how to take outfit shots if you have no friends (a guest post by olivia)

Well this is totally embarrassing. When Carlotta emailed me asking me to guest post, I suggested I do a tutorial on taking self-portraits for outfit posts. True story. I know my post will pale in comparison to Hannah's hilarious one; try not to throw tomatoes at my head, readers.

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Hello, fashionistas of the blog world. Don't try to pretend you've never wanted to do an outfit post, but your friends/family/cats were busy. Never fear, beautiful and stylish people: armed with only your camera and yourself, you can still take gorgeous photos. I promise. And you won't have to go with the old bathroom-mirror attempt:

N U M B E R   O N E :   P O S I T I O N   T H E   T R O O P S . . .   A H E M ,   C A M E R A
Set up your tripod, or find somewhere to prop your camera. (A table or tree stump works well.) It should be at about waist level, so you won't get thrown out of proportion. For a background, find something simple that won't distract from your photo — a blank wall, a distant forest (if you have good depth of field on your camera), the middle of a street. Not even kidding on that last one.

N U M B E R   T W O :   F O C U S

If you're outside, a stick can be driven into the ground where you want to stand. Inside, focus on furniture or place a stool or plant where you want to stand. On a DSLR, switch to manual focus and make the object nice and clear. On a point-and-shoot, just make sure your camera is placed in such a way that it will focus on the spot you want it to.

N U M B E R   T H R E E :   C O U N T   D O W N 

Set your camera to self-timer (ten seconds is usually good). Try a test shot first so you know about how long it takes.

this is my mother's point-and-shoot... on a DSLR it will surely be in a different place.

N U M B E R   F O U R :   B E   A M A Z I N G

Now, press the shutter (stil on self-timer!) and hurry into the picture. Smiling is generally a good idea, unless you want the whole Vogue look (this works better with a crazier outfit... don't take yourself to seriously if you're wearing something normal-ish). Experiment with poses; find one that's natural, and remember that the camera won't judge you if you look like a complete idiot.

And that's pretty much it! How to take spectaculafabulous outfit shots if you have no friends (or they are busy doing other things besides loving you). I hope that helps somebody somewhere, but if not... well, it was fun anyways.

W H O ' S   S P E A K I N G ,   N O W ?

Olivia = grey eyes, curly hair, extravagant facial expressions. Fashion enthusiast, photographer, writer, actress, and model — all at once. Traveling and big cities make me happy. Vintage is better. Says yes to quests. High heels+jeans rule the world. Prone to boredom and prone to disaster. Blogs at of horsefeathers and would be tickled pink if  you'd stop by. xoxo, lovelies!

------------PS: you can see my outfit posts here.------------