You don’t need to be a photography pro to make amazing selfies! If you want to impress your friends and gain more followers, you only need to learn a few tricks to make your selfies look incredible. Check out five awesome tips for taking your best selfies!

You’re About to Be a Pro

As social media is increasingly taking over our lives, we are constantly looking for new ways to express ourselves. And since humans are visual creatures, the best way to present yourself on the web is through awesome-looking photos. Whether you want to boost your profile for your career, entertain and tease your followers, or simply aim to make yourself look great, a neat selfie will be your ticket to success.

But wait, snapping a selfie isn’t as easy as it sounds! And you’ve probably seen that since 99% of your friends constantly share odd-looking, awkward, or lazy snaps of themselves!

Selfies are not only about makeup, selfie sticks, editing and filtering, and snapping 50 shots only to get one that you can actually use. While your phone’s memory gives you nearly limitless options, it’s so easy to make common mistakes. If you get the lighting or the angle wrong and make a silly face, you won’t get an Insta-worthy snap. Luckily, you only need to memorize a few great ideas for photos and use them to completely transform your selfie game!

Look up toward the camera

Kim Kardashian and other celebrities constantly use this trick. You’ll see it in tons of good selfies, and it truly transforms your shots once you get the hang of it. What you need to do is to look up toward your front camera. You can lie in bed or stand up while doing this. The goal is to get a good selfie pose and angle that emphasizes your facial features. 

Conversely, if you look down and into the lens, your face will look bigger. Plus, the lighting will emphasize all the lines and curves. If you look up, you’ll look slimmer, fresher, and friendlier. Also, you’ll get rid of shadows and lines on your forehead, cheeks, and underneath your eyes. Those lines can be highly irritating and distracting. Even if they aren’t so prominent in real life, they can ruin your perfect selfie. 

So before you get ready to snap your next selfie, look up. Find the best angle that emphasizes your facial features and reduces shadows. However, there’s another trick here. As you look up, also lift up your eyebrows slightly. It should only be a subtle lift that emphasizes your eyes and makes them look much bigger. 

Extend your head away from your neck

Besides the angle, posture is another win or lose element to a great selfie. For example, shoulder placement is vital, and if you straighten your back too much, you’ll make yourself look overly formal and a bit robotic. Additionally, how you place your head will define your look in your selfie. If it drops down too much, it will cover your neck. That will make you look like a turtle!

So what can you do here? Well, the first step is to extend your neck. Find a good angle that makes your neck appear longer, and make sure that your head doesn’t cover it. With this, your jawline will look sharper. Moreover, your neck will appear longer and sexier. And just like with the previous trick, this head position will reduce nasty shadows. 

What’s more, try to push your shoulders back. If you keep them down, you’ll look relaxed and inviting. Still, try not to overdo this trick. If you push your shoulders way down and extend your neck too high, you’ll instantly get that giraffe-like look! So be subtle here and experiment with the ideal neck/shoulder angle to find your best posture. 

Hold the phone to the side for a flawless angle

Like we’ve said, a poor angle can cause undesirable shadows and lines. It can make your face look bloated or even make you appear much older. And you won’t be able to get away with it even if you wear heaps of makeup!

Instead, focus on finding the perfect angle that compliments your facial features. One way to start is to hold your phone to the side. By doing this, you’ll move your phone away from your face. If you hold your phone directly in front of your face, it will appear wider. 

The workaround is to hold the phone slightly to the left or right. You can also slant your shoulders and tilt your head according to this angle. These two things will make your face and body look thinner. Plus, the shot will look much more realistic. This doesn’t have to be a sharp angle, and you could hold your phone so that it’s slightly off-center. 

Relax your mouth, and exhale, blowing air through your lips

What you do with your mouth can also make or break your selfie. A weird lip position can make you look tense. It can make you seem like you’ve just heard some unpleasant news or even make you look constipated! We’ve witnessed so many examples of this on hundreds of selfies of us mortals as well as top celebs. Yet, the trick to avoid an awkward mouth and lip placement is quite straightforward.

To make your mouth appear less tense, you can exhale through your lips. That reduces tension and makes you look relaxed. What’s more, it makes you look sexier. Simply relax your jaw and mouth and open it slightly as you exhale. This will make you look like you’re pouting. Your lips will appear to be plumper, and your whole face will look fresher. 

Of course, try not to overdo it. If you open your mouth too much, it will look like you are trying too hard. You could also make it seem like you are yawning, which definitely isn’t part of a great selfie. If you’re having trouble, try to lightly clench your front teeth. Additionally, the exhaling trick also works if you want to give your followers a big smile. 

Spin until you find your best Light 

Finally, this quick hack will make it incredibly simple for you to find the best lighting. Whether you’re using artificial or natural lighting, you’ll always run into problems with it. And trust us, all the models, influencers, and celebrities are well aware of their lighting tricks! When light falls on your face, it should be balanced. 

What’s more, it should come from an angle that doesn’t emphasize your imperfections. Poor lighting can exaggerate any wrinkles, scars, bumps, and facial fat. It can also give you a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. (or Mrs.) Hyde look that can terrify your friends or followers.

To fix lighting issues quickly, simply hold the phone at your desired angle and slowly spin your body. Keep your phone steady and watch the screen to see where the light and shadows fall on your face. 

That’s it! 

Our tips will work regardless of the time of day and your environment. So try them out today and become a social media pro!