6 tips for better selfies with your iPhone

Although the first self-portrait was made in 1839, the first selfie is only 20 years old. You can of course take fantastic selfies with your iPhone, but there is always room for improvement. That is why in this article we give you the 6 best tips for better selfies with your iPhone!

Better selfies with your iPhone

The standard selfies you take with your iPhone are good enough for most purposes. But if you want a photo of yourself to really stand out, you have to put in some effort.

For starters, you obviously need to make sure that the camera lens is clean and that there is enough light, preferably natural light (leave the flash off!). While shooting, it is also important that you don’t look at the screen, but at the lens, or at something completely different. Furthermore, we recommend following the following 6 tips.

1 Use burst mode for better selfies with your iPhone

With the burst mode, you can take up to 10 photos per second, which significantly increases the chance of better selfies with your iPhone. If the option is enabled, you can easily take a whole series of photos by pressing and holding ‘Volume up’. You enable the option as follows:

• Open the Settings app;
• Scroll down and tap on ‘Camera’;
• Make sure the option ‘Use ‘Volume up’ for burst’ is enabled.

2 Adjust the aperture for a blurred background

If you choose portrait mode in the Camera app, you will see that the background appears a bit blurry. You can manually enhance or reduce that effect. To do this, tap the ‘f’ icon in the top right corner.

You can now adjust the value above the shutter button. If you choose a lower f-number, the background will become even more blurred. As the f-number increases, more and more of the image appears sharp. Which value works best differs per photo.

3 Adjust the exposure for a clear image

If there is too much or too little light, you can manually adjust the exposure of your iPhone camera. You can always increase the brightness of the photo afterwards, but it is always better to start with the best possible photo.

You do this simply by tapping where you want the camera to focus. A yellow square and a sun will appear on the screen. Then you swipe the screen from bottom to top to increase the brightness, or from top to bottom to decrease the brightness.

4 Choose the right angle for a flattering selfie

This sounds a bit obvious, but it is one of the most important things for a better selfie with your iPhone. If you choose an angle that is too low, you suddenly seem to have a double chin and droopy eyelids. If your angle is too high, you will look much too small compared to your surroundings.

There is a guideline for the ideal selfie angle. It is of course not sacred, but it is a good starting point. To develop a feel for it, take the following steps:

• Hold your iPhone with your arm straight out, parallel to the ground;
• Move your straight arm about 15 degrees to one side;
• Finally, move your outstretched arm upwards about 10 degrees.

This is a good angle to start with. From here you can of course still adjust the angle to your own liking.

5 Experiment with the (main) camera

Although you can take great selfies with the front camera of your iPhone, it is a fact that the (main) camera is considerably better. With a little practice, you can also take a selfie with that camera, even if you can’t see yourself while shooting. We therefore recommend that you experiment with this. It can produce surprisingly good results!

If you have an Apple Watch, it becomes even easier. This is because you can operate the camera and you can also see a preview of the (main) camera on your Apple Watch. To do this, press the digital crown on the Apple Watch and then open the Camera app.

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6 Edit your selfie (but don’t overdo it!)

Many people try to make something out of relatively bad selfies by editing them. That never really works in practice. If you have followed the previous steps, you will have a good selfie without a doubt. And a good selfie can be improved a bit with edits.

You can edit in the Photos app on your iPhone. To do this, open the photo and tap ‘Edit’ at the top right. You can then straighten, crop, and adjust things like brightness, contrast, and vibrance to your liking. We recommend that you only adjust things that you miss, or that you find too much. Too many adjustments rarely lead to better results. Remember: less is more!

If you want more options for editing your selfies, you can use another app. In the App Store you can find a lot of good photo apps, such as the old trusted Snapseed.

More tips for better iPhone photos

Do you want more camera tips for your iPhone after reading this? Then also read iPhone tips: the three best camera functions (which you must turn on first). And we also tell you how to take the most beautiful portrait photos with your iPhone and how to remove people from your photos!