14 Of The Best Selfie Hacks You Need To Know

Want to take better selfies, make each picture count, and look like an exciting person? It is not as hard as you might think. You just need to learn a few selfie hacks before you break into selfie popularity with gazillions of followers waiting on each snap-snap you share. Okay, maybe you won't get a gazillion followers, but you should get a few more interests from like minded folks by learning your best poses and capturing better backgrounds.

If you think selfies just aren't all that important, think again. Selfies are a part of our every day lives, from celebrities and activists to single moms and exercise junkies. Selfies are so prevalent in our society that there are even courses available for people who want to learn all about the art of the selfie. Colleges are offering courses on taking selfies and there are online courses, as well.

But you don't need to take an eight week course to master taking the best selfies. All you need is the time, practice, and experience working with your smartphone to learn what looks good and what looks like crap. Once you master settings and filters, you could step into the limelight and give your own selfie courses or maybe just bask in the light of your magnificent image.

14 Take a Bunch

The Queen of Selfies, Kim Kardashian, told her followers that she takes “about 300 photos until I get the perfect selfie.” Whether she actually takes that many photos of herself at once or if she is slightly exaggerating is not the case in point. When we want the perfect selfie, we need to take at least a dozen shots at a time so that we can choose the best shot for sharing. Some people say it takes 20 pictures to find the right one and others claim it can take 50 to 100 shots to find the perfect picture. Take a bunch of shots at a time so that you can choose the best ones out of the lot.

13 Mirror Check

You grab your smartphone and start clicking away, hoping to get the perfect shot, but when you start looking through the pics, you notice that your lipstick is smeared and you have something in your teeth. Do yourself a favor and do a quick mirror check before you go on a selfie binge. Check your teeth, makeup, and hair. Take a few practice shots beforehand to double check to make sure you didn't miss anything. When all is in the clear, strike your pose and have fun.

12 Lighting

Taking a selfie in a room with barely any light will give you a pic that is too dark to use. On the other hand, too much bright, artificial light will make you look harsh and show off all your flaws. Whenever possible, aim for natural sunlight. The sun brings out the best in your colors. Use sunlight coming in from a window, if you aren't outside. If you are in an area without natural light, you can use a mirror to reflect your phone's flash towards you.

11 Background

We have all seen those photos. You know that ones where someone is posing for a selfie and there is a mirror behind her showing her bare bottom. Do a background check before you start your selfie frenzy. Clean up any piles of dirty laundry behind you, pick up the empty soda cans and booze bottles, and close any open doors. After you take your selfie, don't forget to double check the pics background to make sure you didn't miss anything and to avoid future embarrassment.

10 Practice Your Poses

You know the drill. Stand in front of a mirror and begin making poses. Sure, it seems kind of silly at first, but everyone else does it so why not you? Learn the poses that make you look your best. Test out different hair styles and decide which side of your face you like the best. Don't be afraid to practice funny faces. Make pouty faces, angry faces, and scary faces. The more you practice, the more posing for a selfie becomes natural and instantaneous.

9 Test Out Angles

Do you want to get rid of the unsightly dark circles that appear under your eyes every time you take a selfie? Experiment with holding your smartphone at different angles when you are taking selfies. According to The Telegraph, the best selfie angle is when you hold your smartphone just above your eyes and tilt it 45 degrees. It gets rid of awful face shadowing and helps eliminate the double chin look.

8 Stillness

How many times have you snapped a selfie and it turned out blurry? Squinting at your smartphone's screen, you can tell that if only you would have stayed still, the picture would have been perfect. To get rid of the blur in your selfies, you can begin by practicing how to be still and how to stop all movement in any given second for selfie snapping. Practice deep breathing to settle your nerves and learn to keep your hand still.

7 Move Away From The Face

A selfie is more than just another face picture. It can be a picture of any part of your body. Many people like to take selfies of their feet, showing off a fun pair of shoes or socks. Some like to prop their feet up in front of an interesting background for selfie shots. For example, bare feet with the rolling waves of the ocean in the background. You can also take a selfie of your arm, showing off the time on your watch or a selfie of one of your hands holding a pencil.

6 Show Activity

Taking a hike through the Grand Canyon? There couldn't be a more perfect time to take a selfie. Taking a jog through the park, sitting on a canoe, riding a bicycle, or laying out on the beach? These are all brilliant times to break out your smartphone and take a few selfies. Make your selfies interesting and fun by showing some activity in them. Who cares if you are sweaty from jogging? People will love the realness of the selfie. Not a great hair day out on the lake? Photograph your feet or your hand pointing at something in the distance. Show action.

5 Accessorize

Throw on a few accessories before taking some selfies. Accessories can be sunglasses, funky huge earrings, a hat, necklace, or even a temporary face tattoo. Don't forget the rest of you, too. You can take a selfie of your ankle wearing a handmade ankle bracelet or you can accessorize your shoes with throwback pony beads and take a selfie of your creation. You are only limited by your imagination.

4 Zoom

When you take a selfie shot too close to your face, you can get too much negative detail in the shot. It can also make your nose look bigger or your eyes looking too small. Instead of moving your smartphone closer to your face, hold the phone back and use the zoom feature. The zoom will cut out the background clutter that you don't want in your selfie and it will reduce some of your facial details. As a bonus, you will stay in proportion to your nose, instead of looking like Pinochio.

3 Head Tilt and Shoulders

Practice taking selfies by tilting your head different ways. You will find that some head tilts look dreadful and others turn out great. Get to know your best side, best angle, and best head tilts and practice them until your instinctively know how to use them within a split second of taking a selfie. Also practice with shoulder placement. Instead of squaring off with the smartphone, you can turn your shoulders to the left or right to see what looks best in your selfies.

2 Be Confident

Confidence shines through on selfies. When you pull out your smartphone to take a selfie, you are not doing it because you have to. You are doing it because you want to. That should make all the difference in how you feel. It is a choice, and you can choose to look miserable or you can pose, make a face, and look awesome doing it with just a touch of self confidence. Put your shoulders back, hold your head up, and either smile with your mouth or smile with your eyes. Be proud of your unique features.

1 Filter

You can easily retouch your selfies after taking them. You can use a red eye filter or any of the filters you have on your phone. The Valencia filter is very popular because it makes pics stand out, but you can also adjust the colors and blurs manually, if you want, to get the look you desire.