Blogging 101: How I Edit Selfies

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be showing you how I edit my selfies! I try to take my selfies during the day so I get the best light and I do sit in front of a window or set of bright lights to get the best photos without the need of heavy editing. I take about 50-100 selfies depending on how I'm feeling on the day and then pick out the best photo.

This is the photo that I've picked out! My hair is in place, I'm looking at the camera, not blinking and it's a flattering angle for my face. This is sort of like my mini checklist for selfies, for the majority of my reviews I have a set of swatches/true to life photos which I don't edit (apart from brightness) and then I have a set of vanity photos. Why vanity photos? I like to look pretty, or what I consider to be pretty anyway! So this is a tutorial on how I edit the vanity photos.

Open your photo in your photo editor. I'm using Picmonkey. Crop your photo if you need to.

I like the rounded corner look, so I use the Rounded Corners tool in the Frames tab. Remember to check the Transparent Corners box so that the round effect is more apparent.

Now to have a quick fiddle with the exposure. Try clicking the Auto adjust to get a really lovely quick adjustment.

Now we're in the beautify tab. One of my favorite features to use is the Eye Brighten which is only available on the Royale account (sorry!) but it really is a great function to brighten and add contrast to your eyes. It brings out the white in the whites of your eyes and accentuates the shine of healthy eyeballs. I like to fade the effect to 75% (0% is SUPER UN-NATURAL BRIGHT and 100% is nothing) so that it doesn't look un-natural. You can see the difference between the left eye (brightened) and right eye (un-brightened). 

Another Royale feature is the Mascara feature. This basically darkens and adds contrast to anything you like! This also works well to add contrast to things like diamantes on nail art and eyebrows. Don't put this feature on 100% because you will look creepy. I obviously don't use this feature when I'm reviewing mascaras because that would be un-ethical.

Another great one is the blemish fix. This only works for little wee blemishes on mostly even skin tone. Watch out for shadows because the blemish fix will warp them and make it look weird.

 Blemished fixed!

Airbrush is another fantastic Royale tool, and one of my favorite ways to use it is on my grossly chapped lips. Fade it out and you'll get a nice natural finish! You can also choose a strong airbrush if you want a serious airbrush action. I'll use the airbrush tool if my skin is looking rough or uneven. No shame in it. It's a vanity photo and I want to look good.

 Watermark it, and that's the basics!

This is the basic vanity photo. I'm quite lazy so I usually just leave it at that, but there are some extra steps if I have the time/effort to do.

Photoshop. So taboo, so "disappointing" to some, but I don't particularly care. I learnt most of these tricks from a tutorial that Photoshop queen Xiaxue made a couple of years ago.

Open your photo in Photoshop. I use the free version (CS2) which you can download here. Click into the filters tab and onto Liquify.

The Forward Warp Tool is pretty awesome, it lets you can shuffle around your face shape. You're pretty much pushing the colour of the photo, but you have to be aware that the pushing is going to be affecting the rest of the photo too, which is why a plain background is optimal! I'm sure you've all seen fail Photoshop photos where people have tried to make themselves look skinny and warped the background in the process. Not something that you want to be doing to yourself.

It works best with quite a large brush, since your effectively warping a bigger area. This way you don't get awkward lumps, but more like a smooth roll. I like to push my jawline back a little (especially if I'm looking bloated) and sometimes my forehead if I've taken an awkward angled photo. 

Zoom in and you can use the Pucker and Bloat tool. Pucker will reduce the size, and bloat will increase the size. I use the Pucker tool to straighten out my nose which I unfortunately smashed as a child and now have a sweet flat bump. Hot.

Use a smaller brush to reduce the size of problem areas. Don't go over the top and make yourself look like a different person. I really wish I hadn't smashed my face as a child, but hey what can I do now (don't suggest a nose job, because it's not going to happen).

I also have one eye moderately bigger than the other, just like most people in the world. I use the Bloat tool to make it one click larger so they look more symmetrical. If you stare at them long enough, the weirder they look. You can use this to make your lips look bigger, or anything else that needs enlarging.

This is the end result! It still looks like me, just a me that's in the best possible lighting with amazing makeup. Photo editing wizardry! *waves arms* 

Here's a comparison between unedited, minorly edited and face edited. 

But lets have a quick moment of reality. I'm not telling you to Photoshop your face or body so much that you don't look anything like you normally do, that's unrealistic and will probably make you feel bad about things you can't change, because I know that's how I feel. 

But in the real world sometimes you just don't take flattering photos, or you do what I do and eat way too much salt at that time of the month and become extremely bloated. Here's a comparison of two unedited and samey posed photos. Flick between the two enlarged photos to see my face get super chubby and then skinny again. Awesome.

 Yeah.

There's no shame in taking a bad selfie. That's why I take a lot of them, so hopefully I can get one good one! Sometimes I edit the photos so I look less bloated and more like myself, and if you disagree with this then get off my blog.

But please please don't over Photoshop yourself. I can Photoshop all my photos to look round faced, even skinned and big bright eyed, but I don't look like that, and without the help of millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery I never will. It's un-realistic.

I hope this helps some of you princesses, and answers some of the editing questions! ^.^ Let me know if you're still curious about anything!