I bought my wife a pink Selfie Stick as a stocking stuffer. She uses it all the time. She is an amateur photographer who has a nice DSLR, tripod and other gear. However, it is the smartphone that you have with you all of the time. She keeps the Selfie Stick in her purse. It is not that big, and she uses it to grab stills and video of things she finds interesting throughout her day. She has become an expert at using the telescopic tube that her smartphone attaches too to take pictures.

I have seen her use it to take amazing shots outdoors and indoors. She has one of a nest of baby birds that was on a low branch just out of her reach. The video looks like a camera was hidden in the nest. She does crazy stills and video with it too. The perspective of getting the camera out away from your body for selfies is really neat. She has used it to take pictures of the kids and the dogs. The dogs look at it with curiosity, but they are not afraid of it.

It is just a telescoping metal tube with a foam handle covering and a device to attach your smartphone at the end. This one has a Bluetooth shutter remote as well. We use an app to make it work. Some phones probably have Bluetooth remote capability built into their camera application for video and photographs. You need something to be able to activate the shutter button. Some phones have voice capture capability where you say “cheese” or something like that. I think they all have a 10 second timer built in to take pictures or activate video record. That’s how you use your smartphone camera with a Selfie Stick for taking much better looking pictures and video.