How to Take a Good Selfie

Cameras on phones have become so commonplace that it’s difficult to remember a time without them. Tell any kid today that we used to have no idea how our pictures would turn out until we took them to be developed, and you might just blow their minds. Now, with this unlimited freedom to take pictures and immediately see the results, we have evolved to using pictures to showcase our lives and good lighting is smack-dab in the center!

Social media platforms like Instagram give us the chance to share our everyday lives with the world. This usually involves a minimum of one perfect selfie (if nothing else than for a profile picture), but can mean up to hundreds (check out any celebrity's profile). Despite the increasing quality with each cellphone upgrade, getting a selfie just right involves a lot of outside factors. 

If you’ve been searching for the secrets to achieving a perfect selfie, look no further! We have your answers right here.

Lighting

The right lighting is one of the most crucial components of taking a good selfie. Your makeup and scenery game can be strong, but the wrong lighting will ruin everything. Proper lighting is going to depend on several factors, including the room you are in, the mood you want your picture to have, as well as whether you are indoors or outdoors. 

If you’ve ever looked at your pictures and noticed your skin looks wildly different if each of them, you can bet the type of lighting you are in has everything to do with it. Some smartphone cameras will try to adjust naturally for lighting differences, but you can’t always rely on their accuracy; knowing what you’re up against and how to use the lighting to your advantage (or work around bad lighting) is going to help you get the best shots.

Indoor Light vs. Outdoor Light

If you are indoors, there are several lighting factors to take into account. The biggest factor is going to be the type of lighting the room you are in has. While this does include the direction the lighting is coming from — such as from above, from a lamp, or from a wall —  even more important is the type of light bulb being used. Different light bulbs give off different colors of light at different strengths, so knowing what you are using will help you to adjust the settings on your camera accordingly, or even help you choose the right light bulbs to suit your selfie needs. 

• Incandescent: These are your classic Edison-style light bulbs. While they are slowly being replaced by longer lasting, more energy efficient light bulbs, these are still common enough that you are likely to come across them. They tend to give off yellowish light that make warm colors such as orange, yellow, and red stronger, while dampening colors such as green and blue. 
• Halogen: Halogen lights are similar to incandescent in internal function, but they give off brighter, more natural looking light and burn just a little more efficiently. These are great if you are looking to have more natural looking light in an indoor space.
• LED: These lights are your most diverse. They can come in a number of different hues and strengths, and can give off cool or warm light depending on the kind you buy. They are also energy efficient and long lasting! You may have to toggle your camera filters or adjust the white balance manually to find the exact settings to look your best under different LED bulbs.
• Fluorescent: You most often find fluorescent lighting in offices and schools. This light tends to be harsh and bright, giving off cool-white light. There are also compact fluorescent bulbs most often found in home light fixtures. 

If you want more control and variety, do yourself a favor and get dimmable lights. These will allow you to change the strength and warmth of your lighting to best fit your needs. If your main house lights don’t have this function, you can get light dimmer switches installed if you are really dedicated to upping your selfie game. If you’re looking for some intense lighting in your house, look no further than the bathroom. The vanity lighting installed in most bathrooms are what make those mirror selfies a classic.

If you are outdoors, you can’t really control the light, but you can choose the perfect time of day and weather for great outdoor lighting. Times of the day when the sun is low, such as mid-morning and early evening, are great times for selfies, as the sun’s light is softer and not as harsh. For this same reason, cloudy days are the best days for pictures!

There are workarounds for when the sun bright and you need to get a picture, though; you can either find some shade, or you can make sure your back is facing the sun when taking your selfie, lighting around your head like a beautiful angel while preventing harsh shadows on your face. 

Angles and Dimensions

Angles are another thing that can either help or hinder your selfie game. Capture the wrong angle of your face and you’ll get some unflattering results. The classic “myspace pic” suggests that the best selfie angle is from above. While you don’t need to be extreme and hold it straight above you, a slight elevation of your arm while angling your phone will do the trick.

The angle that works best will also depend on the lighting of your location. Harsh backlighting or shadows may require different angles. Practicing selfies in areas with difficult lighting will help you get a feel for what are the most flattering angles in specific types of light.

Along with the right angle, you’ll want make sure to get your good side. One study suggests that most people feel that the left side of their face is more flattering. To find if this rings true for you, spend some time really observing the different sides of your face, and take some practice selfies to compare different sides and angles. You will eventually learn which angles and sides work best for you.

Background

There are so many possibilities when it comes to the background of your selfies. Sometimes you want to showcase the fun day out you’re having, other times you just want to capture a moment of feeling good about yourself. Wherever it is, there are ways to use your environment to the fullest.

If you are out and about and living your best life, you want to make sure your background is visible enough to give an idea of what you’re doing. At the beach sippin’ margaritas? Exploring a new city for the first time? Be sure to get key visuals in the frame, such as the ocean or an architecturally interesting building; setting yourself in about one- to two-thirds of the frame is enough to show off your surroundings while also keeping you in the picture. This proportioning is also aesthetically pleasing, coming from the photography “rule of thirds.” You can even find a grid function on your iphone to help you figure out the right spacing.

For those who are relaxing at home and feeling good enough to want to document it, the home selfie is a great chance to try different backgrounds throughout your house. You can check any room and angle you want and no one is going to look at you funny.

If you think your walls are a little bare and boring, you can try decorating them with rope lights and other fun and simple touches. If decorating is not your thing, you can attempt the full-frame selfie, where your face takes up most of the frame, with little background visible at all; this kind of selfie is bold and is bound to get attention! 

Solo vs Selfies with Friends

Selfies don’t have to be solo! Some of the best selfies are ones that you share with your closest friends and loved ones. Selfies with more than one person can get a little complicated, as you have more people to configure while still fitting everyone into the frame. Two people might be easy enough, but trying a whole group of people in a selfie takes some strategy. 

One go-to way is to find the person with the longest arms (Bradley Cooper has it down!). They will be able to hold the phone or camera far enough away from the group to hopefully get everyone in; unfortunately, that leaves little wiggle room for choosing angles and poses.

If you’re up to having an extra thing to carry around, you might consider getting a selfie stick. While selfie sticks were once mocked as being ridiculous, now people have come to realize how incredibly useful they are. With a selfie stick, your range and control in any picture situation is much better, and you’ll be able to get the group shot, no problem. It’s also great for getting scenery-filled backgrounds when traveling! 

Be Natural — Not Cliche 

When taking selfies, some people try so hard to achieve a certain style or look they saw on someone else’s social media that they forget that the best selfies are unique and (mostly) unplanned. Sure, you practice and are working on applying all these great tips, but spending all that time only for your selfies to match everyone else’s is not going to do much for you. 

Make sure to always apply your own unique touch to your selfies. You have a personal style all your own and a creative mind. Try to be as natural as possible, and these qualities will reveal themselves each time. Create an aesthetic that is naturally you and you will never be displeased with your results. 

Take Extra Selfies!

Despite what someone scrolling through your photos might say, you can never have too many selfies! If you are wanting to catch the perfect moment in time in a way that you are satisfied with, especially in a situation that you likely can’t replicate — like traveling to a new country — it’ll be helpful to take multiples of the same selfie.

This way when you really have time to sit down and look through your photos, you can choose the ones you like best, rather than kicking yourself because you didn’t take enough time to realize that it was slightly blurry, or someone was doing something weird in the background. 

Also take extra selfies when trying out new makeup. Putting makeup on in one type of lighting, then taking pictures in different lighting can sometimes have disastrous results. Be careful of your makeup lighting, and take multiple pics in different types of light to see what the results are. 

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