No Products in the Cart
Picking a spot to take your own picture can be easy or hard - but it always reflects upon you when you show the result to others.
We have all seen the pre-ball, pre-dance show, or pre-wedding selfie taken in the hallway, broom closet, or toilets. No matter how wonderful the occasion or stunning the outfit, it never looks good with a background of a mop and bucket or an open stall door.
National monuments, scenic wonders, and iconic locations make for a better deal, even if you are bobbing away in the middle of a harbour while you are doing it.
Step Two: Hold the camera away from yourself. If you hold it close, you may get a picture of you ( and in many cases this is really the center of attraction for you... ) but no-one will know where you are.
Use a tripod, selfie stick, or obliging stranger. Be aware that tripods may fall over, selfie sticks may hit the passers-by, and obliging strangers may turn and bolt for it with your camera in hand. If you are on a ferry boat or space capsule this may not be a problem.
Step Three: Aim the thing in the right direction. If the camera has a mirror on the front or a swivelling LCD screen you can get it in the ballpark. if it does not you will just have to be satisfied with where the ball goes.
Step Four: Smile like a maniac at the exact moment that the camera exposes the picture. This might be difficult to time - some cameras will warn you with flashing lights and some will not. If you start early you may end up looking like Gomer Pyle and it you are too late you look like Henry Ford. It takes practice.
Step Five: Stop, look, and listen.
Stop at one or two. You are only one person - not a regiment. You only need one picture of you.
Look at the picture . If it makes you look like a good person in a bad place, delete it. If it makes you look like a bad person in a good place, do the same. Only keep it if you look like a good person in a good place.
Listen to your friends when they see the picture. If they ask where you were, you have failed - if they ask what you were on, it is worse. The worst question of all is when they ask where you found it on the net...then you know you don't even have a self to photograph.
If in doubt, follow these right and wrong ways to take a selfie.
PS: Thank you to the cheerful girl on the Taronga Park ferry last week for being an unwitting photo model. And for not hitting me with the selfie stick when the ferry bobbed sideways in the harbour.
