I used to despise having my photo taken. I didn't really have a good reason for it.

Actually, that's a lie - I had a reason - but it was the stupidest possible reason: I hated cameras in my face because I SMILED too much.

I have a lot of teeth, and they just don't see fit to stay hidden from the world. So, I find it really hard to keep my mouth closed while smiling. A little smirk quickly turns into a mega-watt grin, and then it's all awkward and people are looking at me wondering what I'm so damn happy about.

Many of my old photos involve me with this twisted little look on my face, using every available facial muscle to try and keep my mouth closed.

Of course, I couldn't keep it up. So, the second photo in the set is always me, again, but with my entire set of teeth on display like some sort of desperate beauty queen.

Eventually, I came to the realization that the full smile shot was almost always better than the 'chewing on a lemon' shot, so I just let my face do whatever it felt like doing.

That is, until I discovered there was another potential mouth position to explore - the pout. Turns out my teeth aren't getting out of that one.

I first added the pout to my facial repertoire about a year back, when I found out about a site called DailyBooth (follow me here!). It's a social networking site where you take a picture of yourself every day, for every one to see, inspired by this guy that took a photo of himself everyday, funnily enough.

I figured it was the ideal opportunity to perfect my photo face - and I've definitely learnt what it takes to make me look good (and what makes me look really bad) along the way.

[This is one of the days when I didn't get it quite right]

I figured we could always use a little help when it comes to the photos we snap of ourselves for our Facebook and Twitter profile pics, DailyBooth, or even those slightly dodgy pics you take on your iPhone to send to your boyfriend. Hey - those aren't just for celebrities, we can all do them!

I asked internet photography maven SnapChick for a few tips, and she very generously offered to create a Q&A video (in two parts), where she covers all my questions about self portraits, including how to get better lighting on the cheap, finding your best angle, and how to fix up imperfections.

Check them out!!

PART ONE:

PART TWO: