Improve Your Selfies with Tips from an Expert
If you're going to take selfies these days, you might as well learn how to take good ones. Lela Chu can help you with that. She's a 21 year-old Vietnamese girl currently living and working in Shanghai and of course, taking lots of selfies. While she may not technically be considered an expert, she certainly knows what she's doing, and she has some advice to offer...
Do you remember the first selfie you ever took?
Probably when I was in secondary school. Back at that time phones didn’t have front camera yet, and I didn’t have a phone either, so the first selfie I took was with a digital camera. The result was fabulous back then but now I wish to never see it again.
Whenever I see an insta-material background and perfect lighting, me and my phone are always ready for selfies.
Is there something you think people misunderstand about selfies?
One big misconception that I think people have about taking selfie is that only good-looking people can take pretty selfies. I would beg a differ on that - selfie is just a self-centered type of photography. A pretty subject does not translate into an beauty-by-default picture. Taking selfies, in my opinion, revolves mainly around knowing your good angles and understanding the lights. Knowing where and how you look best can transform your self-portrait in a shocking way, and good lighting takes you a long way because, hey, nothing looks too good in the dark. So for me it might be easier for good-looking people to take good selfies, but with a good skillsets anyone can look pretty, at least in pictures.
If you had to give three tips on taking a perfect selfie what would they be?
Don’t just pout or just smile or frown. V-signs are too 2009. Dabbing is getting tacky. Learn different poses and facial expressions and use them. Wear something pretty. Do something crazy. Use whatever as your props because having a context is everything the Internet craves. Make it fun for you and your viewers (and likers).
Stand in front of the mirror and study your face. See if your beauty side is left or right. Chin up or chin down? Smile or smirk? Understand how you look in different angles and poses and choose the most ideal ones. Practice makes perfect so don’t worry about those 1000 failed selfies that you’re gonna take. You’ll get there eventually.
It’s good to be a fronter - but not always in taking selfies. Standing up front and holding the device means risking a V-line to the losses and sometimes not showing up at all. Offer your dear friends the honor. Stand next to them timidly but godly. Don’t forget to thank them later: they took one not just for the team, but especially for you - they just don’t know it
Do you have a selfie idol? Someone who you think takes the best selfies in the world?
Definitely Lily Maymac. She has confident, great style, diversity in her content. You don’t get bored looking at her.
You have the chance to take your dream selfie anywhere you’d like, where do you choose?
I would choose Maldives, for obvious reasons of course: great beach, beautiful water, the white sand, and the lovely resorts that would serve as the best background for #travellife pictures. And of course I have to mention the sunlight - did you know daylight is god-given selfie lighting? You can easily take 100 pictures and get 101 good ones to spam your Instagram feed.
If you'd like to see more from Lela you can follow her Instagram: mylifeas.ibx
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