To take full-body pictures of yourself, the phone has to be steady, level and far enough away to fit you in, and the main guide to taking pictures of yourself explains that setup in general terms. This page covers what changes when the frame has to include your head, your feet and everything between. You need a spot with room to step back and a clear patch of floor to stand on.
Where should the phone go to take full-body pictures of yourself?
Put the phone at around chest height, and keep it level. A camera pointed up at you from the floor stretches your legs but also adds an unflattering look under the chin. A camera held above your head and tilted down makes legs look short.
A slightly low, level camera is a good compromise, and it is easy to find with books or a shelf. If the frame is not wide enough, move the phone back instead of tilting it. Tilting skews your proportions, while stepping back keeps them natural.
Turn on the grid in Settings under Camera, which Apple describes on its page about camera tools. The grid lines make it easy to see whether doors and walls are straight, and a tilted phone shows up straight away.
How far back should you stand?
There is no exact distance, because it depends on your height, the lens and the phone. A rule of thumb for the main lens is about 2 to 2.5 m (7 to 8 ft) between you and the phone, and up to 3 m (10 ft) if you are tall. Take one test photo, look at it, and adjust.
You want a little room above your head and below your feet. If the frame cuts at your ankles or the top of your head, move back a step and shoot again. The guide to tripod height and distance for full-body photos gives a table of starting distances for the 1x and 0.5x lenses.
Once a test frame works, mark your spot with a piece of tape or a shoe, so you can step back into the same place after each check. Clear a path between that mark and the phone, and move rugs or chairs you might trip over mid-session.
Which lens should you use?
Use the main lens, labeled 1x, for natural proportions. The ultra-wide 0.5x lens, where your phone has one, stretches things near the edges, which is where your hands and feet end up in a full-length frame. A 2x lens needs about twice the distance to fit the same amount of you, so it rarely suits an indoor full-body shot.
If the space is tight, you may be tempted to switch to 0.5x. A better fix is to move the phone into a corner or a doorway so you can step back farther with the 1x lens.
Should you shoot vertically?
Yes, in most cases. A vertical frame matches the shape of a standing person, fits a phone screen and, unlike a mirror full-body selfie, shows the whole outfit with no phone in front of it. Leave a little room above your head and below your feet, and avoid cropping at the ankles.
Choose horizontal only when the place matters as much as you, such as a long hallway or a view behind you. Decide before you start, so the phone is not repositioned halfway through.
Which poses work for full-body photos?
In a full-length frame your legs carry the pose, so start there. Put your weight on your back leg, bend the front knee slightly, and point that front foot toward the phone, which tends to lengthen the line of your legs. Angle your hips a little away from the lens rather than facing it square on.
Leave a little space between your arms and your waist, so your outline does not merge into one block. Movement reads well at full length: take a slow step toward the phone, turn on the spot so a coat or skirt swings, or lean on a wall or door frame. Between photos, swap which leg takes your weight or where your hands rest, so the set has variety.
Can an app take the photo when you step into the frame?
The awkward part of a full-body shot is the distance, because the phone is too far away to press. You can use the Camera app’s timer, but each new countdown means walking back to the phone to start again.
ViaCamera is an iPhone app with an AI-BODY mode that fires when it sees you in frame, so it suits a frame where you stand well back. Tap the shutter once to start, step back, and it keeps taking photos each time it sees you, until you tap again to stop. They are real photos from your iPhone camera, not AI-generated images.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Most full-body photos go wrong for the same few reasons.
- A tilted phone. Tilting down or up distorts your proportions. Keep it level and move it back instead.
- A cropped foot. Check the frame at the bottom edge before you start posing.
- The ultra-wide lens. It stretches the edges of the frame, which is exactly where your hands and feet are.
- A busy floor or wall. Clear things you do not want in the picture before you step back.
- Too few frames. Take many, then keep only the ones where your whole pose and the background work.
Check the first photo at full size before you commit to the session.
