How to Take a Beautiful Selfie

Avoid creating images with a double chin. One of the disadvantages of photography is the double chin. Often, double chin can be avoided if you keep your neck high and your chin away from your body. ^[5] This will feel weird and uncomfortable, but it looks better in pictures.

Chest puff. Crooked shoulders and bad posture are unflattering and unflattering, so stick out your chest and straighten your back. This will make you look sober, your neck will be longer, and your photos will look better. You can also tilt your shoulders one way or the other when taking a photo instead of keeping your shoulder perpendicular to the camera.

Adjust your attitude. Take and share a lot of portraits with a serious face that will make you look serious or boring. Try taking silly pictures. Usually when you are relaxed and happy, you will get a good photo.

Tilting or leaning. Instead of posing stiffly in the photo, try tilting your face or body slightly. Try tilting with both sides to find the “nice angle”. ^[6] Leaning in for a full body shot will make you look slimmer and flatter your curves. ^[7]

Do not look directly at the camera. Even if you have beautiful eyes, try not to look directly at the camera to create interesting photos.

• You can still accentuate your eyes by opening them wide, looking up or looking away from the camera.
• Remember to look away from the camera. If you just look slightly away from the lens, it will look like you don’t know where the camera is. If you look out in a direction about 30cm away from the camera, it looks like you are trying to pose like that.

Express emotions. Real emotions are often shown on the face. ^[8] Fake smiles are often not beautiful. If you want a smiling photo, think about something that makes you really happy or something funny before taking the photo.

• If you want to look happy, smile with your eyes, not just with your mouth. For this to work, you have to be really happy. ^[9]
• Express different emotions if you want melancholy, seductive, sad, pensive, angry or real emotions at that moment. Be honest.

Choose the right outfit. If you’re shooting portraits for a specific purpose, think about what you’ll wear when taking the photo. ^[10]

• For a career-related photo or a profile picture for a business social media site, choose professional attire, courtesy, and a neat hairstyle.
• For dating site photos, you need to wear colorful, fun clothes but not too revealing (because you will look like you are trying too hard to be attractive). Keep your hairstyle natural but show that you care about your appearance.
• With social media, show what you want people to see about you. Outfit options will vary, but unless you want to show off your 30+km hiking track record, a dirty t-shirt is definitely not the best choice when it comes to selfies.

Avoid taking pictures of the speculum. The duckbill photo – with the lips pouting – has become meaningless and is no longer a popular choice when it comes to taking selfies. ^[11] Instead, try more beautiful facial expressions.

Find natural light. Natural light is very effective in photography. However, direct sunlight, especially at noon when the sun is standing, will not be beautiful. ^[12]

• If possible, take pictures on a cloudy day.
• If shooting indoors, try shooting near a window with natural light (but not direct sunlight) shining in.
• If you must use unnatural light, avoid fluorescent and top-down lighting for best effect.
• If light coming in from above (either natural or artificial) cannot be avoided, use an on-camera flash to add more light to help remove shadows under the nose or eyes.

Check the background. Don’t become an internet celebrity for taking and sharing selfies with an inappropriate background.

• Messy bathrooms and bedrooms aren’t suitable for selfies, but there are still plenty of people who choose to do so. A photo with a toilet in the background is never good. ^[13]
• If you’re not shooting outdoors, look for a neutral background like a white wall or a window.
• If shooting outdoors, remember to include the surrounding scenery in the selfie so that the photo says more.

Consider creating photo frames. You can make photos more interesting by creating a photo frame. ^[14] Here are some suggestions for framing:

• Taken at the entrance.
• Use both arms outstretched to hold the camera instead of just one.
• Stand between two objects such as trees or bushes outdoors.
• Place your hand below or above your chin to create an outline under the photo.

Zoom in on an area on the image. If there’s a part of your face or body that you want to highlight, use a photo editing app to zoom in, then save and edit. Most smartphones and computers come with very easy-to-use photo editing software.

Crop the unsightly places. The parts that are not beautiful in the photo can be cut out. If you are taking a photo with one hand, it is best to cut off the hand part because it looks very large. If you see tangled hair, cut it off. People don’t need to see the original photo you took in the first place, so don’t be afraid to edit it before sharing.

Use photo filters. Many photo sharing websites have built-in photo filters for you to choose from. ^[15] Filters alter the image, producing images with different colors and varying brightness and contrast. Try different filters until you find the one that makes the best photo.

Edit photo. Besides the usual photo editing software and applications, there are also some special applications with the ability to edit portrait photos. ^[16] With these photo editing software, you can remove blemishes, avoid red-eye, and perform a number of other retouching tasks to even out skin tones and perfect photos.