Help me plan a picture, please.

I’m trying to decide what to wear and how to pose for a certain photo.

I want to take a picture of myself hanging from the Brandenburg Gate, just like my friend’s keys hang from the hooks I gave him, in case he needs encouragement to “hang in there” after his post-op cancer screening. (The “happy news” gif is already done). Here are some practice shots I took tonight. It seems getting far away from the camera and having it in a high spot will be key. There are plenty of websites like this one https://www.google.com/amp/s/t.....format=amp about photographing the gate, but not for this goofy shot. I clearly need to go during daylight. The sun would be behind the camera in the morning, or I could shoot into sunset later in the day. Realistically, I’ll probably go when the clouds clear and the sun is shining, no matter the time of day.

I haven’t decided yet what to wear or the exact pose. What color scheme would work with my wardrobe and the plaza? Green pants to match the chariot on top of the gate, or red flares to stand out, or something else? I want my hair to look thick & long, my arms & legs muscular (he actually squeezed my bicep to check, lol). What profile do I want—flare pants, straight or “skinny” legs, short or midi skirt? I’m thinking of my LLBean pilot's jacket, which is dark brown & welted just past my waist. Any suggestions on the pose? I don’t want to duplicate my pose in 5 (to which he said “you are amazing!”) where I am actually shaking apples off a tree, but how else do I do this? I should probably work out something where I’m lower to the ground, but who hangs with their legs bent?

There are many people on the forum who are skilled at this sort of thing. It’s just a goofy shot to cheer up a friend, but I’d be grateful for advice. TIA!

ETA I might try a pose like these
https://www.shutterstock.com/i.....r-33722896
https://www.istockphoto.com/de.....5-21067869
I’m thinking the key will be stretching out my upper body, even with my knees bent. Screenshots added to pictures.

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2 years ago

Helena

Veteran

I'm not a photography person so not much help there (my guess would be something bright for contrast), but just wanted to send positive vibes to your friend for his cancer screening. Such a scary process for him to go through, esp during a pandemic.

Anonymous

I vote for the pose in #5. Yes to the flares cause they go with the key holder!

rachylou

My brother says:
1) Get closer to the gate, so it doesn’t look smaller than you
2) Use a high depth of field
3) Find a way to get higher in relation to the top of the gate

Or 3) Photoshop

He says the google term for this is trompe l’oeil.

Stagiaire Fash

Helena, thank you so much for the empathy! The pandemic does indeed make this—and much of life—much harder for my friend. His half brother and dad both died of this cancer, and his mom is fighting breast cancer. I think he’s feeling really alone, even though he’s super-busy.

Suntiger, you mean so he can hang a print-out by the key holder? That’s a fun idea I hadn’t thought of but can definitely suggest! Is the flare shape a good one for this, or should I look for a different bright red piece? My puffer jacket is the obvious answer, but I shipped my bag, and it isn’t here yet (actually, I don’t think my BiL has even sent it). I could borrow my son’s big sweater or sweatshirt.

A couple ideas: the figured red dress with my newsie boots and bomber jacket (pic 1) but then I have to figure out a pose in a dress, or quieter colors, maybe mustard pants, for my outfit, wrap one arm around a column and have the other arm hanging down, dangling the bright red backpack by its straps. What do you think?

Rachylou, thank you for the technical tips! Does your brother do iphone? On my 12 mini, I can set the depth of focus/f-stop in Portrait mode, but then it wants me to be within 5 feet of the camera. That’s too close to make the forced perspective work/makes me look much too big (see pic 2 in original post). What should I do?
Related to that, my friend likes my smile (backpack pic); how can I be close enough that you see my face but far enough for the trompe l’oeil to work?
On tip #3, is your brother picturing me on top of the gate? I was thinking more of trying to hang on to a column, like those guys on their ropes that I’ve added to the original post.
If I did a photoshop, I’d want to animate myself in the pic, so I’d be swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Probably too advanced.

Thank you all for the encouragement and suggestions!

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cjh

(website)

You could always cut out yourself from any background photo and position it onto the gate photo however works best.

Ack! His appointment has been rescheduled!

CJH, that *would* be simpler I think the goofiness and evident effort of the photo will give him extra smiles, and if the news is bad, he’ll need all the upbeat I can send.

Zaeobi

Sorry I don't have any master photography tips to share (evident from my forum photos lol) but I think if you deliberately make the photoshop look homemade (not 'pro' level) then that could bring in the 'goofy' element?

Or maybe I'm just trying to justify my own lack of photography skills, lol

I think he meant just so as your feet aren’t level with the base of the structure… a cut and paste of two pics seems an easy strategy to me, I like that suggestion

RL, agreed on feet not at base of structure, but I think I want to look like I’m lower than it.

Zaeobi, any cut and paste would look primitive out of necessity—it’s easy to “cut out” a figure in portrait mode on my phone, but I don’t know how to combine it with another image. Whatever I did that way would be very beginner level by default—maybe in a charming way, but maybe not.

I love working with scissors—am much more comfortable with them than with writing implements, but want to do this digitally, so it reaches him immediately instead of taking a few days to get to him through the mail.

chewyspaghetti

You could make the picture by hand and then take aphoto of it (maybe with a digital border)

Thanks for the ideas.

At this point I’m just going to see what gets here first—the appointment or the suitcase. I have some pretty clear ideas, so if I need to whip one off in a hurry, I could—but I’m crossing my fingers that the “happy dance” gif is all that will be needed.

Bijou

This is a fun idea, #8 made me laugh, but I do like your pose in #5 too. Red is a great colour on you and will help you to stand out and is fun because it also match the key hook.

Bijou, thanks for your enthusiasm! I want to have fun with this and hope seeing me interact with the famous landmark will help lure him to visit here (post-pandemic). Here’s another he liked, of the cathedral—but I’m not in it, oh nos. Looking at his comments on other pix of me & the ones he took of me, I know I need to turn my face to the camera & probably not make a goofy funny face, as much as I love that part of 8. But my body language can be all kinds of crazy. Something like 7 or a Cossack squat would let me get low enough to “hang” from the bottom of the gate, but I love the dangling legs/tiptoes of 8.

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Angie

Fashion Stylist

Lots of good ideas here! I think #5 in the first set of pics is a great pose and cute pic. As for the outfit, maybe something with your new white boots?

Thanks Angie! I’d like to come up with a twist rather than exactly replicate the pose from 5, but the compliment’s appreciated. He does like the new boots, so maybe I should wear them indeed.

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