Project 52: Self Portraits: Being Green

This week, my self-imposed Project 52 Self Portrait theme is Being Green. I was lucky enough to find some green clothing in my closet, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and head out to the backyard to see what I could do.

I’m pretty sure all my Project 52 self portraits so far this year have been just of my face, so this time I was determined to get my whole body into the shot. I’ve been working out regularly and perhaps in a few months I’ll be able to appreciate a visual difference.

First I tried taking a picture of myself jumping. That has nothing to do with being green, but I was inspired by @ZacharyLevi’s Twitter photo, which is an amazing shot of him jumping up in the air. Yeah…. that didn’t work so well at high noon in my ugly backyard. Maybe one of these days I’ll get out to the gorgeous Texas countryside and try again.

I probably would have posted the shot of me jumping up in the air if I didn’t forget to reset my camera’s ISO from 800 when I took shots indoors earlier today. I don’t know when I’m going to learn to check my settings every single time. I make this mistake so frequently!

So I headed out into my backyard again and the only shady spots were against a side fence and on our ugly patio. When I got over to the fence, I realized I’d only fall in the shade if I sat down, so I set up the tripod low and sat cross-legged in the grass after carefully making sure no old dog poop was in my way. (I have a 7.5lb Maltese and if you’re not standing on top of her as she goes, it’s almost impossible to find her microscopic poops.)

I processed this by adding a Green Preset Black & White adjustment layer set to Soft Light blending mode (100%). I also added my own “Peachy Pink” action which two low opacity peach and pink solid color fill layers set to Soft Light blending mode. I’m actually pretty happy with how this shot came out, even though it’s still not the most creative or technically correct photograph.

I had another where I was giving the middle finger to these weed flowers because I actually hate them to the core, but I decided to go with this one, even if I’m fake smiling about holding them. I figure this shot kinda ties into being green because it’s somewhat naturey. And I’m wearing green. It counts, right?

Show Me You!

Pepper and I have teamed up this year to take a photo of ourselves every week. We would love it and find it encouraging if you wanted to link up with a recently taken self-portrait! You don’t need to be participating in Project 52, nor does your photo need to match the theme. Just add your link below and we’ll love you forever! (Or at least until next week.)