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 know exactly what you mean! Here are my tips -

Look right at the lens

Tilt your head and neck forward.

OP, if that is how you look in a typical photo then you have nothing to worry about. I hope you can start to believe it yourself!

You look lovely!

I agree it looks like your squinting and look a bit unsure with the half smile which I totally get - big smile makes me look like I’m gurning and closed mouth smile makes me look like I’m hiding something at best but usually like I’m smirking sarcastically.

I’m the same. Troll like in a photo and normal in real life.

Ditto, Poodles

I could cry when I see myself in photos. My only comfort is that I couldn't possibly look THAT bad, or dogs would attack me in the street . . .

Bubbly

You COW!

You lied . . .

So try this - set up to take selfie with phone but keep shutter button held to record rapid multiple exposures. That’s the techie stuff.

Whilst camera running, speak to camera as though your friend, tell a joke or two, pull faces, scrunch up face & release, laugh, smile, say tongue twister/silly saying, & turn full face, quarter turns this way & that. Not all poses needed all in the same set of images, but a range of shots from angles whilst you are animated. Keep finger on the button to keep those shots rolling.

Do this on your own, so no need to be embarrassed. Have lots of fun doing this, it’s all yours.

Then away for stiff cup of tea/gin.

Return to images on your phone, but edit/flip to see them as others see you. Pick your favourite & apply to social media as required.

Repeat & rinse.

My mum is as well, my sisters both always look like models though the bastards.

I've never met them but I hate them.

Have read somewhere that slightly squinting your eyes closed & looking into camera, rather than big & Bambi-in-the-headlights, makes subject look more intense & interesting.

Possibly, a reason why animated shots seem more representative?
Not so startled looking, maybe.

I look awful in pics compared to real life and guys always commented on it when I was internet dating (not telling I looked awful but saying how pleasantly surprised they were with the real life me!), and I was using really good pics of myself. I have since been told it is because I have a really animated and expressive face. It looks great in real life but weird in pictures. So now I don't mind...I figure it's a good thing not to look dead pan/emotionless in real life, and if that makes me look like a rabid dog in pics then so be it

Ok- thanks for all the kind and honest comments. However, I think I stupidly posted my 'best' of the worst photos. Here's another of me and definitely not a goodun 😂😂

I'm so unphotogenic that people quite often refuse to believe it's me in a picture. Which is a massive relief as it suggests I don't look grotesque in real life.

I'm 36 btw

And I deffo think I look better in real life although far from pretty

Let's hope DH doesn't leave me as I could never internet date

same here, even dh has said that photos never pick up a flattering angle on me.

i have quite "soft" features too, no defined jaw line, no cheek bones unless i'm talking/moving my face,chin blends into jaw, a very big distance between thin top lip to nose and large round wide set eyes which make me quite alien like in pictures.

in videos or in reality, i'd say i was no stunner but i can look nice.

i think i just get so embarrassed in pics and feel very posed/contrived.

You look fab! My tips for improving photos though if they’re not capturing your real life look. Take from a bit more of a distance and tilted from above down on you, tilt your head slightly down, widen your eyes and ‘smize’, have confidence in yourself so it shows in your smile! Make sure the lightenings right. Make sure the lights behind the camera and natural light from a window is best. If it’s a selfie, off centre yourself slightly

Ah! second pic the ole turkey neck! just a bad position for a photo!

For standy up photos someone else is taking, place right foot slightly in front of left to lengthen body (don’t go full Angelina jolie though). Hand on waist to make waist look smaller. And again get the person taking it to take slightly from above

I think photogenic people know how to pose which you’re not really doing in your photos op, that’s all.

I look awful in photos and would need to take at least a hundred to find one passable for online dating. Sometimes I take a selfie to see how bad I look. Then I delete it as I can’t bear to look at my lazy eye, drippy smile and wonky nose.

Fortunately I think most of us look better in real life than in photos.

Looking at two photos of my adult daughter taken within a couple of weeks of each other, in one she looks stunning - in the other she looks fugly! such a difference pose, expression, light and angle make!

I look weird in most photos now

I look like my brother in all my photos. No chance of online dating when my pictures make me look like a man in drag.

That's a bad angle, no-one would look great from that angle.

I look horrendous in photographs, I can't bear looking at myself. But I remember thinking that years ago and yet when I look at old photographs of myself some of them are lovely.

I think we all just judge ourselves harshly because we're not used to really seeing ourselves.

Me too. In real life I think I am probably on the pretty side of average but there are very few photos of me where I look nice. It’s a family joke Oddly I look very like my sister and one of my daughters who both photo very well.

I'm the same OP.

I think I'm attractive, but I am not pretty - I am strong-featured, so even slightly bad angles can be pretty unforgiving.

I also know some people who look okay in real life but always look great in photographs.