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Reply to Solderpunk replying to Alex on phones vs. cameras./ a rant
on selfies.
11/04/2021
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Hi, so I see this discussion has come up again. I did reply
to the initial post early in my phlogs existence that went like this:
"I like Polaroids! They are neat!"
Anyways Solderpunk's post was more about the ergonomics of
phone cameras being horrid, a problem I know well... Brace yourselves
friends I must talk about *gasp* social media.
So I frequently take selfies, not every day, but if I am
wearing a particularly good or just new outfit, I will take a photo.
Worse then this I then post them on Instagram WITH hashtags. Now
the thing is many of the pictures I take are way worse then what
other people take. Part of this is that my phones camera is
just not very good( most Instagram people have flagship phones with
a triple camera bump), but part of it is problems with smart phones
themselves.
First of all the so called "selfie camera" is useless its
not nearly as good as the back camera and it only covers the top
half of the body at best. This means your only real option is the
mirror method and this still has problems. for one distance matters
it is best to be 6 feet away or else you get distortion of some kind.
plus you have to take the picture with the phone away from your face
or the light gets on it and looks terrible. Lighting of course is
needed as most rooms do not have good camera lighting and may make
your face look bad (double if you have makeup on) or hide detail.
So here are the basic steps for a selfie.
1. have a good phone
2. get a long mirror and place it someplace you can stand 6 feet
from
3. get good lighting of some kind
4. take the picture trying to pose and do all the other fiddly things
solderpunk talked about
With all of this nonsense it ultimately becomes better to
just have someone take the picture for you or otherwise take the
photo without actually holding the camera, and there are contraptions
such as ring-lights made with this in mind. The thing is at that point
why not just get a real camera? I think most people realize this at
some point and many do just that.
This leads to the strange situation of trying to express the
intimacy and closeness of a bedroom selfie but with actual HD
cameras, a lighting setup, and often a photographer.
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