WATERLOO - Capturing a stellar selfie to share on social media can be elusive.

Finding that sweet selfie spot has been made easier with an app developed by University of Waterloo computer scientists that guides people on how to position the camera to snap the best possible portrait.

"Selfies are everywhere," said Dan Vogel, a professor of computer science at Waterloo.

But Vogel, who also has an art background, noticed not all of them are great.

"The composition is a bit off or the lighting is off because they're doing it quickly," he said.

Unlike existing apps that enhance a subpar selfie after it's shot, this system gives direction that helps the user learn the hallmarks of a better photo.

To develop the algorithm, Vogel and Qifan Li, a former master's student at Waterloo, took hundreds of "virtual selfies" of 3D digital scans of six average-looking people.

That way they could carefully control picture composition, including lighting direction, face position and face size.

Then they reached out online for input on the sample selfies, using an online crowdsourcing service to get thousands of people to vote on the photos they liked best.

That data was used to create an algorithm that is able to guide the user to take the best selfie.

"It will just give you little arrows to tell you where to move," Vogel said.

Once they've reached the optimum spot, the arrows disappear. Snapping a great selfie includes not making the face too small or big, roughly centring the face and frontal lighting.

While Vogel said some people have a knack for good selfies through lots of practice, sticking with these few basic principles means "you could take a photo that looks just a little bit better."

Further study showed just that. Real people were asked to take selfies with a standard smartphone camera app and the UW app, and online ratings showed a 26 per cent improvement when using the algorithm.

Sadly, for those eager to hone their selfie skills, the app is not currently available. Although the researchers talked about commercialization, that would take more time and "polish."

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"The app exists, but it's a research prototype," Vogel said.

Vogel and Li recently presented the work in Edinburgh, Scotland, at a conference on designing interactive systems.