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Great Piercing Photos, Every Time

We have become a nation of social media-lites so the quality of the photos we take and plaster all over social media needs to on fleek. Taking selfies has their own challenges, but add a piercing you want to showcase and it makes it that much more important to know the ins and outs of taking great photos for social media and beyond. We’ll share some up to minute tips and tricks to get that perfect piercing selfie, every time.

Before we dive, we want to send a special shoutout to Elijah Ash (@hezemi) for winning our first of many, weekly “insta-giveaways”. Follow us on our Instagram to participate in a fun, easy piercing trivia contest every Wednesday for a chance to win a specially curated piece of jewelry just for our “insta-family”. Every Wednesday, we’ll post a picture of the winning body jewelry and a question in the description. For example, the question from the previous week was “ How many piercings does Kylie Jenner have now?” Among many guesses, Elijah guessed the correct number in the comments and won one of our new septum clickers. So fun, so easy. Join us this coming Wednesday for our next “insta-giveaway” by following us on Instagram and staying tuned for the post. The first correct guess to the question wins so be ready to guess. Turning on notifications for our account will ensure you are the first to know when we post. Good luck and back to the program!

Rule #1 : Know Your Apps

As most of you already know, we have the capacity to send a man to moon, do surgery without having to cut someone open and make computers so advanced, they update themselves. So then, why the heck are there so many of us not taking advantage of the amazing apps out there help us look our best of selfies? Why? Stop the insanity!

Whether you have an iphone or an Android, there are mobile apps that are specifically designed to help you edit your photos, no Photoshop skills necessary. Sure, Instagram and Facebook have their own editing tools, but do not be fooled, there are better, much better applications out there like FaceTune that are specifically designed for the selfie and portrait taker.  

Rule #2 Snap Filters Aren’t Just for Snapchat

We’re not gonna lie, that filter on Snapchat with the big watery eye emoji is the shiznit. This filter blurs imperfections, brightens your eyes and generally makes your skin look like a newborn baby’s butt. Piercings look amazing and if you are taking close ups of your eyebrow or lip piercing, it makes you look like you have no pores or stray hairs, whatsoever. And it’s not just for Snapchat, you can save it to your camera roll and export it out to load it into your Instagram or Facebook account. Snappy, ain’t it?

Rule #3 Don’t Pull The Blue Steel

Don’t be like Derek Zoolander and get stuck on one look on every photo. We don’t care how handsome, pretty, interesting or freak you look; if you only have one look, eventually your audience is going to get sick of looking at same darn thing every day. Spice it up by switching your phone from your left hand to right (or vice versa) for different angles. Try looking down or up into the lens. Try using bold body jewelry or one that is too elaborate to wear daily but perfect for the photo wow factor like this Gold Septum Mustache.

Rule #4 Get in the Auto Zone

For those of you who are still taking selfies from only as far as you arm’s length, we ask you to get in the auto zone. Most phones come with a automatic timer even on selfie mode, so use it. There is no reason why all of you selfies have to be from the distance of your arm stretched out. This also leads to Blue Steel Syndrome (see above) so don’t be that guy or girl.

Rule #5 Even Cavemen Used Tools

We know annoying it is when you go to a public place and everyone whips out their ten foot selfie stick, but in this case, we recommend it. Having the extra length from a selfie stick can create enough distance for you to experiment with various angles and heights. Piercings on the ears and face tend to get distorted if the camera is too close and sometimes it becomes difficult to tell what body part we are even looking at. Most selfies sticks range from $10-$25; some come with a Bluetooth shutter remote and others have a cable to plug into your audio jack. The adjustable length and angles help diversify your portfolio, err…I mean your social media photos.  

Rule #6 Lube Up For Better Performance

Use spray sunscreen before taking photos for a nice sheen. The tiny reflective pigments that is in most sunscreen formulas give the skin a nice, hydrated glisten that helps to make your skin look healthy and dewy. The sheen also helps to define muscles and lean you out, so it’s perfect for taking photos of your navel piercing and belly jewelry. We know even the most fit person can get self conscious about belly photos so this is a great trick for everyone. Using a bit on your collar bones, cheek bones and above your cupid’s bow on the upper lip can really create highlights and accentuate the dimensions.

Rule #7 Go Matte

Okay, so we just told you shine up with sunscreen, so what gives? When we say go matte, we mean for your piercing jewelry. Shiny surgical steel can be a bit of pain on capture at times in a selfie because of it’s highly reflective surface. Matte body jewelry, on the other hand, has texture and no shine, making it easy to grab in a photo at almost any distance. Matte jewelry, like our Matte Black Horseshoes or Matte Gold Captive Rings, reflect less light (flash and natural lighting) making it stand out bit better in bright photo settings.

Rule #8 Get to Your Nearest Exit

If you are unhappy with your selfies, get to the nearest exit, NOW. By this, we mean get your nearest window, preferably where there is access to full or partial sun. Taking obscure, dark, blurry photos might work if you are trying to hide a zit but it sure won’t do you any good when it comes to taking beautiful piercing selfies. Get to the window and face directly at it, like you are taking a look outside. This will dramatically increase the way your piercing selfie turns out.

Rule #9 It’s Only Polite to Point Your Finger

Ever get that photo so bright that you just downright disappear when the flash hits you? Well, this is the result of not-so-optimal lighting and for those of us who can’t just get up and look for the nearest sunny window, try pointing your finger…at yourself, on the screen. Find the center of your face on the screen and tap the screen to shift the focus of the camera to to see if that evens out the lighting. If that is still too bright, find the closest spot next to your face or piercing and the camera should adjust itself to lighten the darkened focal point and darken up the overly light areas of your face.

Rule #10 The Giraffe, The T-Rex and the Stank Eye

What do a giraffe, a t-rex and a stank eye have in common? They are all selfie perfecting poses! The giraffe should be used for any piercings around the lips, cheeks and nose. To do this correctly, sit tall and pretend you are giraffe by stretching and lengthening your neck. Ta-da, you’re done. This helps to create a more defined jaw line and helps improve your posture. Next, pretend to be a t-rex fold your arm towards your face so that your hand is close to your neck. Now place the  hand on your chin, jawline, lip or forehead to create the illusion of movement in an otherwise still photo. Where your hand is placed also helps the viewer focus to where you want them to look. And finally, The Stank Eye. This one is great for eyebrow, septum, ears and cheek piercings. To do this, remember a time when your boyfriend changed the channel when you were still watching something, or when that waiter took your plate before you were done, or when on of your girlfriends’ totally just ripped off your style…now carefully recreate the look you gave them. That’s it. You’ve got it! The tilt of the head and the intensity of the of eye closest to them, that’s the look. Get’s em’ every time…the picture we mean.

Selfie Queen (or King) Ready

So, here we have our #SundayStyle 10 Tips for Taking Great Piercing Selfies for ya. We hope that some of these will help you take better piercing selfies and photos. However basic or elaborate the photo is, we know how important it is to put our best of the best pics out there on the world wide web. Afterall, mom always said, “If you’re going to do it at all, you might as well do it right.” For once, we couldn’t agree more.

** Wanna share your amazing piercing selfies with us? We’d love to feature you on our social and give you gift card in the process! Submit your piercing photo here and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see if your picture is our next feature![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_separator color=”blue”][vc_custom_heading text=”Follow us for Piercing Inspiration” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center|color:%231e73be”][vc_column_text][instagram-feed][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]