The Perfect Selfie

I started out writing about selfies a couple weeks ago, sharing with my readers an assortment of badly taken photos and ranting about how I can never get it right. You may read about it here if you missed it: http://vintagehew.blogspot.com.mt/2018/04/selfies-galore-but-any-good-ones.html

Fast forward one week and two helpful comments from a reader, I wrote an unplanned follow-up post about the subject in which I shared some better if still unprofessional pics together with some observations I made. Here's a link to this second post: http://vintagehew.blogspot.com.mt/2018/04/selfies-galore-continued.html

Once again my reader commented on my updated pics and musings. I must thank him for after reading through that third comment I finally managed one single, in my opinion 'perfect' photo so here I am sharing it:

Selfies Galore... Continued

Following my rant last time about never getting selfies quite right, as well as the lovely informative comments from one of my readers, I am now back with some selfies that are much better than the previous ones, if I may say it myself.

For those who missed last week's post, here it is again: http://vintagehew.blogspot.com.mt/2018/04/selfies-galore-but-any-good-ones.html

As my reader advised, it does seem like it is mostly about getting the right angle as well as being confident in front of the camera. I have not yet exactly mastered smiling in self-taken photos but I think I've come a long way, again because of said confidence. Once I decided that my face was looking good in the selfies, however, I started noting all the other mistakes I make in taking the photos, this time a problem with background, particular items or even the lighting.

So after posing for the perfect photo wearing a new top and on the way to an important meeting, I found myself looking at a snapshot that had one minor flaw, a clothes hanger left in the background! Try as I might, I couldn't reproduce that shot after I removed said offending hanger. Same type of issue appeared when I wore my photochromic specs in a pic. They were dark enough not to let my eyes show properly, yet not dark enough to conceal them, leaving me with a picture that attracted attention to that very fact more than anything else in the composition. Another frustrating thing I've noticed is that sometimes, the background is too similar to my hair colour or that of my clothes and seems to cause an anti-climatic effect. Again, trust my camera skills to fall short once I move a few steps to take the same picture on a different background.

I noted other small details like how it is difficult to make my blowdried hair appear perfect in pics whilst with curly locks I am able to get decent pics every time. The reason is probably that curls are in themselves unruly, imperfect, asymmetrical, whilst straight hair can very easily look out of place.

However, I still find that the most important detail in a selfie seems to be the lips and therefore the smile. I am smiling in most of the best pictures whilst those pictures that seem otherwise perfect always fall short of perfection when I am not smiling in them.

Selfies Galore... But Any Good Ones?!

I have a friend who takes amazing selfies. Yeah I actually did ask once or twice would he please tell me how can a selfie turn out that good.

There is something called being photogenic apparently. Ok I knew that existed but never before did I know that being photogenic is totally unrelated to being pretty or handsome. You read that right. The most beautiful girl in the world might actually not be photogenic at all!! It is all about the contours of the face and how they will 'flatten' out in a 2D pic. Maybe that is why I always think about another friend's pics that they don't do him justice whilst his videos make him look totally different to the pics.

I have a roundish face and most of my selfies look pudgy to me. Erm, I think my version is actually better than 'nerdy', which I got told as well. People comment I look nothing like my pics and I never could figure that one out as to me I look just like, well, me!

Given I have a round face, that I always seem to choose the wrong angle (or so I get told!) and that I tend to look too serious when I am taking my own pic (I'm trying to concentrate on that angle, right?!) I do look quite not up to scratch in pics. To be fair, the back camera of a phone seems to magnify facial blemishes too, have you ever noticed that?! On the other hand I have also noticed that when I am not the only one in the pic, I tend to look better. You could argue that I might be standing next to someone who looks worse than me in the pics but given most of the time that other person is my dear gorgeous son, I rather think it's a matter of holding the camera far enough to fit both of us in the photo that does the trick.

I won't be sharing any pics of myself with my son as I have some self-made privacy rules on here but I am going to share a few of my selfies. Maybe you can judge for yourself how badly I can take them. Feel free to post your comments below.

Top Left - pudgy face (taken face up on bed)
Bottom Left - actual smile (taken with Photo Booth which makes it easier to take good selfies)
PS - No, I am NOT naked in the bottom left pic, my hair is covering the straps of my top!!