There’s been a lot of buzz around “selfies” recently, those infamous pictures we all love to take of ourselves using our handy little smartphone cameras. After all, it was chosen as the 2013 word of the year, and thanks to the Oxford Dictionary, we now have an official definition of a selfie, or “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” This may seem ridiculous, but the selfie really has taken over as a major photographic technique of our era, and they get plastered all over any social media site imaginable — especially Instagram.
Not everyone looks good in a selfie, which can really be unfortunate sometimes. Beauty guru and makeup stylist Michelle Phan posted a video recently giving her best tips and tricks on “How to Take the Perfect Selfie.” While looking beautiful in every shot, Phan discusses playing with different camera angles and making sure you have the right lighting in your shot (which, let’s face it, can really make or break a potentially solid selfie). Her tips are pretty straightforward, but she delivers them in a really simple and informative way. It seems that by following these basic rules, you will be able to figure out your best angle.
And to celebrate this newfound knowledge, we’ve collected some of our favorite celebrity selfies from this year. So if you still need help after Phan’s tutorial, check out these celeb shots for some more selfie inspiration:
Taylor Swift takes a classic donut selfie. They don’t always have to be serious.
The pre-action selfies are always good ones — thanks, Andy.
Miley Cyrus reminds us that the best addition to any selfie is an adorable pup. And you can still see her eyebrows.
Fellas, the shirtless selfie is generally not advised, unless of course you have the body of Nick Jonas, who’s glowing, even with that sweet tan line.
Rihanna is showing off two classic selfie techniques in this one: the ever elegant black-and-white filter and the casual/bored pose.
And if your selfie doesn’t always turn out perfect, just say you were going for the Lena Dunham effect.
Check out more of Haute Talk‘s tutorials here.
(All images via Instagram)
