YOUR GOOD SIDE
Supermodel details how pre-snap decisions can bring out your good side
Model-turned-photographer gives tips on how to take the perfect selfie,
Kim Kardashian takes them. So does Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It’s likely you do too. Have you figured it out? We’re talking about taking selfies, the self-facing images that are dominating social media apps such as Instagram and Facebook.
It’s why tech companies, including China’s Huawei, are designing new phones with users’ photography habits in mind.
Huawei’s new releases, the P20 and the P20 Pro, which will be available for retail in Canada on May 17, have artificial intelligence capabilities and a Leica dual camera that helps amateur cell users take pro-quality images by intuitively auto-adjusting technical aspects such as lighting, focus and editing. It’s a two-part combination that makes taking pictures like a religious experience. The company needed someone who knows a thing or two about taking photos, so it hired supermodel and photographer Helena Christensen to shoot its new campaign using — what else — a smartphone. If you ask Christensen, the benefits to shooting with a mobile device are clear. “For me as a photographer, getting to work with a camera that is that technically advanced is an amazing experience,” Christensen says. “Working with a smartphone that almost thinks for me, and is so sensitive to my needs and my style of photography, made it an amazing job for me.”
But whether you’re shooting a global campaign, a travel shot, or yes, even a selfie, Christensen — who is inspired by legendary photographers such as Irving Penn, and contemporary photographers including Bruce Weber and Sarah Moon — has tips for taking your pictures to the next level. While Hauwei’s P20 phone has a selfie camera and AI-beautification as well as 3D portrait lighting, which act almost like a filter, Christensen’s tips apply to any handheld device.
“For me, light is absolutely the most important factor to taking a great photo,” Christensen says. “People might say you need sun, you need blue sky, or you need a lot of light for your photos to be great, but in fact, less light is more interesting because it captures the spirit of somebody much better.”
Low light and matte light have a way of adding intensity to an image, she says. Finding good lighting for selfies is even easier.
“With a selfie, hold up your hand, move it around, as you look at it, see how the light is changing,” Christensen instructs. “However, your hand on the inside of your palm looks like is very much how your skin and your face is going to look in the photo.”
For Christensen, another important factor when taking selfies is to consider composition.
“I always look at lines in a picture,” she says. It’s not about perfection either. You can work with “whatever goes on in the back, whether it’s the trunks of trees or the lines of telephone poles,” she says. “It might be an interesting challenge to yourself to try to keep an eye out and be open to whatever is happening in the near vicinity when you take a photo.”
Mostly though, it’s an attention to capturing the details that Christensen appreciates. “I think you just discover so much more to life when you look through a lens.”
Ready? Hold your phone up, and say “cheese.”