A wise man, on the day of holi, the festival of colours declared on the social networking site: ‘embrace yourself for holi selfies’. It was a meme. Holi is long gone but the holi selfies are still popping up on social networking sites every now and then. This besides the regular selfies ranging from ‘me at the zoo’ to ‘my uncle is dead’. While the latter faced a lot of flak for his selfie idea, nothing much can be done with ‘me at the zoo.’ Hyderabad’s selfie moment reached its pinnacle when an international coffee giant opened its first outlet.
While selfie lovers leave no opportunity, anti-selfie brigades tend to look the other way. The inclusion of the camera on the phone changed the world on how we looked and felt about photographs, front-camera changed the world of photographs further. And with the demand and need, technology is only providing what we further look for. Selfies led to selfie sticks and now instant selfie editors to tackle that sudden pimple, the puffed eyes or whatever unsightly problem it might be.
However, no, amount of technology helps if one doesn’t know how to tackle a ‘decent’ selfie. The outcome of a selfie gone wrong could be an image resembling the reflections of a convex mirror, the hand photo bombing your selfie, or simply put a rather unflattering picture. While the flattering selfies make others wonder ‘what is the trick to a perfect selfie?’ Some call the perfect selfies—‘thin selfies.’ Why? “Because I guess they haven’t yet figured out their best angle. While taking a selfie, the biggest disadvantage is the proximity. The closer we are to the camera the less flattering we look, so it is good to experiment until we find our best angle,” says Sravanti Deepak, a software engineer and instagram addict. She says she takes many selfies but does not post them all as she doesn’t want to come across as a narcissist. Her best shot for a selfie: ‘no pouts. I like it from the side only.’
Instagram has selfie addicts who don’t just post a seflie a day but can go up to many within a few hours. Does that mean they have found their perfect angle? “No I am still hunting. So, I post them all to see how many likes I bag,” laughs Naren Sen, an aspiring model. “If I ever send my selfies as portfolio they will land in the bin. I make a horrible selfie model,” he says frankly.
But not everyone is helpless? Manoj Mohan, a student and photographer by choice, says his best is the top angle. “It just changes everything. I mostly take selfies when I love the light or feel some occasion deserves it. When in the mood for a group selfie hand the phone to the tallest person, he/she will surely have long arms,” he says. Selfie sticks? “No way. That just kills the whole fun of a selfie,” he adds.
Looks like photographers share the same thought, Raghav Kumar, says, “Many people keep the front camera right in front of them and they capture their faces looking funny and hideous. The best angle, I feel is when you raise your camera to a certain height and then click. This way you capture the backdrop as well and almost unconsciously, you move the camera to a certain distance that gives you a flattering image.”
Photographer Namrata Motihar has two basic suggestions, “Avoid head shots to get rid of scary shadows under the eyes, avoid lower angles to do away with the double chin.”
