How to Take a Good Selfie Over 40 (or 50!)

Want to know how to take a good selfie over 40 (or over 50!) without a double chin or that deer-in-the-headlights look? A few small tweaks to your camera angle, your lighting and your pose make a huge difference. Follow these tips and you'll never have to post another picture of yourself staring off into space again. No unrealistic filters required!

Everybody takes selfies these days but some of us are better at showing our true beauty than others. For years, I was the queen of the classic Clueless Mom selfie: eyes too wide, not looking at the camera lens, weird expression on my face.

And believe me, I still take a ton of selfies that look just like that. But over the years, I've picked up a few tips that have helped me to level up my selfie game. I'm sharing a few of them today with you.

The photos that I'm sharing haven't been filtered or retouched (unless that's part of the tip!) so you can easily see how just a few changes can make a big difference.

Jump to:

• What You'll Need
• Take Better Selfies by Holding the Camera Slightly Above Eye Level and Turning Your Head
• The Number One Thing to Know about How to Take a Good Selfie: Squinch!
• Take Advantage of Natural Light
• Get a Tripod and Remote for Your Phone so You Can Go Hands Free
• Angle Your Body
• Keep the Background Clean
• Punch Up Your Selfie with Your Favorite Apps
• How to Take a Good Selfie Over 50: Quick Answers
• More Beauty Tips for Women Over 40

What You'll Need

You can take a great selfie with nothing but your phone and a window. A few inexpensive extras just make it easier:

• A phone tripod with a Bluetooth remote. This lets you step back, use both hands and skip the arm-in-the-frame look. I like a small flexible one like the UBeesize mini phone tripod with a wireless remote.
• A selfie light. A little rechargeable clip-on selfie light gives you soft, even light on your face when there's no good window around.
• Lens wipes. A smudgy camera lens is the sneaky reason so many phone photos look hazy. Give it a quick swipe with a ZEISS pre-moistened lens wipe before you start.

Take Better Selfies by Holding the Camera Slightly Above Eye Level and Turning Your Head

There's a lot going wrong in this photo! If you face the camera head-on at eye level or lower, you can make it look like you have a double chin even if you don't. In my case, it also really accentuates my neck wrinkles and just generally makes my nose and face look wide.

Holding the camera just above eye level (it doesn't have to be way over your head) helps slim down your face, and turning your head at a ¾ angle is a more flattering angle that looks good on everyone.

I said I wouldn't retouch any of the photos, but look how you can take this photo to the next level with just a few edits!

I used Facetune to smooth out my peeling skin (caused by over-enthusiastic Retin-A usage a couple of nights ago) and then used Lightroom on my phone to crop out the ceiling from the photo and remove the yellow cast from the photo. This took me less than five minutes, I did it all on my phone and the changes made a huge difference.

Check out the video in this post to see how just a few edits on your phone can really take your photos to the next level.

The Number One Thing to Know about How to Take a Good Selfie: Squinch!

With apologies to Tyra Banks, the smize is out. This tip totally changed my selfie game because I am so prone to looking wide-eyed and scared in photos. Squinching is basically squinting just a little bit to avoid looking too wide-eyed.

The photographer who invented the word squinching, Peter Hurley, defines it as narrowing the distance between your lower eyelids and your pupils.

Look at the power of the squinch. In this first photo, I have what can only be described as crazy eyes. It's clear that I'm seconds away from demanding to see the manager.

And in this photo, I'm much more approachable. I consciously squinched my eyes together. I also followed another tip of Peter Hurley's and stuck my forehead out to accentuate my jawline.

If you would like to see more of Peter Hurley's tips on looking good in photos, check out his Headshot Tips playlist on his YouTube channel. Squinching works even better when your eye makeup is on your side, so if you have hooded lids, these YouTube makeup tutorials for women over 50 are worth a watch.

Take Advantage of Natural Light

Natural light provides a full-spectrum light, which means we see the colors in the photo as bright and true. Face the sun to fill in any shadows on your face or stand next to a window so the light coming in can act as a filtered, diffuse lighting source.

I'm lucky because the main room of my apartment has tons of natural light but I do need to be aware of shadows. If I'm feeling my hair or makeup and want to share it with the world, I'll typically stand in front of my glass door to take advantage of the full natural light.

It's also fun to stand next to a window and play with the shadows.

No good window handy, or taking selfies after dark? A small clip-on selfie light fits right on your phone and gives you soft, even light that smooths out fine lines instead of highlighting them. If you also film videos or spend a lot of time on video calls, a 12-inch ring light with a tripod stand does double duty. Good light is also the best way to show off your makeup, especially a pretty lip color from our list of the best lipsticks for older women.

