The only time I ever felt comfortable in front of a camera was when I was too young to care.

Once I hit adolescence, that awkwardness you see in pre-teens and teenagers was there. I was never happy.

And this is true of many people.

So what happens when you have a business or you’re an author and you need a professional headshot? Or even just a high-quality selfie? What do you do?

If you have a real dislike of having your photo taken by others, you’re unlikely to look relaxed and happy.

A professional photographer might know how to get you looking your best, but they cost money and you still have that fear of cameras.

Maybe you don’t even believe a professional could make you look good.

Low self-esteem and self-consciousness can really block someone from getting a professional shot in the first place.

Of course, you have the option of taking a selfie.

But what if you still hate the camera, still look awkward, and it’s still ten thousand deaths to take that photo?

And even worse, you see great selfies from other authors, but yours somehow come out badly. You might wonder if they’re using filters – and it’s entirely possible.

Then again, maybe they’ve learned how to use a mobile phone camera to best effect. They could have done it through trial and error. Or they could have followed a photographic influencer on Instagram or YouTube.

There is a mountain of information out there for people too shy to have others take their photo.

One interesting influencer on both YouTube and Instagram is Sorelle Amore.

And the good news is that she has a selfie course called Advanced Selfie University.

You have to sign up – the cost is fairly low – and you’ll learn about camera settings, lighting, posing (what works and what to avoid), clothing, and much more.

Each lesson is only a few minutes at most. Then you can go off and try it out.

There is a community of posters, leaving questions, answers, and comments.

Among the comments, there are repeating themes of low confidence, fear of the camera, and not liking it when others take their photos. Their past experience has made them camera shy.

The selfie course teaches them to be more relaxed in front of the camera, to take their time getting to know their best angles, to learn about the right colours to wear to flatter their skin tone, and so on.

The course creates a safe space for people to experiment and post the results if they want – they don’t have to post anything.

Seeing others struggle with self-image, unhappiness with their appearance, and self-consciousness in front of cameras shows that many suffer the same issues. You’re not alone.

But the usefulness of taking great selfies goes beyond working on your confidence and self-esteem.

It also goes beyond saving money on professional headshots.

If you’re someone who would benefit from having high-quality selfie photos for marketing, this course will help you build up a good catalogue of images that might otherwise be pricey.

And you can use these images on your author website, Facebook page, Instagram, Amazon page, Twitter, and more.