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Forget holding the camera at an arms length if you also want the picture to be good. Everything will be distorted, and you will have a silly look in your face, probably also with strange lighting. If what you are aiming for is a picture of you in front of the famous landmarks, then I would simply ask a stranger. Try to look for one carrying a camera, as ...

One way is to just set reasonably wide focal length, something around f/5.6, put the camera on nearest rock/bench/nice spot on the ground, and take a picture with a self-timer. It works even for groups:

A timer. Your camera should have a timer. In fact your camera should have what it calls a 'FaceSelf-Timer' I believe. In general, with a timer - you set you camera to take a picture after a predetermined set of time (like 2 or 10 seconds). You press the button, hop in front of the camera, and it takes the picture after the number of seconds. ...

What you're looking for is most often described as either a headshot or business portrait. While it's possible to create one of oneself, it involves knowing a lot about lighting and posing in addition to the in-camera technical aspects of photography. It's hard for many photographers to guide a subject in posing and it's even harder to put oneself into a ...

I traveled to Washington D.C. for a few days on business by myself a few years ago. I toured the city alone to visit the sights and like you I wanted some images of myself in front of the famous landmarks. To achieve this I did a few things Mounted the camera on a tripod Used a wide angle lens to allow for cropping later When possible shot with a ...

You are looking for a "headshot", or "business portrait". There are a few different characteristics that define the style, which I will touch on as I go. Focal length: The standard "portrait" focal length is about 85mm, but any short-telephoto will be ideal. The idea is that you want to 1) Get a nice closeup of your subject, and 2) Use a telephoto, which ...

Having taken quite a few self portraits lately, I'd recommend the following... If you're trying for a shallow DoF to blur out the background, increase your aperture to 2.8-3.2 and move further from your background - it'll be it alot easier to nail the focus on your whole face. If you have a face detection in Live Mode, try that. Try setting just the ...

I'm a little surprised that nobody has mentioned a wireless remote. These are pretty common across the camera brands and use of them with a 2 (or greater) second timer gives you a chance to hide it before the picture is taken. Worth checking out if your Canon is a dSLR, I'm not sure if the same options exist in the point and shoot world. I've used them for ...

In my experience it's much harder in a more formal studio environment, I've found it much easier in more natural settings. However, in both cases, engaging in a thoughtful conversation may trigger the expressions you're looking for more naturally because, in general, I find that asking people to "look thoughtful" results in a very exaggerated look just as ...

In terms of equipment, the immediate obvious is that you need a tripod, but I'd also recommend a remote (preferrably wireless) so that you're not attempting to beat the timer. After that, depending on the seriousness of the shots, there are lots of ways to experiment, especially with odd angles and lighting. You're the subject and photog, so be patient with ...

To get a "catchlight", which is the term for the reflection of a light in the eyes, you'll need to put a light somewhere that the eye reflects. (Sorry if that seems obvious.) Essentially, this means someplace that the eyes can see. If your subject is facing the camera, the obvious place for a light is near the camera -- this will create a reflection near ...

I once saw someone taking this kind of picture using a light monopod. He hand-held the monopod and used the camera's self-timer to get the shot. The camera was a Point and Shoot. He sometimes used street objects such as park benches, trash cans, cars, etc, to help reduce camera shake. The monopod was used just to avoid being so close to the camera, it was ...

This is a bit tedious to set up, but it should work: Put the camera on a tripod. Place a stool or chair or a broom or really almost anything where you will want to be in the photo. Focus the camera on that object. After you have focused, switch the camera to manual focus so that it won't change where it's focused. Set the camera to use a self-timer. You'll ...

Actually, I think that this is much less about the technical settings and the camera equivalent of the human eye — which, by the way, is covered in this earlier question, and this one as well — and more about some actually somewhat heady questions of identity and self-perception, as well as a more mundane but still philosophical issue of the difference ...

Personally, I think portraits looks best with a shallow depth of field (low f number). This will be a little tricky on your own so you'll need to think of some way to make sure your camera is focussed where your head is going to be. Then you'll want to stick your mug in that spot and fire off a couple of shots. I suggest just firing off loads while slightly ...

Back in the silver halide days, if you were shooting roll film, you'd pretty much plan to throw the first roll away (that is, you'd soup it, but you probably wouldn't expect a winner -- and that's a 12-exposure roll in general, either 120 format or a short roll of VPS 35mm). It's not that you'd want to waste film, but that you'd want to waste time, allowing ...

Shoot tethered if you can. Tethering means attaching your camera to your computer directly (typically via USB). With a tethered connection your shots will show immediately on your screen. That makes framing adjustments a lot easier, since you won't be rotating your camera to see your LCD after every shot. For the Mac/Nikon, I use sofortbild; it's free and ...

Ya, Pocket-Xshot would be much better for your need. But its not suitable for SLRs. Also using this would result in shots that you will be closer to the camera(hiding the background). Also you have to find a way to hide the hand that is being extended to hold the X-shot stick. A cheaper solution to this situation would be just to use a tripod in ...

Here is just one hypothetical setup that you can use: Lets assume you have a mirror that you can move around. This is the mirror you use to look at yourself. Assume this mirror is made of a fairly solid frame from which you can easily remove the glass. (I personally assumed your mirror is about one meter tall, but that's just my imagination) Position the ...

In addition to the obvious things like mini-tripods, beanbags, and asking strangers to help, see if you can make some creative shots with reflections. Mirrors, water, car windows, etc. may be able to get both you and the landmark together in an unusual composition. I would think 18mm is wide enough to get some face shots with the landmark in the ...

Hama makes a mini tripod along with an extender tube for point and shoot cameras, expressly with the intent of making self portraits. It appears to me that it's a recipe for super camera shake, but in good light, it should prove adequate for precisely this kind of photography. Here's the link to it.

Firstly you need a long enough cable release so that you can activate autofocus whilst seated in your final position (focussing on a surrogate object is not accurate enough with this aperture), without having to stretch out an arm as this will make it difficult to remain still. Using a bit of trial and error you need to select a focus point that will cover ...

Taking a meaningful portrait is not easy, because some people are easier to shoot than others. Try to make everything as natural as you can, specially for people not confortable with the camera, which means following labnut's advice to engage a conversation to break the ice, but also to pay attention to every detail in your location that could that could ...

Put the camera on a tripod or some other support, make sure the tripod is exactly in the same location every day (making a mark on the floor with some tape can help) Stand in exactly the same place everyday (again, some tape on the floor can help) About the expression, experiment, try to find the most "repeatable" expression for you (smile 3 times in a row, ...

The eye Focal length The angle captured by the human eye is essentially equivalent to a normal lens. What defines the focal length of a normal lens will differ based on your camera. On a 35mm camera, this would be a 50mm lens; on the more common digital cameras with cropped sensors, you would shoot for somewhere in the 28-35mm range. Aperture The eye ...

If you are using an External Flash, it probably already comes with a "catch light" card. A "Catch Light" is the said sparkle in the eye. The light source is usually placed high, above the photographer's shoulder, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. It doesn't really matter which side you put it on, but some photographers do prefer it to be at an ...

A very appropriate tripod would be the gorillapod by joby. This tripod holds a good amount of weight and can be put on the ground or wrapped around a pole to get an image at or above eye level, which always makes a good looking image. And as suggested by others use a wireless remote or like me just use the self timer function. CWDaly