Get a Tripod and Remote for Your Phone so You Can Go Hands Free

I know it may seem like a foolish purchase, but you'll be able to take perfect selfies like all the Instagram influencers if you invest in a small tripod and Bluetooth remote like this UBeesize flexible phone tripod with a wireless remote. Its bendy legs wrap around a chair or a railing, so you can set it up almost anywhere. If you'd rather have something taller that also works as a selfie stick, the ATUMTEK selfie stick tripod with a rechargeable Bluetooth remote is another good option.

With a Bluetooth remote and a tripod you can take all kinds of fun pictures and keep your arms down by your sides or wherever you want them to be. This is great for group shots as well. No remote? Your phone's built-in camera timer works too. Just set it for 3 or 10 seconds and get into position.

I took this picture of my dog Lemmi and me with the tripod in a chair in front of us. The remote is in my hand that isn't shown.

Lemmi is a hard dog to photograph because she's so dark. Look at the difference a simple Lightroom preset can make. I also cropped out the background because we're the most important part of the picture after all.

Angle Your Body

Have you ever taken a full-length selfie and been dismayed by how much bigger you look than you do in real life? Good news, it isn't you! Facing the camera head-on causes your body to fill up the frame, making it look bigger than it really is.

Instead, turn your body to an angle and put your weight on your back foot. That will put your head in the foreground and make the picture visually lighter.

What a difference a quarter turn makes!

Keep the Background Clean

Remember, the focus should be on you, not your (sometimes literally) dirty laundry. A clean background lets people look at you and gives a calm feeling to your picture.

For instance, let's examine this photo. I'm happy with my hair and makeup so I decide to take a quick selfie in front of my window. But what's this behind me?

Why it's the styrofoam from the kitchen island I just assembled. And my purse. No amount of background blur is going to disguise that!

Let's change the angle and see if we can still grab a good photo without having to head outside to the trash.

Score! Now the background blur is helping to hide the coffeemaker and whatever else it is that I've got out there on the counter. Everyone can focus on my hair. (If you're due for a fresh look, here are some flattering hairstyles for women over 40 and bob haircuts for women over 50 to bring to your next appointment.)

This photo was still distracting, by the way, because I was standing under my pots and pans. So I cropped them out to keep the focus where I wanted it.

Punch Up Your Selfie with Your Favorite Apps

Now that you know how to pose, let's really put some oomph in your selfie by fine-tuning it with some apps on your phone.

Watch the video to see how I take my selfies and then edit them using my favorite apps, Facetune and Lightroom. The process is really easy and really does take less than five minutes. Check it out!

• Facetune. Still the go-to for light retouching like softening a blemish or brightening under-eye shadows. It's free to download, but most of the editing tools now need a subscription. A light hand is the key here.
• Adobe Lightroom. Free on iPhone and Android, with presets that fix yellow indoor light, brighten a dark photo or warm up a cool one in one tap. The premium version adds extras, but the free tools cover most selfies.
• Snapseed. A completely free editor from Google with easy brightness, crop and "healing" tools, available for iPhone and Android.
• Your phone's own photo editor. The built-in Photos app on an iPhone and Google Photos on Android can now crop, straighten, adjust light and even remove small distractions from the background, so try those before you download anything.

How to Take a Good Selfie Over 50: Quick Answers

What's the most flattering selfie angle over 40?

Hold your phone just slightly above eye level and turn your head about three-quarters of the way toward one side. The higher angle slims your face and jawline, and the turn adds shape and dimension. Try both sides, since most of us have a side we like better.

How do I avoid a double chin in selfies?

Never shoot from below. Raise the camera a little above your eyes, then push your forehead gently forward and down toward the lens (Peter Hurley's trick). It feels a little odd, but it tightens up the jawline in the photo. Good posture and angling your body away from the camera help too.

Should I use a filter?

A light touch is fine! Correcting the color, brightening a dark photo or softening a blemish just makes the picture look more like you do in person. Heavy beauty filters that blur your whole face or change your features usually look fake, especially on mature skin, so skip those and let good lighting do most of the work.

What's the best light for selfies over 50?

Soft, indirect daylight from a window in front of you is the most flattering light there is. Avoid harsh overhead lights and direct midday sun, which cast shadows into fine lines. At night, a clip-on selfie light or ring light placed at about eye level is the next best thing.

More Beauty Tips for Women Over 40

Now that you've got your selfie game down, go ahead and show it off! Taking pictures of the everyday moments is a big part of learning to romanticize your life. Here are a few more posts to help you look and feel your best:

• How to Stop Lipstick Bleeding into Fine Lines
• The Best Lipsticks for Older Women
• The Best YouTube Makeup Videos for Women Over 50
• Hairstyles for Women Over 40
• Short Haircuts for Women Over 60