Nail Designs

[photogrl2020]

This question is really quite simple...and I apologize if this is in the wrong place-feel free to move it.

I like to paint designs on my nails (yes, my real nails, not fake ones) and I would like to compile an album or something of photos of all the different designs I've done. But I'm having trouble taking photos of my own nails. Firstly, it's hard to do because I can't actually hold the camera while I'm posing for the shot-clearly. Secondly, because I have trouble with shadows or lack of lighting or light being blocked by the camera, etc. And thirdly, because I have chubby hands and short fingers so I don't particularly like the way they look when I pose them. Anyone have any ideas on different poses I could do to make them look better? Or how I could set the shots up to take them myself? I want it to be a very simple setup because I usually do a different design about once a week so I want to be able to pretty much just grab the camera, take the shot, and be done. Any ideas/comments on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Nicole]

You're in the right spot All I can offer is advice based on about 2 of my 365 shots from last year where my (probably much more bland) nails are the subject.

1. Holding the camera: I found using a small camera (in my case, my phone) useful because it was more lightweight. I'm not sure I could have done it with something much heavier. But another option would be putting the camera on a tripod and either using a remote or a timer and working within an area where you can compose your shot and have to move very little. I would think you would generally want your fingers as the subject and not want much more.

2. Lighting: Even a desk lamp can help. A desk lamp or sunshine. And it will likely be less prone to blowing out than your camera's built in flash. Anything to get a bit of extra light will help.

3. Posing: Can't help much there. I can tell you that when you can do something that makes your fingers look longer it's helpful. Just beware of giving yourself a freakishly large looking thumb, like in this shot of mine:



I prefer this one because the fingers look in better proportion. Though the colours are a bit blown because of the processing / cell phone.



Hope that helps a little!

[photogrl2020]

That IS helpful. Thanks!

[zona5101]

If you have at your disposal a tripod and a remote shutter release you can set up the lighting and background, set your desired aperture, shutter, iso and pre-focus the camera in manual focus mode then insert the desired digit into the pre-focused area and press the remote shutter release with the other hand.

[MGP]

I used to be a nail tech and have taken tons of pictures of people's nails and nail art, as bizarre as that might sound to a sane person.
Yes, for taking pictures of your own hands, a tripod and a remote are your best friends. Right now I don't have either. Try a camera with a timer and a beanbag. My little old Ixus 75 does a pretty good job. It will stand up on the end and has a self timer.
For poses, you could look at some of the online forums, ads and/or blogs, there are tons! A common pose is holding something, often the bottle of nail polish, so mostly only the nails show and not so much your fingers!
Good luck.

[photogrl2020]

Originally Posted by MGP

I used to be a nail tech and have taken tons of pictures of people's nails and nail art, as bizarre as that might sound to a sane person.
Yes, for taking pictures of your own hands, a tripod and a remote are your best friends. Right now I don't have either. Try a camera with a timer and a beanbag. My little old Ixus 75 does a pretty good job. It will stand up on the end and has a self timer.
For poses, you could look at some of the online forums, ads and/or blogs, there are tons! A common pose is holding something, often the bottle of nail polish, so mostly only the nails show and not so much your fingers!
Good luck.

Yeah, this is basically what I'm starting to adopt. Don't have a remote (or the manual focus option on my camera-just a point and shoot) but I do have a tripod and my camera does have a timer, so I'll have to start doing it that way. Thanks for the tips guys!