Self Portrait -- Sort of.

[BCDH]

I had a little free time to mess around with the camera/photoshop today. I found a tutorial to get the Dave Hill look (www.davehillphoto.com) a little while back and had been wanting to give it a shot. As expected, it's far from the effect he has with his photos, but that's why I'm here, right? Hopefully some of you Photoshop gurus can point me in the right direction.

I realize the photo isn't a great one to start with -- nothing seems to be in crisp focus. Albeit, I was using the kit lens, I should expect the focus to be better. Is there a way to set up the camera so it will autofocus while on the timer setting? I was guesstimating on where I would be standing, held my hand at that point, then focussed on it. I was standing just out of reach of the camera to press the shutter button with my head in the right position. Surely there's a better way.

My monitor is in serious need of calibration, so I might just have to wait until later to make a real attempt at this. Anyways, critique is wanted and welcome -- The good, the bad, anything in between. Thanks in advance for the help!

[kbreit]

I haven't found a way to do focusing in a self portrait. It's hard, you just gotta try. Second, you'll want a circular polarizer to get rid of the reflections on the helmet. Last, did you sharpen? The edges look over sharpened. I have no clue how Dave Hill gets his look, but nice for trying to duplicate.

[Bob_A]

One thing I noticed is that your shutterspeed was pretty low (1/30s) which probably accounts for some of the blur you are seeing. Try something like 1/160s. You may also have a bit better luck if you use manual focus and stop down you lens a bit more to increase your DOF.

[BCDH]

Yeah, the tutorial calls for some pretty excessive sharpening -- seems to get it closer to the Dave Hill look, but as you said, it also gives that oversharpened look too. The tutorial in question is this one, for reference. The image used in the tutorial seems to do pretty well, so maybe a photo with softer lighting would do better? The light today wasn't very good at all, but I figured I'd make-do with what I had...