To be quite frank with you, I get it. We've all been there, ogling over Ariana's snapchats, that she so effortlessly seems to upload, wandering why we weren't graced with beautiful big eyes and a timelessly cute smile. I'm stopping nyself here from saying the heavily cliched "I'd hate to break this to you line", because In all honesty, I am entralled to let you all know that you can start taking BOMB.COM selfies asap! (Well, as soon as you read the 3 major hacks down below)
1. LIGHTING
In all production media, its absolutely vital that you get the lighting right. Likewise, when taking selfies, on a front facing camera that probably isn't all that great as far as megapixels is concerned, you need to ensure that your pictures are captured in the best lighting so as to clearly depict the subject -(YOU). To achieve this, all you need is to find your nearest source of natural lighting. If indoors a window is a great one to use as a lot of natural light comes flooding in though there. If outdoors, stand in a position whereby you are opposing the sun, (this tip works well when taking non-selfie pictures too!). The sunlight can illuminate your pictures when stood opposite to its subject. In the same token, sunlight can interfere with your pictures making it dark and or difficult to see the subject of your picture.
2. BACKGROUND
Flee from a noisy background. Essentially when taking selfies the focus is on you- your face and so try to take your pictures in places where the background will not clash with the overall beauty of the picture that you are trying to take. Going for a basic setting and the use of minimal props will help. Try to move away anything that is obstructing your minimal background as this can distract the viewer from gazing at you- the subject!
3. EYE CONTACT
The eyes can so easily set the mood of the photo. As a model, I have mastered the art of smizing- coined by Tyra Banks, it is the ability to smile with your eyes. You therefore don't need to open your mouth wide or move your lips. Primarily, try to focus your eyes on the lens of the camera and not on you phone screen. This makes a major difference to the outcome of you photo as illustrated below:
* 4. MANUAL SETTINGS
If you follow the first three hacks you should be able to take decently great selfies with any device. This means that you don't need to be shooting from a high tech DSLR camera! However, for the perfectionists/ photo-taking fanatics out there, I've added a bonus hack. You can manually change the settings of your camera device to enhance the quality and the overall look and feel of your picture. I was never satisfyed with the front-facing camera on my phone. I'd always find it annoying when taking snapchat photos and the picture came out too grainy and dull or perhaps didn't pick up any light. So I did what any other daring photo-taking fanatic would do, I toggled with the settings! I feel as though this deserves a whole other blog post on its own, but essentially I managed to change the sensitivity of my phones' camera to light via increasing the ISO. This in turn helped my photos to appear brighter.
Also I alter the White Balance when taking pictures to match with the type of lighting I'm recieving at the time of taking the photo. E.G. When in the kitchen I change the settings to 'fluorecent' as those are the kind of bulbs we have at home in the kitchen. Similarly, when in my bedroom I change the settings to 'warm fluorecent' or 'incandescent'. Having the correct White Balance setting turned on before you take your selfie will ensure that the white in your pictures will be depicted as truly white as opposed to appearing blue or red.
Lastly I like to toggle with the sharpness of my photos. Most photo editing software's do offer this effect, and its a nice way to make your picture appear more crisp -as though it was taken on a camera with a higher megapixel. Use this tool with care as you could end up
Now run along my lovelies, and start taking your fab photos today! You don't need to be a professional to get started, practice does make perfect and in no time you'd have a plethora of fantastic pictures ready to showcase on all your social media or even your very own autobiography!
As always,
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