Everything in our world is different now. People are confined to their homes, have limited opportunities to go out or interact with others, and most types of photography are on hold. One thing that you can still do is take pictures around your home, and one common challenge is the self-portrait. To get you all to keep shooting during this time, we are launching the B&H At-Home Self-Portrait Sweepstakes, for which we’d like you to share a self-portrait that shows what your life is like in the “new normal.”
The When
All you need to do to enter is take a photograph of yourself and submit it during the entry period, from 9:00 A.M. EDT Wednesday, May 6, 2020, through 11:59 P.M. EDT Wednesday, May 13, 2020. You have a week to get your photos ready!
The How
The self-portrait part of this sweepstakes should be self-explanatory: just take a selfie! This is a challenge, though, so think outside of the box or take your nice strobes out of storage and do it well. Do all your editing and what-not and then get the image ready for submission. Then you can head to send your photo via a few different entry methods:
- Twitter: Tweet a self-portrait using #BHPhotoChallenge and tag @bhphotovideo.
- Facebook: Share a self-portrait using #BHPhotoChallenge and tag @bhphoto.
- Instagram: Share a self-portrait as a post using #BHPhotoChallenge and tag @bhphoto (be careful here, because Instagram Stories will not be accepted).
- Alternate: Email SpringPhotoChallenge@bhphoto.com with your name, address, phone number, and a reference to “B&H At-Home Self-Portrait Sweepstakes” in the subject.
The Winner
When all is said and done, four winners (1 grand prize, 3 runners-up) will be chosen at random at 12:00 P.M. EDT, on Thursday, May 14, 2020. They will be notified via their method of entry at 3:00 P.M. EDT, on Thursday, May 14, 2020.
The Prizes
The grand prize is an exciting one: a Sony Alpha a7 III Mirrorless Digital Camera with 28-70mm Lens and a memory card. There will also be three runners-up, who will each receive a storage bundle that includes a LaCie 1TB Rugged BOSS External SSD and SanDisk 64GB Extreme PRO UHS-I SDXC Memory Card.
Do you need some inspiration or tips to tackle this challenge yourself? Maybe you are a food photographer who rarely has the camera pointed at a person, or you are more familiar with shooting others than yourself, or you just want to read and watch some photography content before you get back into the groove of taking photos. Here is some content that can help you out:
Looking for some basic portrait tips? Maria Perez, from B&H’s social media team, put together this quick video.
Or for a more creative take on the self-portrait, Perez even showed us all how to clone ourselves in a self-portrait.
Want some information from the pros? Jill Waterman spoke to Lindsay Adler and Brian Smith, two famed portrait photographers, and gathered eight tips that every beginning portrait photographer should know.
One thing to know is how to light a portrait. Tom Kirkman threw together a list of five quick and easy portrait setups. This should get anyone started in portrait lighting, and there are diagrams to help visualize each setup.
For those of us who are fortunate enough to have some outdoor space to work, photographer David Flores gave us advice on how to take portraits in harsh sunlight.
There is plenty more where that came from. Be sure to search through the B&H Explora Blog and the B&H YouTube Channel to find tons more portrait content to get your creative juices flowing. Also, if you are hopping onto social media to submit your photo, you should try to interact with the community. You never know, you might make some new social distancing friends!
