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Selfies - 5 Tips in 5 minutes // Mobile Photography for Beginners Pt. 5
In this fifth episode of my series on mobile photography for beginners, I will share 5 easy tips to take some amazing selfie images using only your phone (features the Google Pixel 4a). We will talk about how to get sharp selfies, why you should use the portrait mode, which is the best angle, some creative ideas and what is the best light!
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📖 CHAPTERS 📖
00:00 - Introduction
00:28 - Tip #1: How to get sharp image
01:10 - Tip #2: Portrait Mode
02:42 - Tip #3: Angles
03:52 - Tip #4: Creative Ideas
04:40 - Tip #5: Light
5:40 - Conclusion
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welcome to another episode in my series on mobile photography for beginners in this episode i will share five tips on how to take some great selfie images let's rule the intro i'm Loïc Bellemare-Alford and if you're like me you have become the dedicated photographers for your friends and family which means you're not as much inside of the images anymore this also means you're gonna have to take pictures of yourself but the pictures don't need to be awkward or unnatural most modern smartphones have a fixed focus front-facing lens so this basically means that if you're trying to take a picture of yourself too close your face is going to be blurry in my test most of the smartphones seem to be calibrated to have a full alarm length away to be sure that your face is nice and sharp inside of the image so all of this to say that my first tip is to hold the phone as far away as possible to be sure that your face is perfectly in focus or not in words perfectly sharp inside of the image on more modern smartphones or more high-end smartphones you might have for autofocus in the front-facing lens and in this case you don't need to be using the phone as far because even if you keep it close you're still gonna be getting some great results another problem for fixed focus lens is actually that everything in the background is also in focus or underwater everything in the shot is always perfectly sharp if you look at professional portrait images there's usually a nice little background blur and this is known as bokeh the good news is that most modern smartphones actually have a mode which is known as portrait mode that allows you to add some fake blur in the background to simulate this effect if you don't know how to access your portrait mode on your ios or android app you should go check out my walkthrough for both platforms to learn how to use them but if we open here on the camera and we access the portrait mode we're gonna see that up to now nothing is different but if we go here and we take a shot using the project mode and then we go on the viewing option we actually says processing the shot and that the background blur is going to appear after the processing and the little pro tip is that you can actually most of the time it is how much blur you have in the background so if we go here on edit options then we go inside of adjust and we go on the blur option we can actually decide if you want to have more blur or if you want to have less blur in the background skin really control how much blur you want to have inside of your shot another very important thing to note is actually that the background blur is fake blur created using artificial intelligence so sometimes it has a hard time detecting what are the edges of your photo which can be a problem so the pro tip for this is actually to just take different pictures because just changing a little bit of camera around can give you completely different results and can actually work sometimes better just even if you just move the camera just a little bit when taking a picture using the portrait mode my next step to get some great selfie images is actually about the angle and this is very important so you want to make sure that when you're taking pictures you have the camera at the same height as your own eyes if you take it down too much or take it up too much you're going to get some very unnatural looking images because most people are using you at the same height as their eyes not lower or higher so you want to be sure that you're at the same height as your eyes with the camera lens of your phone if you want to be a little bit more creative it's actually possible to still get some more creative shots and you could turn around the camera look away from the lens or something like that to get some much more interesting shots that people are not used seeing when taking selfie images another thing that is very important when talking about camera angles for selfies is actually you need to look through the lens of your camera if you're looking at the screen when taking the images which is pretty normal because most people look at their self when taking a selfie image you're actually not looking through the camera lens so it doesn't look like if you're looking at the camera when taking the shot so for this i usually look at the screen to compose my shot and then i look to the camera lens when taking the shot so this way i'm sure that i always have my eyes that are looking for the lens not through the screen when taking in a good selfie image this is now the part where we get a lot more creative inside of the video and this is adding a foreground subject