How to take a good selfie: 15 must-know selfie tips

Taking perfect selfies really isn’t as easy as it seems. Be honest, you might take zillions of selfies on your phone, but you end up deleting most of them as they never seem to catch your good side. Sigh.
Even if you’re using the latest iPhones or Android devices, the best selfies involve finding the perfect angle, pose and so many other factors you might not know where to start. Don’t worry, we’ll make you a master of selfie photography in no time at all.
Better yet, you can use your selfies to create picture-perfect photo prints or hang up those group shots on your wall using our fun retro prints.
This is our beginner’s guide on how to take a good selfie, including 15 top selfie tips we guarantee will have you looking your best!
1. Find the most flattering selfie angles


Since you don’t want every selfie to look the same, play around with different angles until you capture your “best” side. As a starting point, try holding your phone a little higher than your head and looking up into it - a top-down 45-degree angle can be the most flattering for a lot of people.
However, looking straight-on at the camera doesn’t suit everyone, so try turning sideways and finding a selfie position that really highlights your best features. It’s so easy to just hold out your phone and start snapping, but finding the perfect camera angle and position will instantly make your selfies better. Seriously.
2. Set the mood with perfect natural lighting


Your selfies will always look dull if you don’t look into the light. Whether you’re out in the sunshine or next to a trusty desk lamp, you should always directly face your light source if you want to take the best selfies possible.
In short, this stronger lighting will help illuminate your face and features, which are obviously the most important parts of any selfie. Natural lighting will typically give you the best results, so we recommend you try taking more selfies outside or beside a window, as versatile natural lighting can completely transform the mood and tone of your selfies - and it’s FREE (so you won’t have to invest in expensive lighting equipment as the influencers do).
You’ll enjoy the best lighting around midday or the golden hour (the last hour before sunset or the first hour after sunrise). If you’re taking selfies at other times of the day, just make sure your selfies aren’t ruined by any pesky shadows, because nobody wants to see dark circles under their eyes!
3. Try using portrait mode


Most front-facing cameras now feature a fantastic portrait mode, and it’s about to become your new best friend. Portrait mode will partially blur the background of your selfies and focus directly on you, capturing higher-quality selfies that look like they’ve been taken at a professional photoshoot (so long as you’ve followed our tips on angles and lighting above).
Portrait mode is particularly good for taking better selfies on iPhone, as the latest models can also adjust depth of field and ultimately take better quality selfies. Don’t just take our word for it, though, open your camera, swipe over to portrait mode and see for yourself!
4. Play around with your phone’s camera settings


Alongside a terrific portrait mode, your phone camera is jam-packed with other features that help you take the perfect selfies. You can change the contrast, aspect ratio, shutter speed and all kinds of other settings until you find a great selfie style you’re 100% happy with - seriously, take some time to play around with your camera and you’ll discover all kinds of things you didn’t know it could do.
Even using your phone’s most basic features can make a huge difference. The camera timer lets you avoid fumbling for the shutter or volume button while using a wider camera mode is ideal for taking group selfies with friends and family. Easy peasy.
While it’s always much easier to take selfies on your front-facing camera (since you can see your own face), it’s worth mentioning that back-facing cameras usually offer much higher image resolutions. To get the most out of this more powerful camera, try taking selfies in the mirror so that you can still play around with angles and poses!
5. Look directly into the camera with a genuine smile


Yep, it’s all in the eyes. The best selfies always involve strong eye contact, so look directly into the camera instead of staring at what’s on your screen. Front-facing cameras let you frame selfies on your phone screen, but make sure this doesn’t distract your eyes away from the camera when you actually click the shutter button!
Even when you are looking at the camera, nothing ruins selfies quite like a fake smile. Don’t force it, don’t try too hard - simply flash your own authentic smile, make sure your eyes are smiling too, and then take a few selfies to make sure you capture something that really feels like you.
6. Level up your selfies with perfect backgrounds


Clearly, you should be the star of your own selfie - we wouldn’t have it any other way - but positioning yourself in front of beautiful backgrounds will completely transform your selfie game. After all, you’re not posing for passport photos here, so you don’t want to just stand in front of a boring white wall.
Even worse, you might be standing in front of a really busy, chaotic background (with photo bombers!) that draws the eye away from your beautiful little face. Nobody wants to see a cluttered selfie, so try taking selfies in front of clear, colourful and creative backgrounds that perfectly frame that big smile of yours.
7. Get creative with fun props


