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From Joseph Robertson's Flickr stream - titled Astoria. Robertson managed to capture the spirit of Astoria with his photos. The challenge in a location theme shoot is to tell a big story with small details. Robertson does this with his subject choice and uses traditional composition techniques to make his photos visually interesting too.

Who are you? Can a photograph tell that story? For many years artists have created self-portraits. Vincent Van Gogh painted this self-portrait in 1887. What would it take for a photograph to capture you as a person?

There are several ways for you to create a self-portrait with your camera. One way is to use a tripod or set the camera on a solid surface and use the self-timer shutter feature. Look for a button or menu option on your camera with this icon:

This is the self-timer setting. When you depress the shutter, you camera will wait several seconds before taking the photograph. This gives you time to get into position.

When creating your self-portrait, take into consideration the background. You may want to place yourself in an environment that says something about who you are. You many also want to use a blank wall or backdrop so that you are alone in the frame. Don't be afraid to do some serious cropping too. That's what Nameet Potnis did in this self-portrait posted to his Flickr stream. His photograph was part of a theme competition for self-portraits on Flickr. Follow that link to see some other interesting photographs.

You should also examine the self-portrait tagged images on Flickr. See how the use of lighting and cropping can create powerful images.

In photography, composition refers to the placement of the subject within the frame of your photograph. Composition also deals with lightness, darkness, lines and balance of the image. One basic rule is the rule of thirds. Images with the subject aligned with the intersection of the horizontal and vertical thirds are usually more appealing.

This image by Stephanie Deissner from her Flickr stream is a good example. I've overlaid a grid of thirds on the photo to show where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect. Stephanie has placed the eyes close to the intersection of the upper-left third. You can read more about the rule of thirds on Wikipedia.org.