April 8, 2024 - We’ve had some great articles about shooting self-reference here, involving costumes, tripods, lights, and interval timers. Well, I often need some hand, or pose, or neck wrinkle reference at odd hours when I’m the only person awake, or during a pandemic when I can’t hire a model… (The real truth is I’m lazy and working fast and don’t want a big setup). The greatest super quick self-reference tip I’ve learned is the smartphone voice shutter. For those odd poses, specific hands that would take too long to direct someone else, goofy faces, and weird back-of-head angles, it’s been a godsend. Check your phone camera’s settings. In my phone it’s in “shooting methods.” Once you set it up, you just say "cheese" or one of the other voice command options, and it does a short countdown…