Every selfie should tell a different story. Nobody wants to fill their Instagram feed with boring selfies that all look the same, so using props is an easy way of making every selfie feel unique.
You could pose with balloons at a birthday party, flowers at a wedding, or a colourful cocktail on a summer holiday you never want to end. Wherever you might be, fun little props will set your selfie scene and basically spice things up a bit.
8. Nail the perfect poses with complete confidence


Finding the perfect selfie poses takes a lot of practice. You might want to pout, smile, show your hands, pose with friends or try jumping jacks - there are endless possibilities when posing for both face and full-body selfies.
Striking the perfect pose is all about staying relaxed and confident, and will often depend on where you are and what you’re doing. However, popular selfie poses involve keeping your chin down (to avoid the dreaded double chin syndrome) and keeping your shoulders down (so that your neck appears longer).
It’s all about practising in front of the mirror or your front-facing camera. Once you’ve nailed down a few poses you love, you can start using different variations in all your future selfies!
9. Edit your selfies - but don’t use too many filters!


Alongside all the amazing features on your phone’s camera, there are all kinds of amazing photo editing apps out there. It’s now easier than ever to remove skin blemishes, whiten teeth, or completely erase something annoying you missed in the background.
These apps are fantastic for adding the finishing touches to your selfies, but be careful you don’t go a little overboard here. All the best selfies look completely natural, so using too many filters or trying too many edits will make your photo look artificial and, well, kinda fake.
Subtle tweaks are the way forward here - hey, if you’ve followed all of our selfie tips, your portraits should look fantastic anyway!
10. Keep taking lots and lots of selfies!


Practice really does make perfect. While reading all of the above selfie tips, you might feel like there’s just way too much to think about here, especially when you’re just looking to take a quick selfie while you’re out and about.
And, you’re right. From finding the best angle and lighting to making sure you’re using the best camera settings, you don’t want to think about all of this stuff every time you take a selfie. The best thing you can do is practice, practice, practice and then, yeah, practice again.
Start taking a ton of selfies (with our selfie tips in mind) and soon enough you’ll start taking great selfies naturally, without ticking off all 10 of our tips in your head!
11. Use a selfie light


Selfie lights are all the craze - and for good reason. They allow an even look of light on your selfie, without being as harsh as a flash. They’re great for when you don’t have access to natural light, it’s nighttime, or you simply want to get rid of any unflattering shadows.
12. Smile!


Smiling makes all the difference in elevating your selfie and is great at showing those happy feelings. Whilst it’s normal for some to feel a bit self-conscious about our smiles - practice makes perfect. Experiment with different angles and intensity of smiles to find the one that works best for your selfies.
13. Shoot in high-resolution


Similar to our point of playing with your phone’s camera settings, some of the newest smartphones on the market are capable of shooting RAW images. Essentially, this means uncompressed images that allow you to fine-tune your edits without compromising their quality. Great if you want to add specific presets or lift stubborn shadows.
Just keep in mind that RAW images eat up more storage! You’ll also benefit from reading our camera settings guide to get the best out of your RAW selfies.
14. Stabilise your phone or camera


Want to avoid blurry selfies? Simply popping your photo-taking device on a flat stable surface or a tripod, you can remove the risk of camera shake. This is especially true if you want to use your phone’s back camera and you’re struggling to keep your phone still.
15. Use your phone’s various lenses


Say the back of your phone has three visible lenses, you may be surprised to hear that your camera app actually shows multiple optical zoom lenses. For example, the new iPhone 15 has three camera lenses on the back, but in reality, has seven you can use! This is great if you want to use the 5x telephoto to shoot a selfie really far away.
What to do with all your perfect selfies


Right then, now you know how to take good selfies, you might be wondering what on earth you can do with them all. Okay, so most of them will probably end up on your Instagram page, but you can use your perfect selfies in all kinds of other, more creative ways.
For starters, you can simply turn your favourite into high-quality photo prints and stick them in a frame, scrapbook or hang them from cute fairy lights. Retro photo prints are perfect for scribbling funny captions, while these adorable mini prints are great for sharing with friends and family.
Speaking of friends and family, you can turn the best selfies you’ve taken together into personalised gifts they’ll love. Your perfect selfies can be printed on mugs, cushions, blocks, canvases or even preserved forever inside beautiful photo crystals.