Why do I look decent in mirrors...but in photos I look wretched???

This has to be the world's greatest mystery. I will look in the mirror and think I look ok.....but when I see a picture of myself I look like something out of a horror movie....

Why do I look better in mirrors than in photos?

Reply 1

Wave

omg!! same here! i noticed that if you stand still in the mirror and stare for a while you stop looking s great and start looking more like a photograph. So may be it has something to do with your body adjusting itself in the mirror till it looks good?

Reply 2

modini

15

Same with me. Sometimes I cringe when I get tagged in pictures on facebook.

Reply 3

Livingstone

12

What you look like in photos is what you actually look like to other people, in mirrors you look slightly different cos everything is reveresed if that makes sense.

Reply 4

james.h

11

Lighting? Are those pictures taken with the flash on?

Subconscious posing is a possibility, I suppose. :dontknow:

Could be something to do with motion: if you glance in a mirror, you're still moving slightly (noticeably?)...that motion will characterise you in some way. Perhaps that's what you're missing in a photo. :holmes:

EDIT: Just found this...maybe of interest? Reading it now.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 5

Greig_R

14

Because a mirror reflection isnt a true image, unlike a photo :smile:

Reply 6

Delta Aitch

13

In mirrors you can adjust your angles and lighting etc. It's not a 'still' shot so you can always find the right position to make you look semi-decent. Photographs have a way of seeing through the bull**** angles and showing the most unflattering version of you. :emo:

Reply 7

L'art pour l'art

14

Ignore the pictures. When you look in the mirror that's what you look like in real-time. :holmes:

Reply 8

uxa595

21

Because lesbians dressed as men are usually not good looking. Just sayin'

Reply 9

KrazyKro

9

Normal mirror is definitely closer to what you look like in real life than a photo but on a grander scale they're both bull****. If you really want to see how you look like than see yourself in a 'true mirror' which, in a nutshell, is a non-reversed mirror. You can make one yourself at home by simply placing two mirrors at right angle to each other. You'll see three reflections in that arrangement, one on the left, one on the right and one in the centre which will be divided by a crease that is formed by putting two mirrors at right angle and THIS is how you really look like. The good news is that you'll probably look better here than a normal mirror and photo (in my case anyway).

Reply 10

X_mark_the_spot

11

Actually, it's the flash. If you have a particularly angular face, the flash will pick up on the shadows/oily zones, and emphasise them. Compare this with photos with no flash, like webcam pictures, and you'll notice that you look closer to how you look in the mirror. And because real life doesn't come with a flash, you don't have to worry. I'm sure you look fine

Reply 11

NightFire411

OP

Original post by uxa595

Because lesbians dressed as men are usually not good looking. Just sayin'

What an immature comment.

Reply 12

2ndClass

3

You're not photogenic. when you see yourself in the mirror, you're not seeing yourself as everyone else sees you -- you're seeing yourself backwards. To some people, seeing themselves *not backwards* after being used to their mirror image is quite jarring, and they don't like it -- which means they don't like pictures of themselves.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 13

username133326

16

Original post by uxa595

Because lesbians dressed as men are usually not good looking. Just sayin'

cooooooold

Reply 14

AbuAK

11

Not sure if this is true, but a teacher of mine said that our subconscious alters what we see in the mirror to please us.

Reply 15

IndianDancer

14

Original post by AbuAK

Not sure if this is true, but a teacher of mine said that our subconscious alters what we see in the mirror to please us.

well why doesn't it alter what we see in pictures to please us?

Reply 16

LipstickKisses

15

Original post by NightFire411

This has to be the world's greatest mystery. I will look in the mirror and think I look ok.....but when I see a picture of myself I look like something out of a horror movie....

Why do I look better in mirrors than in photos?

Because photos compress a 3D image into a 2D one, and are also usually taken when you either know and so pose awkwardly (which shows) or when you are completely unexpecting it and so doing something retarded, which also shows.

I'm a very animated person, so photos of me usually involve a lot of maniacal hand movements and strange faces, making me look like some sort of deranged woman. :tongue:

Reply 17

LipstickKisses

15

Original post by KrazyKro

Normal mirror is definitely closer to what you look like in real life than a photo but on a grander scale they're both bull****. If you really want to see how you look like than see yourself in a 'true mirror' which, in a nutshell, is a non-reversed mirror. You can make one yourself at home by simply placing two mirrors at right angle to each other. You'll see three reflections in that arrangement, one on the left, one on the right and one in the centre which will be divided by a crease that is formed by putting two mirrors at right angle and THIS is how you really look like. The good news is that you'll probably look better here than a normal mirror and photo (in my case anyway).