Selfie (n): A picture taken by a person where the subject matter of the picture is the person themselves. There are many ways one can take a selfie, the most common involving the use of flip cameras (a common feature on smartphones) or by taking a picture of one’s reflection in a mirror, amongst other methods. Selfies are normally uploaded to social networking sites and may or may not be accompanied by a series of hashtags that offer no quantifiable improvement to the picture itself.

With the advent of camera phones and Instagram, the selfie has become a daily occurrence in our lives. Almost everyone has taken a selfie at some point in their lives, whether they like to admit it or not. Since selfies have made their grand entrance into the world and are clearly here to stay, why not offer some insight on the largely unexplored art of taking the perfect selfie? After all, finding the perfect angle to highlight your cheekbones is not a skill that all of us are blessed with. In addition, one must always, as far as possible, try to avoid merging with the flood of Instagram accounts and Facebook albums devoted solely to pictures of narcissistic teenagers with access to high quality cameras. So, here is a handy guide on how to indulge in your vanity in a way that still lets you distinguish yourself from the horde of pre-teens with an insatiable desire to shower the world with photographic evidence of their good hair days.

The key point to note with selfies is that their entire purpose is contradictory – a selfie is taken in such a manner that the fact that it is a selfie (as opposed to a candid picture) is as inconspicuous as possible, just so the illusion can subsequently be shattered by a #selfiesunday. Awkward arms or fingers getting in the way of the splendour of your face should be avoided as far as possible. Even while taking a mirror picture (a now dying breed), it is customary not to look down at the camera and instead look directly at your reflection, as if you are completely unaware that you yourself are taking a picture of...yourself. Webcam selfies, however, avoid these issues – just be sure that you don’t inadvertently take a video of yourself smiling at your computer for 20 solid seconds.

Facial expression is another fundamental component of the selfie. This is crucial, since the main focus of the selfie is your face itself – if you wanted to use your camera to take a picture of the majesty of nature and share it with your loved ones via the Internet, then this article isn’t for you. Some commonly used facial expressions to note include the “I’m not a model, the camera unexpectedly went off”; the “pulling a silly face in the hope that it turns out cute instead of terrifying”; the “my eyebrows are trying to escape my forehead”; and of course, The Duckface. No discussion about selfies is complete without a mention of The Duckface. Originally intended to subtly highlight one’s cheekbones and lips by pouting slightly, The Duckface is now a universally recognised (and mocked) pose that exposes the subject to ridicule, because let’s face it, it’s really not cute.

Lighting, filters, angle – the science of taking a selfie becomes increasingly more and more complicated. You’d think that with the amount of effort and precision put into taking selfies, they would be exhibited at art galleries instead of social networking sites, and be valued by how much they sold for as opposed to how many likes they have gotten. But alas, the flood of the selfies is ceaseless, so we might as well learn to stay afloat. The art of taking selfies is something that will become common knowledge as the selfie becomes an intrinsic part of our lives, which shouldn’t be a problem – as long as we don’t resort to #yolo as the reason for taking the picture.