Selfie Sticks and Android apps for taking selfies

Image Credit: www.toysrus.com

 

Let's talk about selfie sticks and Android apps which can help you to take selfies, especially if your smartphone's default camera app is not working with selfie stick.

 

Planning to buy a selfie stick? Consider the points below: 

While you are still thinking whether selfies are for vanity or for fun, it actually is quite useful, especially, if you are traveling alone and want to take some pictures of yourself or for vlogging. If you don't have a selfie stick, you may end up doing these:

• Ask someone to take your picture - who may run away with your phone while you are posing (lol). Jokes apart, you may have to instruct him or her how to operate your phone or may be some orientation advice etc for a few seconds (may be). Still the composition of the photograph may not turn out to be the way you like etc.
• Set the camera on timer and run - place your phone on a support or tripod, set it's timer and run for pose. Careful there!
• Use a remote - aha! I can see your remote! Release the shutter from your pocket? LOL!
• And may be some few other disadvantages.

Back then, when the selfie stick was not so common, people used to take selfies with arms stretched out. Most of the picture, as you would have noticed, have arms taking most of the picture area. Not good.

Better option would be to Buy a selfie stick then?

Selfie stick available today are of basically two types - 

• Bluetooth selfie sticks and  
• Wired selfie sticks. 

 

Bluetooth selfie sticks, as the name suggests, are controlled by Bluetooth. Whereas, wired selfie sticks have 3.5 mm audio jack cable which is inserted into the smartphone which controls the smartphone to take pictures using the button on the selfie stick itself.

 

Buy any that is suitable for your needs. 

 

Bluetooth selfie sticks

 

Bluetooth selfie sticks have inbuilt Bluetooth or a Bluetooth remote, using which the smartphone is controlled. You need to pair the Bluetooth from the selfie stick with your smartphone's Bluetooth to make it work just like you would pair any other Bluetooth device with your smartphone.

 

Wired selfie sticks

 

 

Wired selfie sticks, as the name suggests have a wire which is attached to the smartphone so that the control from the button on the selfie stick is transferred to the smartphone for taking pictures. When the button on the selfie stick is pressed, it triggers the volume key function on the smartphone which tells the smartphone to take pictures. This is made possible because of the 'volume key function' setting on the smartphone camera app which is telling the smartphone to take picture.

 

Settings required on the camera app to use wired selfie stick

Why does my selfie stick shutter button zoom the camera instead of taking pictures? Hmm? 

Selfie sticks with aux cable uses your phone's volume buttons to control the camera. Which means, you need to change the settings in your camera app. By default most camera apps would zoom with the volume buttons.

Check your phone's camera app menu and see if you have an option to let the camera app take picture with the volume controls. If it is not already set, set it.

If your phone's camera app does not have the option to take pictures using the volume buttons, find an alternative camera app such as Camera 360 Ultimate on Google Play.

No front camera on your phone?

While most Android smartphones today come with front facing cameras, if you do not have a front camera, don't worry. You can still take selfies! Just go ahead and buy a selfie stick. The selfie stick need not know if your camera has a front facing camera or not. Plug it in with the camera facing you and the phone's screen away from you and smile! Click! The only issue is you cannot actually see yourself in the screen when the photo is being taken. So, judge the orientation and your position properly.

• Smile - Next time you are traveling alone, take your selfie stick along. Enjoy taking selfies.

Insane daredevils taking photos on top of a building in Dubai

 A little history about selfies sticks:

While you can look up on Wikipedia if you want to read through, here is a little history on Selfie Sticks.

• Homemade selfie sticks could date back as early as 1925. A photo from that year shows a man taking a photograph of himself and his wife, with the aid of a long pole which is pointed towards the camera and out of frame.  
• The term "selfie stick" itself did not become widely used until 2014.
• The selfie stick was listed in Time magazine's 25 best inventions of 2014.

Check out more Selfie Apps on Google Play.
21 greatest selfies of 2014

 

Check out some selfie sticks for your mobile phone here  

Wired Selfie Stick

 

  

3 in 1 Extendable Bluetooth Selfie Stick with Tripod Stand 

 

Long Selfie Stick with Tripod Stand