How to Improve your Selfie Game
In 2018, selfies are everywhere. You can open up your favorite social media app and see millions of pictures people have taken of themselves. A lot of these selfies are people sitting in a poorly lit room in front of their open window catching their “golden hour” lighting. Now, these pictures may turn out pretty good but there are some ways to make your pictures look 10 times better than those.
What makes or breaks a good picture is lighting. No matter what type of picture you take whether its landscape, portrait, product or even a selfie, lighting is essential. There are many different types of lighting that can be used for different types of photography, but when it comes to selfies and portraiture there are mainly 4 important ones.
Split Lighting
Split lighting is when your subjects face is split equally into two halves, one in the light and one in shade. This technique is typically more dramatic and angular. Split lighting is typically used more with men since it accents angles more, but it can be used for women as well as it is above. To achieve this style in lighting, all you need to do is have your source of light shine perpendicularly to your camera like pictured below.
Loop Lighting
This is the most common of these techniques and usually flatters most people. Loop lighting is recognized by creating a small shadow from the nose as well as with the cheek. The trick is these two shadows should not touch as shown above. To achieve this look, you must have a light source that is slightly higher than eye-level. Usually, professional photographers will use a reflector to make the light softer in the photo but you could easily use a lamp or even natural light to achieve this without one.
Rembrandt Lighting
This technique is named after an artist who typically used this type of lighting in his paintings. Rembrandt lighting is usually recognized for a small triangle of light on one of the subject's cheeks. When using this technique, be sure to keep the triangle closer to the light, so your subject’s eye catches the light and doesn’t look dull. This technique also tends to create a dramatic effect in your picture, so keep that in mind when considering what is best for your idea. To create this technique, your subject must be angled away from the light source. The light should also be angled down toward the subject in order to lengthen the shadow of the nose so it can connect to the shadow on the cheek.
Butterfly Lighting
This technique is very popular in glamour shots, so it would be great for selfies. It is known to be very flattering for people with high cheekbones and a slim face. It is named after the butterfly-shaped shadow it leaves under the subject’s nose. When creating this lighting, place the light source behind the camera, slightly higher than eye level with the subject. This angle creates the shadow beneath the subject’s nose.
Now, “this was just a bunch of stuff about professional photography studios,” you say. All of these techniques are easily achievable with an open window or a simple lamp and an iPhone camera. Next time you open up your camera for a quick selfie, take a second and think about your lighting. Whether it’s just changing the angle of your picture or sitting next to your window, you can easily increase the quality of that selfie in no time.
