Hey, welcome back to the Six Figure Mastermind.
Today, we're talking about selfies.
And if you want to take a good one for Instagram, you're in the right place.
So, stay tuned.
You know, the funny thing about selfies is that, people think that they're new.
Selfies aren't new.
We just used this new word called selfie.
Back in the day, before selfie or the word selfie existed, we use to call it a self portrait.
It's actually a very old art form that ancient painters and artist and even Egyptian artist
used to use, okay?
It's a self portrait.
So, when you hear the word selfie, don't think of it as a new juvenile, young thing that
you don't need for your business.
It's actually very important.
And you need to be able to take a good self portrait or selfie for your business.
Specifically today, let's talk about Instagram.
Now, Instagram, you're going to use pictures in 2 places.
Your feed, first and foremost and your profile picture.
So, it's very important for you to be able to take a good selfie for both.
Your profile picture on Instagram may change often and it may not.
It really depends on how you branding yourself.
If you're using your business as your primary brand, you might even have your logo as your
profile picture.
Which in that case, you won't to even change it often, if at all.
Because your logo holds your brand for you.
If you're marketing yourself as your brand, you may want to consider changing that profile
picture on Instagram a little more often.
Maybe 3 or 4 times a year.
So that people get a fresh new look at you.
People change every 3 months.
And if you're using yourself as your brand, you going to want an updated look every time
you're Instagram.
Let's go through the break down of the steps on how to take a good selfie and use it for
Instagram.
The first thing you need to consider for your selfie is the angle.
This is the biggest problem I see with people taking selfies on their phones, especially
in the social media community.
The angle is so important.
If you got a bad on a photo guys, it's not going to spell good things for your image,
literally, okay?
The best way to put an angle on you, no matter where you from, no matter what style you putting
out, no matter what your body type is to focus the camera just above your eye level, right
about your forehead.
That is the angel the phone should be at when you're taking a selfie.
If you take the photo down low, it's not going to do good things for your physique or your
image.
I'm just being honest here, guys.
We all want to look good on Instagram, okay?
So, take the photo, hold the camera with the phone right just above your eyes, right between
your eyebrow at about halfway up your forehead.
That's the best angle for a flattering photo and a good selfie.
The next thing you need to be aware of is lighting.
Lighting means everything.
Now, I've been in a photography business for 20 yrs.
And the first you nail in photography is lighting because nothing else matters if don't get
that right.
So, there are good examples of lighting and they are bad examples of lighting.
And remember, your phone is not as capable as a good, big, heavy dslr camera at spectrum
of light.
The spectrum of light on your phone is a lot smaller.
So, you're going to have to give your self a more light on the face to compensate for
that.
Meaning, if you've got a great background behind you but the sun is shining on it.
And you find the selfie with that background is going to feel amazing, you're probably
going to be silhouette at it.
Which means, your face is going to be the darkest thing in the image.
Rule number 1 with lighting, your face needs to be the brightest thing in your image.
You also don't want your face to compete with anything else.
So, for example, if you have a selfie with your hand in the picture or anything, look
at this, your hand is about the same surface area as your face.
So, when you're taking a selfie, your hands need to be out of the picture or turn it to
the sides.
So, they're not competing visually with your face.
Another things to consider with lighting on a selfie is that it can be fixed so easily.
Lighting, if you have bad lighting and your face is the darkest thing.
Or maybe you have harsh shadows crushing your face on a weird angle, simply turn towards
your light source.
That's easiest way to fix the lighting in a selfie image.
If you can defuse your light source, that's even better.
And diffusing generally looks like, just getting the harsh shadows off your face.
Either it's stepping to the side of the window if that's your light source or getting in
the shade of the tree if you're outside.
Diffused direct lighting on your face is going to be the best lighting for your selfie.
Other things that you need to be aware of that, you probably wouldn't think of, is your
background.
You know, a lot of photography students when they first start out, they feel like they're
constructing a beautiful image and maybe they are.
But they're not paying attention to what's going on behind the image or the subject of
the image.
Your background needs to be there on purpose.
Everything that falls within that frame needs to be there for a reason.
The colors, the shapes, the lines.
You don't want a big poles sticking in the top of your head if your taking a selfie outside.
You don't want strangers walking by you.
You definitely don't want photo bombers in your selfie.
So, make sure that background is clean and crisp and on purpose.
Couple more things to consider.
Instagram is all about filters.
But don't over do it.
There are couple of filters that you can look up on the internet that are great for selfie
mode.
Clarendon is one of my favorites.
But don't over filter.
If your selfie looks too fake, people will consider you a little bit of fake.
I'm just being honest guys.
It's a subconscious thing that brain does this.
Makes this snap judgements all the time.
So, yeah.
You can use filter if you want to but if it looks doctored up or too filtered, it's going
to look really immature for your business.
And that's definitely not what you want when your building your six figure business.
Last but not least, be dynamic.
Take a selfie that's not like everybody else's.
Look up online and see different ideas for different selfies.
You may want to include, if you're an artist, maybe a paintbrush or painting art on your
face in your selfie.
If you're a photographer, maybe half of your face is covered by the camera.
Be dynamic and show your personality with your selfie.
That's going to share your brand.
Because it's part of you, it's part of who you are.
Remember that when you're creating a selfie, your audience is going to see it in one of
two places.
We've talked about this before.
It's either going to show up in your feed as the square image of you're on Instagram
or it's going to show up as your profile image and that's actually going to be cropped as
a circle.
So, when you're taking a selfie and you want to have everything in it, that square image
is going to show it all.
But when you're taking a selfie for a profile picture, remember that those corners, you're
going to lose them.
They're going to be cut off.
So, if there's any important imagery or information in those corners, you might want to consider
recomposing that photo for that profile picture.
Again, selfie is, it's super simple, it's super easy.
Once you know the techniques to get a good picture that's well lit, well composed and
background is on purpose.
Remember your audience, remember your brand and remember where it's going to show up in
social media.
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