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Julia Herzig, 22, of Larchmont, NY, has “an obsession.” It’s about taking a new kind of selfie that doesn’t quite fit.

In some of these selfies, Ms. Herzig’s forehead sticks out halfway through the frame. His eyes are semicircular, looking at something beyond the camera. His nose sticks out. His mouth is not visible. These images are best when they have a “sinister, spooky feel,” he said.

Ms. Herzig started taking these photos, which are called 0.5 selfies (pronounced “fifth point” selfies, not “half” selfies) – iPhone 12 Pro last year, and he discovered that his rear camera has an ultra-wide-angle lens that can make him and his friends look “warped and crazy.”

But what seems like a joke is that St. It was larger than Ms. Herzig, a recent graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, had thought. It opened a few months ago, after spring break. Instagram To a full feed of 0.5 selfies.

“One day, everyone started taking 0.5 selfies,” he said.

Wherever Gen Z gathers these days, a 0.5% selfie that captures the moment with random flattery or a funny omission will almost be taken. 0.5 selfies pop up on Instagram, pop up in group chats, become the talk of parties, and are often captured to record small details of everyday life.

The 0.5 selfie with this name has become popular because it is far from curated, as users tap the smartphone camera 0.5x to switch to ultra-wide mode, unlike a traditional selfie where people can constantly prepare and pose. Because the ultra-wide-angle lens is integrated into the phones’ rear cameras, people can’t watch themselves taking a 0.5% selfie, creating random images that have the weirdness of the distortion.

“You really don’t know how this is going to turn out, so you have to trust the process and hope something good comes out of it,” said Callie Booth, 19, of Rustburg, Va., adding that 0.5 is a good number. selfie was the “antithesis” of a good forward facing person.

Ms. Booth said that in her 0.5 best selfies, she and her friends are blurry and flat-faced. “It’s not the traditional picture-perfect,” she said. “It makes looking back funnier.”

The problem is that 0.5 selfies are hard to take. Because of the rear camera, fishing angle and physical maneuvering is a must. If selfie takers want to fit everyone in a frame, they need to stretch their arms as far and up as possible. If they want to maximize how deformed a face is, they need to place their phone perpendicular to their forehead and just next to the hairline.

In addition to these acrobatic moves, 0.5 selfie enthusiasts have to press the volume button to take the photo, being careful not to mistake it for the power button, as the phone is turned upside down. Sometimes 0.5 selfies with large groups also require using a timer. Nothing is visible until the selfie is taken, which is half the fun.

“I just take it and don’t look until later, so it’s all about seizing the moment rather than seeing what it looks like,” said Soul Park, 21, of Starkville, Miss.

Wide and ultra-wide-angle lenses are not new. Its first patent was granted in 1862.lenses are often used to capture more of a scene with wider fields of view, especially in architecture, landscape and street photography.

“It goes as far back as photography was a thing,” said Grant Willing, a photographer who reviews cameras for electronics store B&H Photo Video.

selfies made popular by celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hiltonis a more modern innovation (although this is sometimes controversial). In 2013, Oxford Dictionaries added a “selfie” to the photo. online dictionary and determined it Word of the Year.

The 0.5 selfie was born with the convergence of the wide-angle lens with the selfie, it became possible when ultra-wide-angle lenses were added. Apple’s iPhone 11 and Samsung’s Galaxy S10 In 2019 and newer models.

Due to the wide angle, objects close to the lens appear larger, while distant objects appear smaller. This shift distorts subjects in a way that is welcome in architectural photography, for example, but not traditionally recommended in portrait photography.

“The wide angle for portrait shots was always really different because it made it more distorted,” said Alessandro Uribe-Rheinbolt, 23, a Colombian photographer living in Detroit.

Mr. Uribe-Rheinbolt said he has recently brought the wide-angle from portrait work where his clients wanted a 0.50 selfie view to his personal life, and has used it to shoot his friends, clothes and daily routine.

“It gives a more relaxed look,” she said. “There’s a lot more creativity in the way you open it and the way you zoom it in.”

An unedited 0.5% selfie is organically more fun than a front-facing selfie. Posting selfies on Instagram with droopy arms and legs or puffy eyes is meant to be silly, which makes it seem like photographers are taking themselves – and social media – less seriously.

“Something about it is breaking the fourth wall because you admit you’re taking pictures to take pictures,” said Hannah Kaplon, 21, of Sacramento. “Trying to make Instagram casual again.”

Ms. Kaplon, a recent Duke University graduate, said she now takes a 0.5% selfie in most cases: studying in the library late at night, having dinner with 11 guests, watching a basketball game.

“Very soon, I said, ‘We should take 0.5 selfies,’ wherever my friends and I are,” he said. “The trend has taken a life of its own.”