I was clearing some 2000+ photos out of my phone today, and realized that I have some pretty nice selfies in here :3 It's something that's gained me popularity using Facebook in the past, and I thought why not help my fellow Steemians learn to take some awesome pictures! I love taking selfies, and there are some techniques I use to get a better photo that doesn't involve filters or image editing. The following images are some of my favorite selfies from the last year!

The above photo was my default profile picture earlier this year on Facebook before I was sent thousands of friend requests from all over the world, maxxing out my friends list in a week. I was really in shock! I messaged a bunch of people to ask why they would want to add me and everyone who spoke English replied; "you seemed nice/cool so I wanted to add you."

Presentation is Everything

That really got me thinking; I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what about this picture stood out to them. What made a large demographic decide to add someone they never met? Before I uploaded it, I had 300 friends. A big part of it HAS to be this picture. In this image I used no artificial lighting. The best selfies are taken during the day, when you can utilize natural lighting. I live in a tall building, during the morning time is perfect to take photos! The sheets and comforter have patterns on them, so I thought it would be fun to wear a piece of clothing to create a more cohesive image. My shirt, overalls, and cardigan are all neutral grey, white, and black, the only real offsetting color I use is the pink stuffed animal I'm laying on, which by the way is an Alpaca!

So what does light, and colors have to do with a selfie?

A lot actually. When taking pictures at night, the color distorts very easily as there isn't enough light exposure. Since we aren't still subjects, long exposure shots aren't going to work, and even during the day- a phone's aperture settings are pretty fixed compared to analog cameras. More light, means less editing and clearer more defined images! Blurry images do not look as clean as sharper ones, any skin blending effect is also really easy to notice for the trained eye!

I'm sure that everyone reading this likes to put together outfits as well, where one accessory is more ornate or differently colored from the others.

Try to think of a whole picture as ONE OUTFIT!

I'm looking rather apprehensive in this one. I'm shown walking around outside somewhere and part of my teeth are showing, over exaggerating an under bite. Showing teeth doesn't always mean violence, and in primates is known to be a submissive trait. That's why photos like this one, or one where someone is biting their lip illicit the impression that the subject is scared of something!

A half smile with teeth in this photo creates an inviting atmosphere, which was one of the things I wanted to create with my images. However, the major difference of this photo is that I allow all the sunlight to completely wash out the background behind me. This adds a little mystery, but possibly not for the right reasons! I see this evident with many people who take selfies too close, where a person can't tell where they are. The background of a selfie is half the image, don't believe me? See some of the ones below!

Where you take a selfie, can be just as important as what you're wearing or doing! Use the background to your advantage!

The photo above was taken at least 10 times, and forwarded to friends as part of a set. "Which one do I upload and why?" This one was unanimously selected as the best, because I am staring into the camera lenses, and I have a super confident smirk. I sent this to the friend that lightened my color who wasn't sure how it came out (my hair being straight loooks a lot different than it curly!)

Practice looking into the lense so that it can capture the light reflecting off of your eyes!

A lot of people tell me that in all of my photos, my eyes stand out a lot- with emotion emanating from them. There is no secret. Literally try your best to look DIRECTLY into the lense and your eyes will look really nice without ANY editing. Many apps add this feature to enhance eyes, but it really is not the same thing at all. They can resize your eyes and lighten them, but this "effect" is hard to replicate if you aren't trying to achieve it. Looking directly at the camera is much more important than what angle you are holding your phone from!

It takes a lot of practice and you could move your phone too much when snapping the image.
Hold down the picture button (on Android and Iphone) and it will take a bunch of photos until you let go. It's called a burst shot. Very useful when taking group photos, or trying to get a capture a certain look in a selfie!

My first and only underwater selfie. You have to time it right (use a 3 second timer so you don't accidentally drown yourself trying to get a good angle by constantly dunking your head lol) Also double and triple check that your phone is waterproof. I'm using a Samsung s6 Active for my photos.

So what have we learned today?

• daytime phone photos look better than nighttime/bathroom selfies
• smoother skin is a trade for cleaner shots
• color coordination does not have to stick to your outfit
• how submissive or dominant you look can be changed on how wide you open your mouth
• let the background of your selfie tell half the story
• look directly into the lense to allow light to properly reflect off your eyes
• burst shots save a lot of time compared to waiting between photos
• timers are good for getting a grounding on a "moment sensitive" shot

Selfie and Self Love

I hear a lot of my friends tell me that they aren't confident to take a photo. A good trick to over come this fear (that I still use) is to imagine the lense is the eyes of the person/people you would like to see your photo. Sounds scary!! But they aren't really there~ and it helps you to see and later look back at your own thoughts regarding the image. It's almost like looking into your own soul, and is an interesting experience.

Don't be ashamed to look nice! It takes a lot of photos to get one that you really think looks beautiful, and no matter what you look like outside- the inside is always better!!! c: I like to think of selfies as the quest to make the outside reflect the feelings on the inside.

If you like my post, please upvote, comment, and resteem!
Mahalo!

Sheryl