Tip of the week: How to shoot a quick self-portrait

Turn your camera upside down; Raise the lens; Use a mirror

Turn your camera upside down. Blurriness might be the least of your worries when you’re trying to snap a self-portrait for Facebook or Flickr. Still, “flipping a point-and-shoot upside down” can prevent a shimmy when you press the shutter, because your thumb is stronger than your index finger. Better yet, it’s at least sometimes true that “a bottom-up flash yields a softer, foxier light.”

Raise the lens. Beginners might be tempted to hold the camera at eye level or lower. Don’t be one of them. You’ll look better if you lift the camera so that it’s aimed down at you at about a 45-degree angle.

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