There is no better way to share your run with your friends than to take a running seflie. What is a running seflie? It’s a picture that you take using your smartphone of yourself before, during or after your run. It is a fun way to share your activities with your friends in an entertaining way. As great as they are, a mid-run seflie can be a difficult thing to pull off. Below we have 8 tips you can use in order to take perfect running selfies every time.
Fix your hair and know your best angles
If you are taking a selfie mid-run, you may not be thrilled with the current state of your hair. Before you snap the picture, use your hand to make sure your hair is in decent shape and wipe the sweat away from your face. As you do this, don’t forget that this is a running selfie and you are not expected to look your “absolute best”. With that said, there is certainly no harm in taking a minute for some quick on-the-fly grooming.
A selfie under normal conditions will allow you to take several pictures at different angles and pick out the best one. Since you will be in the middle of a run, you won’t have time to do this. To improve the chances that your seflie turns out the way that you like it, take some time to understand what your best angles are before you go out for your run and try to replicate them for your running selfie.
Wait for the right time
The best times to take a running selfie are early in the morning and in the late evening. During these times, you will be able to get a type of lighting that you can’t get throughout the rest of the day. If you can get the sun in the background (without creating too much glare), it can create a great looking backdrop for your picture.
Bonus – Try to time your run so you are arriving at your location of choice during sunrise or sunset to create the perfect background.
Find the right background
The farther you run, the more possible locations you have to include in your selfie. Think about the scenery that you will pass by on your run and plan to take your selfie there. If you are running a new route, you can use Google Earth to quickly scan through your route to find potential selfie locations. Just make sure there isn’t any unwanted person or thing in the background to ruin your photo. Using a readily available race backdrop is also a good background for your photo.
The more, the merrier
After you take your selfie, get back to your run. If you spend time looking through and judging your picture, it will take away from your time. Instead, take a few throughout the run. That way, you will be able to pick the best one of the many that you took throughout your jog.
Go with the blur
Okay, you are not exactly going to snap a perfectly framed selfie mid-run. That’s totally expected. Rather than stress out trying to get a blur-free photo, realise that this is supposed to be an in-action shot where blur and poor focus should be expected. Don’t go crazy shaking your camera around but a moving selfie that is a little out of focus can do a lot in communicating the mid-run action to your friends who will see the picture.
Show your emotions
This isn’t a normal selfie where you have time to get ready for the picture; this is a run where you won’t have time to do any of that. At the same time, don’t be expressionless either. If you are gruelling through a long run, you should try and show that through your selfie. Show your friends how hard you are pushing yourself on this run through your expression. Grin, show some teeth and let it all out. Alternatively, express the positive vibes that you are feeling after you just conquered your long run with a big smile and a thumbs up.
Include your friends
If you are running with a partner or with a group, make sure to include them in your “welfie”. If we are interested in your run, we are most certainly interested in your running group. Race to the front of the group and get them all in your welfie together.
Don’t forget your shoes
If all else fails, take a selfie of your running shoes. This is a top down shot of your ankles, feet and running shoes, preferably on the surface or location that you are going to run at or just finished running at. This is usually a good fall back option in the event that your running selfie attempt turned out to be unusable. Although this is far from ideal, this will at least give you a way to post some type of picture of your run to show your friends and followers.
Conclusion
Running selfies may be a challenge to pull off, but if done well, they are a great way to add to your running experience and include your friends and followers in your life. If you follow these tips above, you should come away with great selfies that your friends will love to see anytime you go for a run.
Do you have any running selfies of your own? If you do, leave them in the comment section below. We wanna see ’em!
