Not photogenic

[Bubblylikechampers]

Not AIBU but it really does piss me off!!

I'd consider myself fairly attractive. Not pretty, but definitely 'ok' looking.

I could take a thousand pics and I look absolutely awful. Yet most people no matter what are so photogenic.

Why is this? My holiday pics at the moment are depressing as hell.

Any one else find this??

I was ok in photos when I was younger but as I’ve got older I just look terrible.
In real life I’m still attractive but I do the chandler bing thing in photos where my face spasms into some hag like grimace and it’s painful to behold. But I’d rather it was that way around than photogenic and not so attractive in person.

I saw this on my FB yesterday.

For posed photos there are a couple of tricks you can use to improve how they come out. When I was getting married i was dreading the photos cos I'm not photogenic at all but these really helped and I loved my pics. When you smile, press your tongue behind your teeth, it helps you hold the smile and have it look genuine. Tilt your face slightly upwards towards the light. That helps you avoid dodgy shadows and accidental double chin. Don't put your head back so far that people can see up your nose! There's a reason in "after" photos that people put one hand on a hip and bend one knee slightly - you end up with a pin-up silhouette as a result. It works double if you suck in your tummy and hips your breath in your chest :)

Me too! I don't know what it is, lighting and shadows must play a big part in it. So frustrating. Spend ages getting ready for a night out, think I look half-decent for once so take a selfie to celebrate the occasion... Looks shit, so try again, repeat x40... Then feel crap for being so ugly!

It seems I'm definitely not alone!

My partner is five years younger than me and I'm always a little conscious of that (he doesn't have an issue with that and is always complimentary to me - it's my own personal issue). I feel we look very a similar age and look well matched, yet in photos together I think wtf is he doing with me, I could pass as his mother!

I don't loose sleep over this of course, and the thread is reasonably light hearted. But it really does piss me off that I don't feel compelled to share my holiday snaps with family and friends 😂

Thanks Teachtolive- I've been practising the tongue behind teeth and I can't see it making me look any less awkward 😂 but perhaps I'm doing it wrong 😬

I am exactly the same. So so unphotogenic and so was my mum

Same. I'm not a stunner but I'm normal looking. I look awful in photos. My children are really photogenic though - they thankfully inherited that from DH

OP, I could out-unphotogenic you any day!

In the flesh, I am a normal-looking person. Not beautiful; not ugly. However, in photographs I turn into a gargoyle. And not even a very attractive one, at that.

Sigh.

Room for one more on the un-photogenic bench? I’ve come to the conclusion that I have a marmite face - I’m either seen as attractive in an unconventional way or awkward looking (I have quite angular features like Angelica Huston but defo not her league!). I look better when I don’t smile but I’d rather look like shite on photos than all duck faced and forced - I’d cringe even more looking at the photos afterwards if I was the only one not smiling and looking like a total twat!

My DC, thankfully, are as photogenic as a pile of kittens wearing bows holds breath til they hit puberty when most likely their genes from me kick in

Yep, same! I'm fairly confident I actually look quite nice in real life but hideous on photos!!

I'm the same! I look awful in photos, but completely fine ('fine' in the sense that I look like the person I see in the mirror) in video clips.

I know not to even look at photos friends and family take of me anymore.

I have pale skin, blonde hair and light eyebrows, which I don't think helps. There's just not a lot of definition to be picked up in a photo.

The mirror image thing is really true!

Ok, I'm going to post a pic of me. Very outing but I'm intrigued to know if I'm harsher on myself then I should be or if I'm right 😂

I definitely agree it is how you pose, I was involved in dancing and theatre as a child so used to smiling and posing for photos, it definitely helps.

I have 2 DCs, the eldest is very good looking but cannot pose for photos, the only good pics are the non posed ones of him. My youngest DS is not as good looking (of course still gorgeous I think) but always looks great in photos as he's so natural.

DH looks like the 'engagement photos' Chandler from Friends when he smiles for photos, it is awful

Also I have quite a 'soft' face - quite undefined jawline, fleshy nose, no cheekbones - which looks a bit doughy in photos.

Me, too, thisisannc.

No make up, none of my usual filters I use on apps to 'beautify' myself! 😂

Not asking to rate my attractiveness but simply want to know how old I look?

In the mirror and video clips I look way different.

My family always say I look dog rough in photos but I’m ‘not that bad’ in real life
I really do look terrible in photos!

i've decided my face looks much more attractive when it's animated, having a conversation or whatever, than static, eg smiling for a photo

Same here. Although I do have some flattering photos whee I think "Ooh hello there!", the majority aren't, so much so that I prefer not to have my picture taken. I often get told I'm prettier in the flesh than in photos so I do wonder if it's something to do with the animation (and personality) Vs static.

I am insanely un-photogenic. Well, I like to think I'm un-photogenic and not actually just hideous. My mum is as well, my sisters both always look like models though the bastards.

Oh god, never ask that question on here. I was on a thread like that once, I was 36 and one poster said I looked 52!! FFS, I definitely don't look young for my age but I don't look over 40 I don't think. I was gutted!!

I’ve got two fairly equally attractive friends (I mean I have more than two friends and plenty of them are attractive, lol, but in this context)

One looks terrible in photos, I mean I take a photo and I’m looking at it and looking at her and going, eh? But that’s not what you look like!!!!

One looks proper stunning in photos, like way more attractive than she actually is in person.

I assume there’s an actual reason, like bone structure or something - but I don’t know what it is, next to each other in real life I’d not be able to pick one out as more attractive, in photos there’s totally a big difference.

And that definitely isn’t because I’m used to seeing them in a mirror...

I'm plain-looking in person - overweight with no chin. Photos generally make me look completely hideous, much worse than how I look in the mirror.

The exception was when I had one taken by a friend who knew a bit about lighting for photos - didn't magically make me look amazing, but I looked like myself and not a troll.

Zany- 😂 I'm probably going to hit the wine after to drown my sorrows. But, let's face it, a bunch of strangers will be far more honest with me than my family and friends 😀