How to take better selfies: light, distance and editing

Turn towards the light

A ceiling light hits your face from above and drops shadows under the eyes, the nose and the chin. The same face looks completely different turned towards a window. In daylight, face a window; unless the sun is shining straight at you, that is the best selfie light there is.

With the window behind you, the phone exposes for the background and your face comes out dark. Keep the light source in front of you.

Why the front camera changes your face

Front cameras are wide-angle. At arm’s length or closer, whatever sits near the centre of the frame — nose, forehead — gets enlarged. That is a lens effect, not a flaw in your face.

The fix is simple: hold the phone further away and crop afterwards. Proportions come out closer to reality. A small facial-geometry tweak in editing can compensate too, but solving it at capture is always cleaner.

Phone at eye level

Shooting from below enlarges the chin and neck; from above, the forehead. Eye level or slightly above is the most balanced angle.

Edit in order: light, skin, filter

Order changes the result. Fix exposure and shadows first — in most selfies that alone halves the need for retouching. Then clear blemishes locally and keep smoothing low. Leave the filter for last and turn its strength down.

Work in that order and the photo looks well shot rather than edited.

Doing it in Glooowe

• Light and colour: exposure, contrast, temperature and saturation as separate sliders.
• The under-eye tool lifts a tired look; tone balancing removes redness.
• Every filter has a strength slider.

All of these run on your phone — your selfie is never uploaded.