Secrets to Taking Amazing Piercing Selfies
When it comes to piercings and other body modifications, most of us can admit that we love to show them off. Of course, there are a few of us that are super private about it, but the vast majority is tickled fancy by the idea of allowing our precious piercings have the limelight.
In this article, we’ll share with you some industry secrets on how to take selfies of you and your piercings so that you can let your piercings be seen. Social media and the web are such a connecting communication hub for us these days, so learning to take some really rad photos of yourself is an important part of your social web presence. Besides, what the fun if you can’t show it off, right?

Choose Your Background Wisely
When you are taking a selfie that involves intricate body jewelry, less background is more. Choose a background that is not heavily textured, patterned, or busy in any way. A busy background can seriously compete with the fine details of your piercing and jewelry you choose to wear, so don’t let your piercing get lost in the photos aggressive background. Or better yet, crop in tight (see Tight Cropping below) and you won’t have to worry too much about finding the perfect background to your piercing selfie.

Clean Your Piercing, Clean Your Body Jewelry
Be sure to clean your piercing and body jewelry. Nothing is grosser than zooming in on your newly taken selfie and finding that there was dried liquid or dry skin surrounding the piercing and jewelry. Also, if you wear makeup such as foundation, take a moment to use a moist tissue to wipe excess makeup that may have gotten on the exposed parts of your body jewelry during application.
One Third Equals What?
What do one-third equal in the rules of taking photos? Perfection. Professional photographers use the “one-third” rule when they create their works of art, so why wouldn’t you? The general rule of thumb on this is : mentally divide the frame of the photo into thirds (suddenly having an ah-ha moment on why Instagram has their photo frame editing in thirds?) and line your eyes with the imaginary line for the first third down from the top. Also, dead centering your face to the frame is not the best for piercing photos (or any face/selfie photos for that matter). Remember taking high school yearbook photos? Umm, yeah…not quite the look we are going for. Experiment with different positions on the frame, such as having you face more towards one corner or one side.

Filter Me, Baby
There are so many amazing filters these days, so take advantage. We know how hard it is to get shiny metals to look amazing in photos without getting washed out by the reflection of the flash and lighting, so do take advantage of the filter and editing settings to help isolate your body jewelry to really make a mark on the photo. Something that we have found helpful for our social media is to increase the saturation of the photo, especially if the piercing and jewelry are tiny. This helps them hold more color in a dense manner, helping them to show up better.
Tight Cropping
Another piercing selfie tip we must share is “tight cropping”. What does that mean? When we are dealing with delicate piercings, cropping the photo closer to the focal point can help zoom in what you want to accentuate in the photograph. For instance, if you have a nose piercing with a nose bone in it, you know that the piercing and the body jewelry is going to need extra zooming and focus due to the size. When it comes to piercing selfies, don’t be afraid to crop in a bit closer to the piercing than you usually would – cropping can add an artistic and abstract touch to your photo, which is even more enticing for someone to click for a closer look.

Like, Share, Follow – We’ll Help
Now that you know some of the tried and true tips for taking a piercing selfie, go take some! Share them with your friends via media or have them printed in black and white to frame and make cool art for your dwelling. And most of all, have fun and totally, unapologetically express who you are and what makes you unique!
If you are feeling extra bold and want your work of art to make a debut, send it to us. We LOVE sharing your piercing photos on our social media (we have 40K plus followers on Facebook alone), our blogs, newsletters, and more. We’re always happy to share and tag our fellow piercing addicts! Submit your photo here and we’ll thank you with a gift card or score tons of body jewelry from us and be an ambassador for us – we provide jewelry, you provide your stunning photos. Together we promote each other, have fun, and share our passion for piercings!