This article may come off as cheesy or unimportant, however, before I mastered the art of selfie taking (yes that was a joke), I wish I had a guide. During this quarantine, I have taken MANY selfies. Not because I am obsessed with myself, but because I get so bored that I decide to do my makeup and put on a cute top just to take a selfie. I began to realize that I do have a lot of tips and tricks on selfie taking. This is so you do not have to take 20 million pictures and go through your camera roll for an hour picking and choosing the right ones.

1. LIGHTING

Alright, this may seem obvious but I cannot say it enough how important lighting is. It may be the key to success when it comes to taking a selfie. I have a certain window in my house that always brings in beautiful light during specific times of day – which is also another factor. As much as the sun is helpful, you don’t want to take the picture when the sun is at it’s brightest hour, it will do more harm than good – trust me.

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The two photos I took around 5:30ish when the sun was coming in just bright enough wear I wasn’t too squinty but I still got the suns rays hitting me. Makeup or no makeup, the sun makes any selfie shine. These don’t have any filters or editing done to them just yet, which obviously can enhance the photo, but literally the sun can be good enough depending on your preferences.

2. POSING

You would think this would be much easier since it’s not a full body picture, but this makes it much harder. Since there are limited options and all the spotlight is on your face, this can be one of the hardest steps in taking a selfie. Depending on the makeup I have on, how I’m feeling, or the mood I’m going for, I’ll start out with a classic soft smile. This may seem basic but I promise you’ll go places. Once you have a starting pose you just have to keep moving and tilting your head around to get different angles. It doesn’t take much to find the “poses” or I guess in this case, facial expressions lol, that you like the best. Flipping/messing with your hair can also help give a variety of options when taking selfies. Once you get the hang of it, you shouldn’t have to take as many pictures to find your best selfie.

3. EDITING

If you want to put some minimal editing on a photo without it looking too overdone, I use Lightroom and it works WONDERS. The tiniest details can make a selfie look amazing.

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With Lightroom, there are so many alterations and enhancements you can make that can add so much to a selfie. I screenshotted some of the small adjustments I made in case you need a little bit of inspiration. It all depends on the exact photo you are editing but messing around and playing with the different settings will get you somewhere.

FINAL PRODUCT 🙂

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In my case, the editing was kept to a minimum because the sun did be a lot of justice, but it really all depends on each photo. Editing can be as minimal or as creative as you choose, but that is the fun part about taking selfies. I’ve added graphic art and sparkles to my selfies, added more color, and put pretty presets on them. It’s all about what you like the best.

If you weren’t feeling too comfortable taking selfies before, I hope that now you feel a little more confident in yourself. In all seriousness, giving yourself some self love in these unpredictable times can be very healing as cheesy as it sounds.