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| "It's just liberating as in the past we relied
on others' judgement and control of our
photographic history. A selfie allows you
to control how good (or not) you look whether, or not you choose to share it with the world." Paul Wald, Q's, Selfie King 2014 |
With over 93 million of 'em taken every day, selfies are all over Social Media, increasingly though, they’re big in the mainstream too. Today it seems that
everyone who’s anyone will go to extreme lengths to contort themselves at full
stretch into a tiny frame to get that perfect selfie, so we thought we’d take a
look at three ways that will help you keep up with the celebrities.
Interesting Fact: 52% of men and 50% of women say that
they’ve took a selfie
It all
started as a bit of fun, a photograph of your
beautiful self taken with a Smartphone and shared with the world on social
media. But, inevitably, as selfies move from the ordinariness of
social media into the glamorous mainstream, the selfie image has had to up its
game.
Interesting Fact: 36% say they alter their
selfies
As
Smartphone camera quality improved selfies have got better, but it’s not just the
camera quality that’s keeping our snaps up there with the celebs. There’s some cool touch-up Apps that can
quickly digitally enhance your selfie before it goes “live”, and a bunch of
Selfie Sticks that make that otherwise awkward looking selfie look pretty damn
cool. So, let’s have a look at three ways to snap that perfect selfie:
1. Choose Selfie-Smart
Phone
How many times have you been in that perfect location and wanted to
capture the moment forever for it to pass you by because your phone’s just not
up to the job? For a start, you’ll need a phone with a front facing camera.
You can take a Smartphone self-portrait with a back-facing camera, but, if
you do, you can expect quite a few duck-faces and because of the ludicrous
angles involved pictures of the takers arms. If you want to take great pictures
of yourself it’s a damn site easier with a forward-facing camera - so make sure
your Smartphone has got one.
Cameras clever enough to focus automatically at arm’s-length grab the
best selfies. The auto-focus gives you the
added advantage that they allow you to get the shot off quickly and before that
annoying bloke walking past scoffing a kebab ends up ruining it. For a cool selfie a good auto-focus feature is
something to look for in a Smartphone too.
Interesting Fact: The country with the largest numbers
of selfies is Australia, followed by the US and Canada
2. Don’t struggle (you’ll look weird) get a
Selfie Click-Stick
Most people’s arms are too short for the perfect selfie, but you can get
around this particular human failing by extending your reach with a Selfie Click-Stick.
The designers say that Click Sticks will change the way you take Selfie
photos forever. Well, maybe that’s stretching it a bit, but they’ll certainly let
you take selfies in places that you otherwise wouldn’t have thought
possible.
Once you have physically attached your phone to the bracket on the end
of the Selfie Click-Stick the electrical part works by tapping into your
Smartphone’s headphone socket. This activates a button on the stick that
operates the shutter switch on your phone. Now, when you’re ready, all you need
to do is try and look cool, and click...
The larger Click-Sticks on the market are ideal to pop in the car, or to
use at home, but if you’re out and about there are ones dinky enough to pop in
your pocket. We like this Click-Stick Selfie-Gadget from Thumbs Up which thankfully has no Bluetooth pairing problems, or
batteries to wrestle with and works with most Smartphones.
Interesting Fact: Click-Stick extends
to well over half a metre to 66cm
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3. Download some cool photo-Apps
Celebrities
on TV and in magazines cheat all the time by having a make-over before they
dare reveal themselves on Breakfast Telly. The great and good also routinely
have themselves enhanced with Photoshop before they're exposed in glossy
magazines – so what’s wrong with the rest of us making the best our ourselves?
Interesting Fact: 14% of all selfies are digitally
enhanced
There are tons
of Apps out there to help you manipulate your selfie. Everyone knows that you
can get rid of red-eye pretty easily, but why not get those teeth whitened too
and practically everything else buffed, honed and toned while you’re at it? These clever little Apps such as Facetune, Photowonder, or CreamCam
are free, or cost next to nothing and have the power to magic away all those
little blemishes, pimples, spots and freckles at a swipe. Skin perfecting Apps can even give your hair
a little extra sheen and even tame fly-away
hair.
Interesting Fact: 13% of women and 34% of men admit
they touch-up every single selfie they post
It’s all a bit mad, and there are even Apps
that can make you look taller and slimmer, and fake lovely skin. So, for that
perfect selfie, treat yourself to a decent Smartphone, download a few nifty
Photo-Apps and get a Click-Stick.
Sources: Google, Tech-info-Graphics, Samsung, American Psyciatric Association
Sources: Google, Tech-info-Graphics, Samsung, American Psyciatric Association
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