: Is It Worth It?).

4. You Will Become a Creative Allrounder

Imagine someone who mainly photographs birds:

They will need to have sound technical skills, e.g. knowing which lens and camera settings will produce the sharpest image.

Ideally, they also understand how to best photograph in natural light.

Now, think of someone taking self-portraits:

Naturally, they need to know how to use a camera.

Additionally, they also need to understand lighting (possibly studio lighting), posing, hair and makeup, and overall art direction.

Before I started taking self-portraits, I didn’t quite understand how many elements it involved.

One hundred images later, I realise that there’s a lot to juggle in a self-portrait shoot, with additional challenges, such as focusing on yourself and taking the shot remotely.

By the way, if you want to see me do an artistic self-portrait shoot in action, check out my video below:

For me, taking self-portraits has truly been an education in dozens of skills:

I’ve learned how to make weird props from resin, how to sew my own costume, how to create specific effects in Photoshop, and so much more.

And that’s exactly what’s so great about taking self-portraits:

You become an expert at problem-solving and doing multiple tasks at once.

I recently photographed a friend, and I suddenly felt an incredible ease as I realised I “only” had to operate the camera, not also be behind it and pose!

An Express Ticket to Mastery

You can learn many skills at photography school, but mastering them requires a lot of practice.

Self-portrait photography is a kind of express ticket, considerably speeding up the process:

It will teach you so much about how a photo shoot works, what the models’ experience is, and so on.

Hence, I think every photographer should get into the habit of taking self portraits:

It will really help them understand all aspects of photography better, turning them into a sort of “photography jack of all trades”.

Before I get to the last point, did you know I’ve published an in-depth self portrait guide:

And now, onto the last lesson I’ve learned from taking self portraits, which is:

5. You Will Gain a Lot of Confidence

When I started getting into photography, I decided I wanted to learn the basics as part of a structured course.

Hence, I booked a one year photography diploma course (one of the best decisions I’ve ever made).

I thoroughly enjoyed that course:

It introduced me to a lot of well known photographers and taught me the foundations of the craft.

However, I remember constantly feeling a bit intimidated:

Every week introduced a different topic, such as focusing, controlling the shutter speed, or using artificial lighting.

There was one particular day when we used a light meter, and I just thought:

“This is all so technical, I will never master studio lighting”.

But the thing with self portrait photography is, it’s only you:

There is no client with huge expectations, no bride and groom to capture during the golden hour, no fashion model paid per hour.

Instead, you are the boss:

You can try different lighting setups, backdrops, camera settings or shooting techniques in the comfort of your own home.

Me, alone in my home studio, taking a self portrait.

There is something so incredibly freeing about this!

And indeed, taking self portraits has been liberating for me:

I was able to try, and fail, and try again, without anyone commenting on my process or judging me.

This way, I was able to grow as a photographer and develop confidence that only comes from experience.

So, if you’re still on the fence about taking self portraits, I hope this last point has convinced you that it’s absolutely worth it:

The more times you take your own portrait, the more confident and skilled you will become.

And that’s it for today’s post!

I am curious, what has your experience with self portrait photography been? Let me know in the comments!