Everyone loves taking selfies: Instagram and Snapchat dominate a lot of our mobile phone usage and it’s fun to share our thoughts and where we are with creative selfies.
In this post, we’ll take a look at some unique selfie poses and creative selfie ideas that you can use to keep your feed fresh and attract more and more likes and comments!
While there may be no such thing as a perfect selfie, following these tips will get you as close to a perfect selfie as possible!
1. Location
One of the key factors that make a good selfie is location. As the adage goes: location, location, location.
Try to be creative about where you take your photos. It could be in your home, near a window, in a door frame, at the park, in your car, or even at work (provided there’s no policy against that of course!)
You could also decorate a corner of your room or your house to be your “Selfie Corner”, especially for your selfie poses.
Changing up the location can breathe new life into selfies. If most of your selfies are at home, try to take some outside with a nice background.
If most of your selfies are outside, try to make some at home to give an intimate feel.
Location is a key part of the selfie game. As you get better at taking selfies, you’ll get an indication of which locations produce great photos.
Eventually, you’ll develop a “favourite place” or a “favourite angle” where you know every photo you take of yourself will be a flattering selfie no matter what!
2. Stick your neck forward a little
A unique hack to take a good selfie is to slightly stick your neck forward and pair it with a good smile as you take the photo.
In other words, as you are taking the photo, you should look slightly upwards. This will force the background and the background-in-photo to be the same height as you are.
This will also force you to look upward as well. So, you won’t look at the camera or your face. It will look like the subject is looking upwards, and you’ll get a unique, almost smooth-looking effect.
This could also help your selfie poses seem more candid.
3. Use double exposure
Double exposure is a unique feature in some Nikon and Canon cameras where you can take two photos and combine them into one.
One of the most creative selfies you can take is a double exposure of you and another object with a unique background.
You can use this exposure to give your selfie poses an almost mystical look, such as this one:
If you don’t have a camera that supports double exposures, you can also use Photoshop or Lightroom to create this effect.
Remember to take your original selfie on a white background so you can easily remove the background before doing the double exposure.
You can easily remove backgrounds from photos using a service such as Remove.bg
Watch the YouTube video below to get a much clear idea on how to edit a picture of double exposure.
4. Take a selfie with your pet
Photographing pets can be a little difficult because they have so much energy and are easily distracted. But there are ways to remedy that.
The first thing you should do is eliminate distractions. If you have a ball or an open box of pizza, your pet might get distracted. To take the best selfie pose, make sure the attention of the pet is on you.
Help your pet get comfortable with the camera. Let him sniff your phone and get used to the flashlight. Once your pet gets comfortable, take a selfie.
Make your pet sit next to you by using a treat to lure them and when they are about to eat that treat, click a selfie.
Another thing you can do is talk to your pet while clicking the selfie. This will help you take interesting and creative selfies.
Once you catch the attention of your pet, snap several pictures as quickly as possible to ensure you captured a good selfie.
Frame your shot in different angles. They add interest to your photos. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different selfie poses, you can always delete the shots that didn’t work out.
5. Take selfies on your birthday
Taking selfies on your birthday is the most important part of the event. You can click the most creative selfies with your birthday outfit and the decoration.
To show your outfit in the poses, snap several shots from new angles – left, right and middle. You can pop up a shoulder towards your cheek, or look at the decoration and click a selfie.
Find your best features, then hold the camera slightly above and keep tilting your head at different angles to highlight your cheekbones, lips, and neck.
You can even use a back camera and take a mirror selfie. You can hide your face in the mirror selfie with your phone or you can place the phone in the middle and take a photo.
With mirror selfies, it is best to avoid straight on shots. Turn your waist a bit, bend your front knee a little bit, tilt your head, take your free hand, place it on your hip and pop out your hip a bit.
You can keep your hands busy in your hair or place it over your shoulder if keeping it on the hip feels too obvious.
Make different expressions while taking selfie poses. Use a smile, a pout, or a look to make the selfie creative and interesting.
Whichever angle you choose, remember to move your neck forward, otherwise, a double chin may appear.
Once you have enough selfies of yourself, you can use the selfie stick and take selfies with your friends to upload on Instagram.
6. Take a black and white selfie
There are many selfie ideas when it comes to taking a black and white selfie.
You can choose an aesthetic background and look straight at the camera and take a selfie. If you don’t want to look at the camera, you can choose a spot to look at which is away from the camera and take a photo.
Hiding your face with your hand or your hair or even a dupatta in a black and white selfie will help you add a bit of attitude to the photos.
You can also cut out most of your face and focus the camera on just your eyes.
You can also use the black and white aesthetic to capture your raw and expressionless face and let the selfie do all the talking.
7. Get creative with lighting
Other than taking care of multiple poses, good lighting is equally important.
The basic rule here is to face the light source instead of turning your back to it. This will bring distinct details and sharp lines.
Keep the lights at your eye level, it’s the most flattering for facial features. Lighting from above can create circles under your eyes and from below will make you look like you are in a horror movie.
To get a little more creative with your selfie lighting, you can try partial side lighting, which is a classic portrait lighting setup.
You can even angle your face to one side or another and take a picture when you see a distinct triangle of light on your cheek on the shadow side of your face.
You can also use a ring light, fairy lights, artificial light, lamps or a backlight to take gorgeous selfies.
One more thing to keep in mind while trying out different lighting is the background. If your background is plain and white, the light will reflect on your face.
