June 21st is National Selfie Day! What better way to celebrate than with your smartphone?
Celebrate yourself and snap some selfies with these impressive smartphone cameras. Stay tuned until the end for some selfie tips and tricks!
Google Pixel 3
The Google Pixel 3 has one of the best smartphone cameras on the market right now. With a 12.2 Megapixel rear camera and dual 8 Megapixel front cameras, you’re guaranteed to capture crisp, clear images every time.
However, megapixels aren’t the only thing the Google Pixel 3 has going for it. It also boasts several new software features that will change your selfie game forever.
Top Shot
First, let’s talk about Top Shot. An upgraded version of Motion Photo, this new and improved Pixel 3 feature analyzes up to 90 images taken between 1.5 seconds before and after the shutter button is pressed, then recommends the best picture of the batch. The recommendation is based on several factors, like emotional expressions, open eyes, smile, and lighting. For images with no faces, the program looks for motion blur, auto exposure and more. Basically, Google wants to make sure you get the best selfie possible.
Night Sight
Next, the Pixel 3 includes an impressive feature called Night Sight. Night Sight takes up to 15 frames at once, including some long exposure shots to capture shadow detail. Then, the camera uses machine learning to judge the right color, white balance, lighting conditions and motion blur.
So, whether you’re in a low-lit restaurant, taking a walk at dusk or watching the city lights at night, your selfies will still shine bright.
Ultra-Wide
Last but certainly not least, the Google Pixel 3 sports not one, but TWO 8 Megapixel front-facing cameras. One is a normal camera, but the other has a wide-angle lens that allows you to capture a larger area. To activate it, just zoom out in selfie mode. The fish-eye effect that wide-angle lenses usually have is auto-corrected by Google’s software, making your group selfies look smooth and effortless.
With a Google Pixel 3, you’ll be the designated “group selfie taker” in the friend group from now on.
Samsung Galaxy S10+
Another smartphone built for revolutionary selfie-taking is the Samsung Galaxy S10+. You might want to sit down for this… The Galaxy S10+ provides you with not one, not two… but FIVE different cameras. Starting from the back, the S10+ holds a standard 12 Megapixel wide-angle camera, a 123 degree ultrawide-angle 16 Megapixel camera, and a 12 Megapixel telephoto zoom camera. The front holds a standard 10 Megapixel camera and an 8 Megapixel depth-sensing camera.
As if having five cameras in the palm of your hand isn’t impressive enough, the Galaxy S10+ carries a plethora of software features ready to make your selfies stand out.
Scene Optimization
This smartphone doesn’t just take amazing pictures for you – the software teaches you how to take even better photos. First, the Galaxy S10+ has a Scene Optimizer feature that scans your environment, then adjusts the camera lighting, contrast and white balance accordingly. In addition, Shot Suggestion places a guide on-screen that shows you where to point the camera, helping you get the best possible shot. Another included feature, Flaw Detection, lets you know if someone looks blurry, blinks, or even if there’s dust on the lens. With these helpful features, your selfies will look like a professional took them.
Selfie Shape Correction
With the Selfie Shape Correction tool enabled, the software automatically corrects the shape of your face to make the photo smoother and more symmetrical.
Live Focus
This feature lets you experiment with depth of field and other artistic effects like Spin, Zoom, and Color Point. Color Point keeps the subject in the foreground colorful but turns the background black and white, making your selfies pop.
Pictures as Previewed
We’ve all had that moment when you think you’ve taken the perfect selfie, but you return to your gallery to look at the image and remember the camera automatically flips your image… so much for catching your good side. Luckily with the Galaxy S10+ you can enable the Pictures as Previewed setting, which saves your selfie exactly as you saw it on your preview screen.
AR Emoji
Though this software feature isn’t exclusive to the S10+, the improved AR Emoji feature is a fun way to turn your selfies into animated emojis tailored to look like you. It also has capabilities like Mask, Body Tracking and Motion Figure, which take your emoji game to the next level. You can place your emoji’s head on top of yours like a mask or take photos with your emoji as if it’s right next to you.
Love adding stickers and emojis to your photos? You can also add other fun emojis to your selfies like cute animals or funny phrases.
Shutter Options
Sometimes it’s hard to press the shutter button while holding your phone with one hand, which is why the Galaxy S10+ sports two alternate shutter options: Voice Control and Floating Shutter.
With Voice Control, you can say words like “Cheese” or “Shoot” and your phone will instantly take the photo. If you don’t want to say anything out loud, you can raise your palm to snap the photo. If you can’t quite reach the shutter button, turn on Floating Shutter and move the shutter button anywhere on the screen.
In addition to these helpful tools, you can adjust the camera settings to create gifs or take a burst of photos when you tap the shutter button.
For all of you Apple lovers out there, the iPhone XS has some pretty spectacular camera specs. The iPhone XS has three total cameras: two 12 Megapixel back cameras and one 7 Megapixel TrueDepth front-facing camera. The rear telephoto camera offers 2x optical zoom, digital zoom up to 10x, and an improved Portrait Mode with five lighting effects. Some of the camera features are carried over from older iPhone models, but are freshly updated and improved.
So, what can the iPhone XS do for your selfies?
Retina Flash
The front-facing camera offers the same Portrait Mode lighting effects plus Retina Flash – no more poorly lit selfies. The Retina Flash feature isn’t completely new, but with the TrueDepth front-facing camera, its benefits are brought to a whole new level.
Smart HDR
One of the most impressive new features on the iPhone XS is Smart High Dynamic Range, or Smart HDR. With this tool, the iPhone camera automatically blends the best parts of separate exposures into one single prime photo, much like Top Shot on the Pixel 3 and the Scene Optimizer on the Galaxy S10+.
You might not notice much difference between the HDR in iPhones 7 and 8 and Smart HDR on the iPhone XS, but the improvements offer more highlights and shadow detail.
Adjustable Depth of Field
The iPhone XS provides an enhanced Portrait Mode that allows you to manually adjust the blurring of the background in portraits—both while you’re taking the shot and after. Now you have way more control of how your photo can look when shooting a selfie.
When it comes to taking selfies, you can’t really go wrong with any of these impressive smartphones. You’re basically carrying a professional-grade camera in your pocket at all times.
Need some tips on how to take the perfect selfie? Try these quick and easy tricks next time you snap a photo.
Great Lighting is Key
Instead of turning towards a computer screen or turning on your camera flash, try turning towards a window or going outside. Natural lighting can actually make under eye circles and shadows disappear. Plus, you’ll appear to have a natural glow that will make your selfie shine.
Work Your Angles
One of the most important pieces of advice when taking selfies: keep your chin down and the camera up. Hold the phone so that the bottom of it is level with your eyes, or better yet, use a selfie stick.
Don’t Overthink or Over-Edit
The best selfie poses are the ones that come naturally to you. Just relax! When editing your photos, it’s easy to get carried away. Use a light touch and only adjust the areas that are glaringly obvious or bothersome to you — remember, those lines around your eyes or the way your nose squints when you smile makes you look human, and that’s okay!
Now that you have the tools to take a winning selfie, get out there and snap some pics for National Selfie Day!
Check out our best smartphones here!
