Selfies for dummies - Full length selfie

Several years ago I wrote a blogpost about how to take a good full length selfie. This was my most popular post ever. It did need a bit of editing since there’s been some changes, so here’s a more up to date version. I used the original pictures though.

We all know that taking a good full figure shot is not easy. The obvious is to use a full figure mirror and take a picture, but to get a good result you need to have the mirror in the perfect spot. My full figure mirrors are not very suitable for taking selfies, one is in the hallway where it’s no natural light, the other one is placed where the light hits me from my the side. Others might have mirrors where they have backlights, that’s actually the worse position. Even if you have the mirror in the perfect spot for taking selfies, you still have the phone in your hand and it either hides your face or your necklace.

So how to take a full lenght photo?

1. Learn how to use the camera on your phone, your camera has a lot of functions you probably don’t know about. Read the manual, if you don’t have it you can find it online. If you have problems to read manuals ask someone you know. Preferably someone young, if you know a teenager, lucky you, they know all about this.

2. Activate the timer function, you can choose how many seconds you want, you can also choose to take multiple photos. You can also tell your phone to take your picture, say Smile or Cheese and it will take your picture after the set amount of seconds you’ve chosen on your timer. This is the most practical way to do it, then you don’t have to run back and forth. Just make sure the lense is clean. Nothing is as frustrating than have a great set of pictures and then they are blurry because you forgot to clean the lense. Been there, done that.

3. Find a suitable spot, make sure you don’t have backlights from your windows. Backlit photos are the worse. Sidelit pictures are not good either, but better than backlit. The optimal is to let the light from the window hit your face. If you have tripod attach your phone to it. I would defintely recommend to get a tripod if you take a lot of selfies. I use the tripod which came with my ringlight.

When the light comes from the side the quality of the picture is not good.

4. If you don’t have a tripod you can use the teacup trick. Find a cup which is wide enough for your phone, put some paper in the cup to make sure the camera is upright. If not it will only take photos of the ceiling.

5. Place the cup on a table or a shelf, you might have to adjust the height. Use books or some boxes under the cup if you need to get the camera higher. I used a small table which was easy to move in the position I wanted it to be,

This is how I used to do it before I had a tripod. Be inventive to the right height.

6. Push the button place the phone in the cup, position yourself and action. Or get yourself in the right spot and say cheese. Make sure the camera is not too low or too hight. About chest height is good.

Facing the window to get the most flatering lighting.

7. Pose, smile, do silly things, don’t be shy. After all you choose which photos you are going to delete and which you want to show to others. Maybe you only want to see how an outfit looks like before you head out. Taking these full length selfies are a great too, to see what your outfit actually looks like. For me it’s a must, as I’m completely blind when looking in the mirror. I think everything looks ok, but when I see the outfit in a picture I can immediately see what I should have changed or not worn at all. I have learned the hard way NOT to trust what I see in the mirror. I guess I’m not the only one with this kind of handicap.

8. Last, but not least, use the crop function. In your gallery you can edit your photos. You can adjust the tone or the light. The function I use the most is the crop function. It’s where you easy an magically can remove most of your clutter. People are not interested to see your whole floor or ceiling. Look at the examples below.

This is the uncropped version. It can work if your surroundings are tidy.

The cropped version. If you crop people will see more of you and not your floor, ceiling or your clutter. It rakes only a few seconds to crop a picture.

I know that many dont feel very comfortable in front of the camera, especially if you are about my age it can be a bit intimidating. But honestly anyone can learn how to this, its just like everything else in the world it needs a bit of practice.

I always try to encourage my clients and the fabulous women in my group to take decent selfies. Mastering this will also boost your self confidence as you will get much more comments and likes on selfies which shows you in the best lighting and which shows you and not all your clutter.

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How about you, can you trust the image from the mirror or are you like me and see everything much better in a picture?