Matt's Roof Garden
Powered by 🌱Roam GardenOctober 21st, 2020
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Tips for Better Selfies (men) {{=: | Twitter thread photography }} (tweet 🧵)
1/ BASICS
- Take many. Try method acting, not posing: feel/think the impression you want to give off.
- Take at arm’s length. Lens distortion makes faces rounder (worse for men!). Too close makes chins smaller and noses / foreheads bigger:
2/ GLOW~
Light is everything. Try pointing in different directions.
Window light tends to be flattering.
big light surface area (e.g. window, wall, softbox) = softer shadows
Rim light looks awesome. It works by having a secondary light source behind you and to one side.
3/ SOUL
Catchlights in the eyes! (Looks dead otherwise.)
For deep-set eyes, this can be challenging. Try tilting more towards the light. Windows can be helpful because of their large area (larger catchlight).
4/ HEAD ANGLE
Face-on looks unnatural. Tilt head up or down, or slightly to the side, or some dynamic combination.
In real life, looking so directly like that is rare. This is because we always have body language when we’re interacting with someone, even if it’s subtle.
5/ FLATTER YOURSELF
💛 your 👃:
If nose points up, tilt head down (so we aren’t looking up your nostrils).
If nose points down, tilt head up (to avoid the ‘beak’ effect).
BTW, the angles+expressions from above are especially good for men. More on that when we get to eyebrows.
6/ (DE)ACCENTUATE
Thicc neck trick:
Slender neck? Bring camera down and pull head back. 😉
Power jaw / no double-chin trick:
Stretch head towards the camera. Feels weird, looks good in pics. 👌
More explanation:
7/ EYEBROW PET-PEEVE
Eyebrows naturally sit closer to the eyes on a man’s face. (Women pluck to give them space.) Raised eyebrows can look nervous.
Let them drop. To exaggerate the effect, tilt your head down slightly. (See pic from # 5, bottom-left angle.)
8/ GOD GAVE US APPS
Acne is normal. Don't let something like that stop you. You're allowed to photoshop it.
(Guys can wear light concealer IRL too and no one would notice or care, btw.)
📲 App to remove blemishes: Snapseed (TOOLS → Healing)
9/ FINAL THOUGHTS...
People love looking at people. Especially their friends. It doesn't matter if you've had a rough day. Your friends are just happy to see you.
The beauty of selfies is not receiving validation or Likes (though both of these are fine!), but connection. 💕
10/
This thread was inspired by @QiaochuYuan 's male selfie thread.
Feel free to reply here or DM for respectful/professional feedback — whether you want a serious headshot, or pics for dating apps, or natural portraits.
(I'm a photographer & it's fun to apply these skill 🙂)
11/ Bonus lighting trick:
