Play With Your Selfie

So the week has been quite a bad one , you know when you wake up and just feel down?
You hate your hair, the wrinkles on your face, the extra chins that have appeared and the roundness of your face enlarging each day, Well today I decided to get up put some makeup on and try and get some new pictures for my profile pictures on my social network sites.

To be honest , it just felt like one of those days where I could not be bothered but I had my sons first introduction to school dinners to go to.

He starts full time in September and so he will be eating at school like the rest of them .
They asked us parents if we wanted to sit with them on the first day and the second day, (which is today) they would go on their own and so I jumped at the chance of getting dinner made for me lol.
A little self love is all a person needs sometimes and I find that by looking in the mirror seeing something  you do not like and trying to enhance that area in a picture , it makes me feel better sometimes. 

I was bullied in my very early school years for having small eyes, big teeth and a huge forehead . 
In fact it was my biological parent that was the one who started it at the age of only 6 years old. 
We do not speak and I have very personal reasons for that. She used to make fun of my squinty eyes and large teeth when I smiled. 
From a small age it has stuck with me and even now I smile not showing my teeth, try to open my eyes wide which makes me look unnatural and freaky sometimes. 
People can be so mean and for me, I have come to learn that I am myself in my own way and I think that taking the odd selfie can make you feel better in yourself, making you realise that you are beautiful even with those imperfections.
Having camera at the ready , I tried helplessly to find a picture I liked  and although it is rare I like any I spotted a couple where I felt pleased with the outcome.

Here is my day in Playing with my selfies.
There seems to be always a discussion from certain people when it comes to me and my pictures, they say I edit them and yes I do, but not to the extent they may think.

There are a few sites where you can tweak your pictures but I love to use Photobucket . It is free and I do not have to go through umteen procedures like making myself look thinner or perfect just tweak the lighting and size although the options are there for covering blemishes and whiten teeth if you wish .

I want to show you before and after shots .
This is to show you how I transformed the original picture into something I preferred, which is the picture on the right.
I will walk you through how I have done this, just for those who like to say I fully photoshop my pictures to the point I remove any imperfections and such , when in fact its only lighting  (which I do not have in my house in respect that my house is quite dark ) and resizing as I always aim the camera too far to block out any background.

Step by step 

1. First go to Photobucket and log in by email or facebook.
2. Upload your desired picture(s), then once it has uploaded click on it , this will take it to the picture enlarged.
3. Click edit above the picture.
4. Click on the orientation button, I want to rotate the picture so it is straight looking. So I drag the picture right and it brings it forward and straight .
5. Click Apply.
6. Go to effects on the option bar and choose which you feel looks best, I went for Avenue as I noticed this effect makes my eyes pop .
7. Click apply and then save.

That is it, I know it is not much but this is how I do my pictures and I like the ending result.

You do not need to whiten your teeth, tweak at your blemishes or rub out the areas to make you look thinner, simply play with yourself and for me , a little lighting is all that is needed.

Here is another I had done yesterday  too.
Ok so I got snap happy I have to admit, but when I do this , it makes me feel better about myself. 
This was the same but instead of using orientation I just used crop to cup out any of the background .
Like before I used Avenue but then added Concorde afterwards which is a deeper black and white contrast.
I love using this one as it seems to work well with the natural bone structure of my face which I can not see .

I have come to realise after having my hair straight for the past 30 years that I actually have a better result with my photos if I curl my hair .
It seems to bring more structure to the effect and shapes my face better .

For my final picture of yesterday it was one of me and my son which I did not use anything to edit it at all .

See I am not perfect, I hold the creases on my forehead like everyone else, but to me this picture is perfect , just look at his smile.