Selca-ing: Tips for that ultimate camwhore!

I was browsing the insider.com and got irritated because instead of pics or galleries of lara and anya's style tips there were all videos. I don't have that much patience to wait, so I searched for korean stylist in Google. Found a blog on wordpress that got my interest with the salon I'm eyeing for sometime now was the title. Don't like her much. But I still want to get my hair done at Tony and Jackie at either Alabang or Makati.

Anyway, I found out that this blogger was sort of inflicted with the korean craze as well (as there were a lot of BOF articles). I clicked at an interesting article, and I want to share it here. "I stumbled upon this Korean website where it gave tips on taking self pictures. The Koreans apparently have perfected this method and even coined a name for it – SELCA, meaning self camera.You don’t need to look like a supermodel or all made-up for a selca. Selca is all natural and fun posing."

If there's a habit I so perfectly master back in college, it's the copy paste method. I want to post it here myself, so if ever they removed the URL or trash the blog, I do have a copy. hehe. Camwhoring is a habit I would like to relive specially now, I have an awesome camera! :P I know I already gave her a name.. I forgooooot grrr.

Star Tips on Selcaing

Sel-ca is a newly created word by Korean netizens which stands for self-camera and it refers to taking picture of yourself with either your digital camera or camera phones. Although the word sel-ca has English roots, it’s part of everyday vocabulary and activity in Korea as you can see even celebs are snapping away.

Rule # 1: Check yourself out.

Make sure that there is nothing stuck in your teeth, that your hair is in order and that the lighting is okay. Common ways to check yourself out are taking out the princess mirror in your purse, using the reflector on your digital camera or taking a practice shot. Remember that the more lighting, the better but if you can’t get the right amount of spot light directed to you, try using the black and white option or any other color option in your camera.

Rule # 2: Never look directly into the camera!
The worst thing you can do for yourself is to look directly into your camera for it’ll make your face look huge! For a more slimmer look, follow these three simple tricks.

(1) Look up at your camera

By elevating your camera 20 cm, you are forced to look up, which makes your face look a lot slimmer and your eyes bigger. The key to this trick is making sure that your chin is down while your eyes are looking up to the camera. And make sure that you keep your eyes wide open- like you are surprised. From personal experience, it takes time to master this, but once you have it down, you are good to go!

(2) Look down at your camera

Instead of elevating your camera 20cm, lower your camera 20cm and look straight down at it while keeping your eyes wide open. Because you are looking down, you are forced to lower your chin. This creates the necessary angle to keep the face looking slim. Although this sounds easy, the results are not as flattering as looking up at your camera.

(3) Tilt your head

The hardest yet most natural looking pose is to tilt your head, looking like you are not conscious of the camera – although you are sel-caing. Because you are looking away from your camera, it’s most likely that you are not going to get the shot you want, so don’t get discouraged if you only get parts of your face or none at all! It’s all part of the sel-ca learning process. Once you become acquainted with your digital camera and you are used to sticking your arm out, you’ll have that perfect sel-ca shot in no time.

Rule # 3: Express yourself!
Showing off your perfect teeth is so yesterday. In today’s digital era, it’s all about expressing yourself, so take advantage of the fact that there is no film to waste and show off your wacky side to the world.

(1) Put on a funny expression

There’s no better way to show off your wild side than to take some wacky shots of yourself. Being able to take such shots, shows that you are confident enough to make fun of yourself and no, you won’t be considered a freak because the pictures are for your own viewing pleasure! So snap away!

(2) Accessorize

If you get bored with just putting on funny expressions, then try accessorizing to make sel-caing more entertaining. Common props used by everyday sel-caers are scarves, towels, hats, and wigs – we dare you to try something new.

Rule # 4: Practice, practice & practice.
To master the sel-ca technique, practicing on a regular basis is a must! The best way to practice is to take your digital camera with your everywhere you go and start snapping away whenever you have extra 30 secs to spare. You can sel-ca…..

(1) while waiting for a site to upload

While you are waiting for your favorite blog, POPSEOUL! to load, take some shots right by your computer. It’ll take you less than 30 seconds to turn on your camera, elevate or lower your camera – lower your chin and snap!

(2) while shopping

While waiting for the shop girls to bring the clothes in your size, take some shots of yourself by the mirror in your fitting room. Unlike the face close-ups, you can take a full body shot with the help of the mirror but the downsize is that your camera is included in the picture. But hey, as long as you can show off your slammin body, does it really matter?

* Good for 'topshopping' with my friends haha I remembered one!

(3) while driving

Next time you are stuck in traffic, whip our your digital camera and practice your sel-ca skills. But please make sure that you are stuck in dead-lock traffic when you do this. It’ll be so sad to read that the cause of the car accident was “sel-caing.”

(4) getting ready to sleep

*Kiniiiis my ged! Nainggit lang ako sa kakinisan! Might as well do it, since my cam's been locked in the room for a looooong time. She missed me.

If you just don’t want to get out of bed or can’t fall asleep, practice in your bed. This post is rated PG, so nothing naughty of course! However, let me warn you that it’s a lot harder to get your sel-ca angle in bed, but it’s worth a shot.

*Another tip, make sure you're cam has a BIG memory cause while practicing, you don't always get the best picture in every click! Good thing I my cam got with it its own 8G memory card! wooohoo!!!!

Rule #5: Don’t upload your embarrassing pictures online!

From another article from the same blog:

Rule #6: Don’t take sel-cas in the locker rooms – for the sake of your locker buddies!

*eeeewnessss... Just imagine if you were in the background. gosh!

*And since I really love to travel and taking pictures of my outdoor adventures (and would probably go to Davao next week yey!) here is the most cool tip I got!

Rule #7: Don’t take touristy pictures! Instead, put yourself in the spotlight and just enjoy what’s in the background.

* Ang nice ng shots nya! so cute! Love it!

If you plan to vacation anytime in the near future, make sure to take these vacation sel-ca tips from Korea’s top sel-caists aka celebs. First of all, take a look at Eugene’s sel-ca pics. Can you tell where it was taken? How about So Yujin’s sel-cas? Any ideas on where she vacationed?

Don’t feel embarrassed if you couldn’t tell where they were taken right off the bat, because that was intentional. Upon closer look, you can see that Eugene is at the CNN studio in Georgia and So Yujin is strolling down the streets of the romantic city, Paris. Celeb sel-caists always make sure that they are the focus of the pictures, instead of the popular tourist sites because the picture should be about YOU and not some touristy site. So, here’s our rule #7…

*The best tip diba? Remember to make yourself the FOCUS of the photo. Ang Pinoy kasi and most tourists, parang fan na nagpapapicture sa background para sa 'I've-been-here shot!' like this shot I got right here. Diba?! ano yan?!!! hahaha I think it would be considered a perfect photo if you're enjoying yourself IN the background not the background swallowing you! right?!!!!

Now, where's my camera??? :D