How can you take a great selfie if you have a big nose?

Any selfies I take on my phone camera are unflattering because they really enhance the size of my nose. It's definitely an issue with the camera, the angle, and the distance because I don't have this issue with professional photos. What's the difference and how can I take better selfies with the device I have?

  Topic Fashion Subtopic
3 Years 1 Answer 2.1k views

Sarah C

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  1. K Grace-Lily 3000 Community Answer

    Yeah, that is a nuisance, and the wide angle of the lens is to blame. Wide angle means a wider view, and that is created with a more curved convex lens - the wider the eye to see you with. You've got to be careful or you'll get one of those fun doggie portraits. 


    What's at play in the wide angle lens of the camera is the perspective difference from a convex or concave lens that distorts the image - convex taking in more of a view, concave taking in a narrower view.  A wider angle of the convex lens does cover more area, but what's center in the image tends to appear closer when the lens is close up to the subject. When you move the lens farther back from the subject, the center subject starts to appears smaller. Move in closer and the center subject gets even closer. It's how the lenses are made that cause that effect.


    If you want to minimize the size of the object in the center of your image - the nose in this case, then you can do a few things. You can move or tilt the head to the right or left, or move the camera/phone to frame your face more to the right or the left. That would put the nose out of the center of the frame, and the nose wouldn't be as prominent.  Or, and the easier option is to move the camera back away from you, as far as you can with your arm or use a selfie stick. The selfie stick is easier and gives you more distance, and with that, less distortion. One thing to consider too is that the farther back you move the phone camera, the more of the background is in the image, so you can correct that by using the zoom on the camera, or just crop it to size in the editing app or other editing software.


    Here are simple illustrations, and a couple of photo images below to show how it works


    Camera angles convex, center of the line is closer to the lens -


    Convex

    Camera angles concave, center of the line is farther from the lens:



    Shooting close-up selfie:



    Selfie stick selfie held farther back: 



    Selfie stick with zoom, or you can simply crop to the size you want (you may notice the background is closer than in the first image). 



    UTC 2020-11-14 12:02 AM 0 Comments

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