Grab your phone and find a background; June 21st is National Selfie Day! Here are our seven tips for how to get the perfect selfie.
1) Light!
A selfie is all about your face, so make sure it is visible! Generally avoid darkness or shadows, though of course all these “rules” can be broken for artistic purposes. Make sure the light is shining on your face and that it is bright, natural, and gentle enough to capture your beautiful smile! Because of this, overcast days and twilight are great for selfies!
2) Look at the Camera!
You want your selfie to look like you are looking back at yourself from your camera screen. So make sure you are actually looking back at yourself! Before you take the picture, look at the camera of your phone — not the screen, if you have it in selfie mode!
3) Angle!
As wonderfully demonstrated by our Tiktok Creator Specialist, Alana Bleimann, use angles to your advantage! Just staring straight at the camera is boring and sometimes looks a little intimidating. Tilt your head right or left, or angle the camera slightly off center. Play around with it to find the angle that is best for you!
4) Distance!
Did you know that close-up photos are distorted? I sure didn’t! If you take a picture from further away, it’ll be more accurate. If you take a picture from close up, it’ll make the central pieces of your face look larger and the sides of your face look smaller. All nose shapes are beautiful, but we want our selfies to capture yours just as it is! So hold your arm out as far as you can.
5) Check the Scene!
Make sure that you have a good backdrop! To start off, go for something minimal, like a wall. This will put your face front and center! When you get a little more confident, look for really cool backgrounds like historical buildings or natural landmarks.
6) Smile Naturally!
I don’t know about you, but I hate smiling for photographs. My smiles always feel either too wide or too understated. For me, this is the hardest part of taking a good selfie. My advice though, as someone who struggles not to look like an angry orangutan, is to try to get into a confident, happy zone. Maybe even take some gag pictures first, just to get used to the camera.
7) Practice!
You can’t expect yourself to get it right on the first try, or even the first few tries! I took about fifty selfies before I chose this one and I'm still not entirely happy with it. And that's fine! Photography is hard, and working with the limited resources of a selfie can be pretty tough. Take selfies all the time, look through them, and think about what worked and what didn’t. Then do it all over again!
What do you think of these tips? Are there any words of wisdom you’d like to share? Tag Nothing But the Arts Incorporated on Facebook or Instagram and send us your selfies! Or, if you want to connect with other creatives, check out our Geneva Chat!
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