But if you have strong colours around you, like blue, red or green, those colours will leave an impression on your face that you may or may not like.
Avoid harsh light that would make your photos seem too dark or too dull.
Sunlight is the best light source when taking photos. The natural light highlights your face and adds a glow to the selfie.
8. Take a silhouette photo
Silhouetting creates a sense of mystery in your photos, allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks and create their own unique story from the self-portraits.
To take a silhouette photo, make sure that the light source is behind you and you are in the shadows.
If you take a selfie outdoors, the sun must be low above the horizon, like during the time of a sunset.
You can also shoot a partial silhouette by standing near the window and choosing an angle where the light would reflect on your face.
Take selfies from a low angle. Shoot upwards towards your face.
9. Use the rule of thirds
The rule of thirds is a wonderful technique which brings wonderful results. The rule of thirds is to place your face in the top corner of the picture.
Both the right and left sides are suitable. You can experiment with different poses while keeping this hack in mind. It will lead to compelling and well-composed shots.
10. Use a selfie stick
Selfie sticks help you take better selfies with ease and reduce shakiness. They are the best solution for group selfies.
If you are trying different selfie ideas where your arm is trying different angles, your arm could get tired and your hand could get slippery, a selfie stick comes in handy.
You can pose with a basic peace sign, a fake laughing pose or a backside pose with you overlooking a mountain or a river.
With a selfie stick, you can get creative with your selfie ideas – posing with the sky, landscapes, various scenic views, etc.
11. Take advantage of golden hour
The period between 4 to 5 PM called the golden hour, makes your selfies stand out and expose your natural beauty.
Position your camera near the window, as natural lighting is all you need. In addition, this position will help illuminate your complexion and eliminate shadows that could hide your face.
If you have a balcony, you can go out, lean outwards and take your selfie there.
To get the perfect look, you can apply a bit of highlighter on your cheekbones and the tip of your nose and apply a bit of lip gloss to get a shiny look. If you want, you can go for the non-make up look as well, to make it look completely natural.
While taking a selfie during the golden hour, keep in mind to angle your face in different positions. Take a few shots with your right side, showing off your jawline, and take a few shots showing off your left side.
You can pose with a good, dimple smile, or you can go for the model look where your eyes are the ones expressing.
You can try multiple selfie poses during the golden hour. Such as the “finger heart pose”, “hair covering half your face pose”, “the migraine pose” – where your hand is rested on your forehead, “a cute wink pose” and many more.
12. Hold something in your hand
Selfie poses using your hand can make your photo look more natural. You can gently touch your face or place your chin on your palm.
One other popular selfie pose is to play with your hair. This selfie pose makes your image appear candid. You can also use your hair to cover parts of your face.
Among other selfie ideas, you can place your hand on the bag you’re carrying with you, or a hat, if you are wearing one. This will convey a more spontaneous shot.
Instead of keeping your hand limp at the side of your body, you can place one hand in the pocket of your jeans or place your hand on a wall or a desk. A simple selfie idea like this would add a lot of promise to the selfie.
If you don’t have any prop to hold in your hand, you can just make a sign with your hand – such as the peace sign, the korean heart, the “yo” sign or a thumbs up.
13. Browse Instagram and Pinterest for ideas
For more interesting selfie ideas, browse Instagram and Pinterest. Go on different accounts and check out their selfie poses and try to use them.
Instagram accounts where you will find the most creative selfie ideas are the profiles of influencers. They are way ahead in the selfie game. They take selfies every day to post on their account to attract more followers.
They use multiple tools to create cool selfies, such as a selfie stand or a selfie light. These tools help them take cute selfies toi capture the attention of their audience and that helps in increasing their followers.
Aside from Instagram, Pinterest also has some creative selfie ideas. There are accounts on Pinterest as well that help you find ideas for cool selfies.
You can search “selfie ideas” or “selfie poses” and explore various photography boards and then use them for your selfies.
You will get as many new selfie ideas and poses as you want on both these media platforms.
14. Use a mirrorless camera instead of a phone
Mostly, selfies are associated with mobile phones, but you can also take selfies with a mirrorless camera.
Panasonic Lumix S5 offers video recording with a flip screen. It’s a lightweight camera for vibrant photography and cinematic video. You can also take selfies with this camera.
Fujifilm X-T100 has the screen that selfie photographers demand. With this camera, while taking the selfie, you will be able to look at yourself while holding the camera
Panasonic Lumix G9 is a camera with interchangeable lenses. Therefore, it is perfectly capable of taking great selfies.
Olympus PEN-F Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Camera has a selfie helpful LCD screen that allows you to look at yourself while taking the self portrait of you smiling.
If you don’t want to take your selfies with a mobile phone, these mirrorless cameras will completely change your selfie game.
Conclusion
There are many selfie ideas available on Instagram, Pinterest or Tumblr. You just need to find your creative selfie ideas and implement them when taking your self-portraits.
You will find your best selfie by experimenting with new creative selfie ideas and trying out new backgrounds, new lighting and taking many photos.
Location is an important aspect if you want good selfies. The location adds a spark and a story to the photo.
Choose good lighting when taking a selfie. Golden hour is the best time to enhance your selfie ideas. Selfies turn out better when they are sunkissed.
Mobile phones are a much more suitable choice for taking creative selfies than cameras. Mobile phones can blur the background, apply creative filters, and have the option to upload a photo anywhere with a tap of the finger.
The more selfies you take, the more selfie ideas will pop into your brains. So what are you waiting for? Start shooting!