inside of your selfie image if you don't know what is a foreground subject it's anything that's between your camera lens and your face for this a really great foreground subject is any branch leaves or things like that that are pretty easy to find wherever you live and for this you want to take your camera place it through the branches here to add some depth to the image but you just want to make sure that you're not hiding your face you don't want to have the foreground subject hiding your face you want to make sure that your face is still perfectly visible inside of the shot the reason why creating this is so great it's going to add some depth to the image you're going to have multiple layers between your face and the camera lens and it's also great because it can make look the image like if it was somebody else looking the image and not yourself taking a picture of you my last tip is all about the right lighting to take some selfie images for this you want to have some very soft light the good news is that it's very easy to get some soft lighting because all you need is a cloudy day outside the reason is that when the light hits the clouds it's going to diffuse it and create a very natural and good looking light for your face another great time to take some selfie images is at sunrise or sunset because the light is usually softer but there's also a very nice glow and color inside of the light that's usually more orange or pink or colors like that that can create a very cool look when taking selfie images if you're like me and right now there's only a sunny day outside there's actually two things you can do so the first one is either go underneath shade to get some more balanced lighting or the other one is to take the picture by having the light in the background right here avoid having your face directly under the sun because this can allow to get some more even lighting on your face and it's also going to add some nice little detail around your shoulders to separate you from the background i hope you enjoyed this episode on taking selfie images in my series on mobile photography for beginners if you did please let me know by hitting the like button below and definitely subscribe for the upcoming episodes and if you haven't already go check the previous ones see you in the next one bye you
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- 👉 OTHER EPISODES
- Instagram: @loic.bellemare.alford ()
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- My online store
- Affiliate link for Epidemic Sound
- https://kit.co/loic.bellemare.alford/youtube-gear
- DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo
- 128 gb MicroSD card
- Canon 6D Mk
- Google Pixel 4a
- Canon ZOOM LENS EF24-105mm F4L IS II USM
- Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 Lens
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L-IS II USM Lens
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What is this video about?
Taking selfies doesn't have to be awkward or unnatural. In this fifth episode of my mobile photography series, I'm breaking down five essential tips that will help you capture amazing self-portraits using nothing but your smartphone.
Tip #1: Getting Sharp Images comes down to understanding your phone's front-facing lens. Most modern phones have a fixed focus front-facing camera calibrated to be sharp at about an arm's length away. If you're holding the phone too close, your face will be blurry. I recommend holding it as far away as is comfortable to ensure your features stay in perfect focus. On newer flagship devices with autofocus front-facing cameras, you have more flexibility—but the principle still applies.
Tip #2: Portrait Mode is a game-changer for selfies. Most modern smartphones offer this feature, which uses artificial intelligence to blur the background and create that professional bokeh effect you see in portrait photography. The best part? You can usually adjust how much blur you want after taking the shot. One pro tip: if the background blur looks off, just take another shot from a slightly different angle. The AI can sometimes struggle with edge detection, so a small camera adjustment might give you better results.
Tip #3: Angles Matter more than you might think. Keep your camera at eye level—not too high, not too low. This creates natural-looking images because it's how people naturally view each other. But angles also offer creative potential. Turn away from the lens, look to the side, or experiment with different perspectives. There's one crucial detail though: when taking the actual shot, look at the camera lens itself, not at the screen. This ensures your eyes will appear to be making contact with the viewer.
Tip #4: Get Creative with Foreground Elements. By placing branches, leaves, or other objects between your camera and your face, you add depth and layers to the image. This technique creates visual interest and makes the photo feel like someone else took it rather than a typical selfie. Just make sure your face remains clearly visible.
Tip #5: Nail the Lighting. Soft, diffused light is your friend. Cloudy days are perfect because the clouds naturally scatter light. Golden hour—sunrise or sunset—offers soft light with beautiful warm tones. If you're stuck with harsh sunlight, find shade or position the light behind you to create more even facial lighting while adding detail and separation from the background.