Mumsnet Talk

Ok, when I look in the mirror I'm reasonably happy, look fine.. When I look at most photos of me (apart from ones where I'm grinning like an idiot) my face looks a bit saggy ! What the hell..

I'm 39. Has anyone else noticed this? Or is it just me..

So who's right, the mirror or the photo?

I'd say the mirror, some people are not photogenic at all

I would stop right there and release yourself from unecessary worry. We are always much harder on ourselves than everyone else. Given that the majority of photos are taken in really bad light, I wouldn't be too cut up about it. I have even noticed how much better everyone looks in photos now that I have just bought an expensive camera. Celebrities look better than anyone else in photos as they have the best cosmetic surgery (for example, compare a photo of Madonna at around 34 years old and how she is now, she looked more lined in her mid thirties, Jlo also disappeared for a career break and came back looking younger and fitter than ever - no, I'm not saying its all surgery but there is a lot of help going on). They also have extremely good lighting, a team of people to photoshop their armpits and inner thighs and undereye circles and everything else (and I should know, I Photoshop as part of my job), the best makeup artists and stylists and a wardrobe full of the best designer clothes to choose from. I would trust the mirror and feel good!

The mirror.

At least I hope it's the mirror. I take an appalling photo, really bad. Apparently it's something to do with the symmetry of the face

But the thing is, when you see a photo, it is a true copy of you. When you look in the mirror it is only a true reflection of you. If your face is not symetrical (ie most people) then you will think you look weird in photos. Look at a friend in the mirror, or get them to look at you, you will look weird to each other!

I simply cannot believe that I would have got even half of the sex I've had if the photo is a true reflection.

Plus most good friends concur that I don't take a good pic

Lol @ greeneyes

So mostly we think the mirror is more accurate? Phew, thank goodness for that!

Hopefully neither and I'm really Helena Christianson.

I think photos are worse than the mirror, but neither are great.

Also a photo is frozen, you never look like that in reality unless of course you stand stock still for hours on end! Your appearance is much more than your physical face. It's the expressions you make, how you hold yourself, how you move, that's what other people see after all.

The mirror. I usually look fine in the mirror but never on camera without 50 shots to choose from. I don't have a symmetrical face at all so I just end up looking odd.

I hope to god the mirror. I like to think there are some of us that just don't are a good photo (myself included, but none of my friends. Grrrr)

I'd say mirror, as I know loads of people who look better in real life than in photos. However, my DH looks really weird in the mirror. His face looks all lopsided

Great thread. Oh God please let it be the mirror- I detest myself in photos, to the extent that seeing holiday pics really takes the shine off for me, and I hate the fact that every single occasion of even the most minor importance now has to be photographed, facebooked and consigned to history. I hate pictures so much that I actually dread the idea of having to be photographed for my wedding and keeping an album of the damn things. Yet I think I look alright in the mirror and I am sure nobody have ever fancied me if I looked like my photo- and I've had my fair share

The only thing that concerns me is that photos of all my friends seem to me to be exactly how they look in real life....

No one except you cares one small tiny bit about whether your face is saggy or not. Your saggy face will one day be eaten by bacteria and other small creatures. You have a face that works. Enjoy it and stop bloody worrying.

I wonder about this. Like the whole mirror is not a true representation etc
Does a mirror, mirror your face IYSWIM,
Also, why do some people who don't look that great, look great in photos, and the opposite?
There must be some scientific reason why this happens, like if your face is not symmetrical then what characteristics left to right look better in a mirror or a photo ?

Arf at Cailin. You do have a point. But not if she gets cremated.

i have a better left side than right so i turn my chin down and to the right in photos. i still look minging but not as minging.

If it's the camera, I'm doomed. I don't even look human.

I hope it's the mirror too. I thought I was the only one who had pondered this

The camera is how you look to other people. I am in a situation where I am now filmed a lot and have to watch myself back larger than life size (considerably), it has taken me a while to make peace with how I actually look rather than my mirror image.

Of course film is more true, you can have a really bad picture taken which is then frozen so not so realistic.

Now I am used to seeing myself on screen I am far more realistic about what I look like and accept myself quite happily in photos. I think generally we are quite deluded about our image as we only look in mirrors.

GK I think I would have preferred to stay deluded

Which ever's right, i'm screwed.

(At least with a photo - there's Photoshop!)

I find photos of me awful unless I am wearing foundation (I rarely do, unless I know I am going to have a camera pointed at me). I think it is related to the way the light reflects off the skin. Or something.

i have an incredibly photogenic friend who 99% of the time looks better in photos than real life. except her wedding photos for some reason. Me, i generally look terrible in pictures, unless its professional. i just hope the mirror is better. I've avoided both as much as possible this week!