In honor of the Oxford Dictionary naming "selfie" the word of the year, I'm re-running my tutorial on taking better self portraits. Whether you think selfies are narcissistic distraction or a modern fact of life, they're definitely here to stay!
Captain Dapper wants you to capture the best version of yourself.
I'm no stranger to the selfie. Scroll through my Instagram or Flickr feeds and you'll see that I snap pics of myself quite often. Is it vanity? Maybe a little. It's also a way to document my ever evolving style. And, for a person like me who has a short, short memory, it's fun to look back at old photos of myself and be like, oh yeah, I loved that shirt/haircut/mustache/etc. Not to mention that in this age of social media, having a flattering pic of yourself is always a good idea.
While anyone can aim a camera at themselves, it takes a little finessing to ensure a flattering self portrait. Here are some tips that I use:
1. Experiment with angles. We all have physical strengths and weaknesses. The trick here is to accentuate the positive. I'm self conscious about my long, thin neck and the fact that my face isn't symmetrical. To disguise these imperfections, I tend to shoot from a higher angle and with a slightly tilted head. What long neck? Nothing to see here!
2. Go toward the light. Many of my selfies are taken while I'm at home. I often stand in front of a window to make use of natural light. This is not only flattering, it also helps achieve a more high quality photo.
3. Filters are your friend. Acne, wrinkles, and birthmarks - mother nature is a cruel bitch sometimes. One way to outsmart nature is to use filters to disguise the imperfections. In Instagram, I'm a big fan of the Amaro and Walden filters. These two filters help lighten up the center of the photo, which is a great way to disguise crows feet and other little tragedies.
4. Set the timer. Of course, not all self portraits are snapped with a smartphone. If you're using a digital camera, make use of the timer function to shoot your self portrait. Using a timer will allow you to step back from the camera to get a wider shot - great for capturing full outfits or tracking weight loss.
5. Crop til you drop. Trimming out the unflattering parts of a photo can also help you achieve a more flattering selfie. Crop out your arms if you're doing a hand held selfie or trim the pic to eliminate all the ugly background noise in a photo.
Now, go forth, dear reader, and start taking flattering pics of yourself. Upload them to your Facebook, post them to the dating websites and let the world think you haven't aged a day since high school!
Images: Jason Loper
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