To wonder why I always look awful in photographs?

[WillGymForPizza]

Just that really.

When I look in the mirror I don't think I look all that bad, but if someone takes a photo of me I can guarantee I will look at hot mess. In fact I don't think there is a single photo of me in existence where I look ok. I have an awful smile, but then if I don't smile and try to go all Victoria Beckham I look miserable and my jaw and cheeks look strange.

Candid photos are even worse. I nearly always seem to be pulling odd strange facial expressions, standing weirdly and my eyes always look small and piggy.

I know it's a first world problem really. But can anyone offer advice on how to look a bit more human in photos?

My friend asked how i always look good in photos. I said i practice! And delete ones that arent good!

At the uni ball one of the lads brought his gf, from a different uni, who was very plain. When we got the photoa back she looked gorgeous! So much so we were open mouthed discussing in amazement how gorgeous she looked on the photo.

Ive said before...I look like an early American dirt farmer in every photo.
Square face, jutting chin, squinting eyes (conceivably looking over the horizon for hope)...

One of my eyes seems to migrate down my cheek in photos. And half closes.

I sprout a dozen chins and my forehead expands to the size of a football pitch while my hair (which is quite fine) just disappears completely.

The only photos i like myself in are, weirdly, ones where i'm wearing a hat. When i've got a hat on the face i see in the mirror is the face you see in the photo

My late mother was absolutely beautiful her whole life. Even in her eighties. She looked like a famous film actress (won't name for fear of outing) from the fifties. She took maybe five or six decent photos in her life. She photographed terribly.
I look like my dad.

My face seems to morph into some chubby Kryten from Red Dwarf, weird angles and squish!

I have the same problem.

In photos, I look like a huge demented rectangle. This has been the case at a size 8 and size 14.

I actually do think I'm reasonably pretty, and have had my fair share of compliments, and my body confidence has always been better than most. So it's not a self esteem thing. I just genuinely look appalling in photos.

‘Moose’ is a good description - ‘Moosification’ is what happens to me when photographed. I’ve even spent time in front of the mirror trying to replicate the look I have in photos but to no avail.
It’s kind of good to know it’s not just me though

I'm an old gimmer. My advice is to put the photos away for 10 years. You'll look at them and think, goodness I was fine, what on earth was my problem.

^This

I always thought I looked overweight and unattractive in photos in my 20s, now in my 40s I look at them and can't understand what on earth I was seeing/thinking . I also look at more recent photos from 5/10 years ago and wish I was still as 'slim' [a size 14 then and a 16 now], fresh faced and relatively wrinkle free.

I look awful in photos, but take comfort that I must be a pleasant surprise in real life!

I saw photos of the girl DH liked before he met me and was a bit intimidated. Then I met her and discovered she had no chin whatsoever, and subsequently realised that she used exactly the same pose in every photo.

I’m the same, I tell myself that the camera can’t do me justice because I have a quality in the flesh that the camera cannot capture. 😁

I look dreadful in photos. Like Baloo the bear. A fact cruelly brought home to me the first time I was tagged on somebody's Facebook post. My OH, on the other hand, always looks gorgeous no matter what she is doing or what she is wearing. I thought it was just me being biased but my sisters have ruefully made the same observation,

I feel your pain OP. We got our wedding photos the other day and I feel like facially/expression wise I look horrible in all of them . On the day I felt lovely looking in the mirror! Gah.

There’s an app called Flipper which lets you take photos but flipped so it’s how you look in the mirror. So you can see side by side what you think you look like and what others see.

I utterly detest full-body photos as I look much fatter than I want to be, and it makes me feel sad and hopeless. The only photos of me I like are ones with DS when he was tiny because I look radiantly happy and therefore attractive. Unfortunately, you can’t fake that inner glow.

I have solved the mystery, in my case anyway.

Ah look lads. The camera doesn't lie. And I say that as someone who looks fairly plug fugly in photos.

I have met many people who think they photograph badly, but there is always a degree of self delusion at work.

"The camera doesn't lie"

It does! Like I mentioned above, I know someone who looks LOADS better in photos than in real life.
The other way around, yes, it could just be that when we look in the mirror we're not looking properly and don't see 'the whole picture'.

I think I look puffy faced in photos. I think sometimes what I'm thinking and feeling shows a complicated expression which comes out looking a bit weird! Simple expressions and big beaming smiles are best perhaps.

I've noticed that Kate Moss looks good in every single photo ever taken of her, including by the paparazzi on a bad day, so perhaps there is something in it - your face either loves the camera or doesn't.

The camera does lie! My daughter is a a very pretty little girl but she photographs badly, the only good ones are ones taken when she's not looking.

I know someone who looks great in photos but is very average looking in real life. For some the mirror image thing works for them, and for some, it works against them. My husband's face in the mirror looks wonky and lopsided, in reality it's not.

www.quora.com/Does-the-brain-make-us-perceive-ourselves-as-more-or-less-beautiful-than-others-see-them

Oh hello this is so reassuring that it’s not just me! I get complimented on my smile in person but if I smile in a photo I look like hysterical and/or deranged. If I don’t smile I look murderous. DH on the other hand always looks beautiful in pics. My theory is that partly it’s coz I’m quite lopsided and partly that I look better in motion - so overall the effect is fine IRL but each individual moment looks a bit odd

I look odd in photos. Part of it is that I have a lazy eye. Not really bad enough to be noticeable generally, but in the split second a camera takes a picture one of my eyes is looking the right way and the other hasn't caught up.
I also get chipmunk cheeks which look way worse when a flash is used.

I hate having my pic taken usually, with a phone or the selfies vibe I usually look not me.....however take a pic of me on an SLR and I look like what I do in the mirror...its weird!!

I think I have a v uneven face (v non-symetrical), even in the mirror- from one angle I look like my brother (takes after Mum's side) but from the other angle I look like my dad. I'm a woman
I look even worse in photos, so I never let anyone take any!
I do have one decent photo of myself... but it looks nothing like me
Even my children have asked who the woman with daddy is...

I'm rubbish in photos. Frequently eyes half shut, mouth open (normally cos I'm saying Don't take my photo!)
In posed pics, I have a slight outward squint but no one can see it in real life

I'm saying it again - the camera doesn't lie. Human perception lies, or is partial, but an unfiltered camera just records what is there.

Believe me, I don't enjoy looking at pictures of myself, but I find the best way to reduce the feeling of horror is not to avoid cameras, but to be in and see enough images of myself to make peace with the reality, rather than avoiding as many pictures as possible and then insisting that the few I can't avoid are unflattering.