How to Take Beautiful Selfies

Notice the light. Using light is essential when taking photos, and selfies are no exception. Do not take selfies in a dimly lit room or under fluorescent lights, as the results will not be as expected. Natural light always works best, try taking photos in a position like a window or outdoors. Note the tips below:

• Find the direction of the light, let the light source shine in front of you. You need to see where the light is coming from to help the facial contours look more radiant, and to avoid darkening the face in the picture. If the light is focused towards or behind you, the image will be blurred and sometimes distorted.
• Consider using a thin towel to diffuse the light. It helps the image look softer and fresher. You can apply this method to create an elegant look on your face, making your smile more attractive.
• Natural light will give truer colors than artificial light, only using artificial light to help cover the shade. In the absence of a light source, turn on the automatic color correction of digital devices to solve this problem.
• Do not use flash. Often it will cause glare in the forehead, blurring the image as well as creating a red-eye effect when “selfie”.

Use the rear camera. Pretty much every touchscreen phone these days has two cameras: one at the back, and one at the front. Instead of using the front camera for selfies, you should take pictures with the one on the back, which will produce quite a lot of higher resolution images than the front camera, which usually only saves a blurred image. Rotating the phone, of course, you can’t see your own face when taking a photo, but the results are quite good.

Limit the use of mirrors. Once taken, the image is often reversed, making the eyes look rather strange. Furthermore, the “selfie” won’t look good, since the glass doesn’t always reflect the image perfectly. Stretch out your hand to point the camera at the face, and snap right away. It will take a few days to get used to this shot, but later on you will know where the camera should be placed to be sure to capture the entire face in the frame (and not crop the top of the head).

• Of course, there are exceptions when it comes to full-body selfies, because aside from the head and shoulders, it’s hard to capture other parts without using a mirror.
• Practice using both hands when taking selfies. Compare which side for a satisfactory angle.

Notice the background of the image. “Selfie” is not just a face. The surrounding background is also quite important. Regardless of whether you’re taking selfies outside or indoors, be sure to check everywhere before you pick up the camera. Should choose a beautiful place to attract viewers.

• Nature is always the best choice. Feel free to pose in the grove or near wildflower bushes in spring or summer. When autumn comes, don’t miss the moment the tree is changing leaves into the picture. A selfie covered in snow and ice in winter isn’t bad either.
• If nature is not your thing, choose a setting at home, right in your room. Make sure to clean everything up first. Feel free to arrange more interesting items for the scene, but not too messy. For example, do you like to read books? A bookcase or bookshelf would be a great backdrop. However, hanging up movie posters with many people around is very easy to distract attention.

Beware of “uninvited guests”. The culprits are usually small children, crying babies, or sometimes even a dog bathing in the back lawn. Before you decide to take a selfie, be sure to look around to make sure no one is interrupting your “shining” moment.

• If you still see these “uninvited guests” in your profile picture, feel free because you can take another photo at another time. Just make sure you check the scene thoroughly before posting photos on social media.
• However, sometimes that “uninvited guest” adds value to a “selfie”! Don’t pass up a photo just because it shows your sister. But you don’t know that, her goofy expression plus your unique expression, inadvertently brings interest to the whole photo.
• If you are no longer in the mood for selfies, use the image processing and editing software available in your mobile phone to get rid of the troublemakers.

Get more people to take pictures. The first condition of a “selfie” is that you must be present, but who says you can only take a selfie! Don’t hesitate to invite close friends, siblings, even pets, or anyone else to take pictures with you. People are quite delighted with such refreshing and cheerful pictures. ^[2]

• If you feel shy about taking selfies alone in public, taking pictures of many people is a good way.
• There are more people in the photo, the sharing is better! The picture is sure to get a lot of “likes” and “shares” if you have a lot of followers instead of just one or two friends.

Experience photo filters. Anyone who enjoys taking selfies has several photo editing apps on their phone. Feel free to balance colors, adjust light and dark, and add effects to photos. Not every effect works for selfie mode, so don’t hesitate to try all the filters when you get the best choice.

• Usually the “black and white” and “sepia” style effect is available on almost all phones, even if you don’t install it.
• Also try other features to give the photo a variety of looks, like nostalgic, creepy, romantic, or mysterious. Experiment with all the effects to see which ones work for the “selfie” mode.

Edit photo. Photo editing software allows you to eliminate any common selfie blemishes before you post them on social media. You can completely frame, add animation, adjust brightness or contrast, blur fonts, and improve the look. While you can make edits right on your phone without opening the app, there are dozens of apps out there that are used for this purpose.

• Just make the right image editing. If you over-correct, the photo will look unnatural. Delete the changes, rather than post a very “virtual” image that deceives the viewer.

Post to the timeline. Share photos via Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram for everyone to follow. Feel free to add a few lines of caption to describe the photo, but sometimes you just want to post it.

• Be yourself when posting selfies on SNS! It won’t fool anyone by pretending to be photographed while doing something else, so always show off your lovely expression proudly.
• Some people find taking selfies annoying, so be very careful not to receive negative comments. If your online collection contains quite a few selfies, you might want to categorize them.
• Remember to leave comments on your friends’ selfies. Please “like” and “share” a lot of other people’s pictures to get the same attention in return.

Follow the trend. The selfie movement has been really popular over the past few years, and there are quite a few interesting movements related to “selfie”. What types of selfies are covering your profile? Don’t be too shy about posting your own pictures. Here are some popular trends:

• Happy Thursday: Every Thursday, people post an old picture of themselves. It could be a selfie from your childhood, or simply a photo from last week!
• From where I stand: This “hashtag” was created to share special images from one’s own point of view. When standing in a country you visit for the first time, or on the beach, on a city street, or anywhere you want to share, take a selfie with your feet. ^[3]
• The “feminist” selfie: The phrase “hashtag” first appeared on Twitter and gradually gained popularity. Its purpose is for each individual to show confidence when sharing pictures of themselves even when they do not conform to any standards. True beauty comes from different shapes and sizes.
• Smiling hair: This trend mainly highlights your hair. If your hair is your greatest asset, take a selfie with it to replace your smile.