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?

"more than one person has come close to having their camera on the floor when they've tried to take a picture, despite my protestations, it's a form of abuse for me."

I think you should have therapy rather than threaten to destroy other people's cameras.

@swashbuckles can you share the tips you picked up please?

I'm not sure whether I'm not photogenic or just plain ugly.

As Ani DiFranco once sang: "It took me too long to realise that I don't take good pictures cos I have the kind of beauty that moves"

It's two factors: the first is that you're not used to seeing yourself as everyone else does. When you look in the mirror, you're seeing an inverted picture.

The much more complex factor is to do with focal length. Just about every photo you see will be taken with a very short focal length (especially if people are using phones or compact cameras). Essentially, the differenfce relative distance between the closest parts of your face (to the lens) and those further away is much larger when taken with these wide angle lenses. This distorts your face, making your nose, chin and cheeks more prominent.

Professional photographers will take portraits from a greater distance with longer focal lengths, producing less distortion, as the attached picture shows.

Sorry, the image was resized, the photos in the picture are taken with increasingly short lenses. The top left is a 350mm, which is essentially a telephoto lens, you'd need to be on the other side of a large hall to take that sort of portrait. The bottom left picture is a 70mm, which is about the lower range of what would be considered a portrait lens and the bottom right photos are taken with a 24 and 19mm lens, which is closer to the focal length of an average smartphone.

I look god awful in photos. I can probably count on one hand the number of photos I’ve liked of me over the years. Weirdly I think I’m pretty reasonable looking in real life but I am so horrifically unphotogenic - even when I was a size 8 I seemed to look about twice the size in all photos and my face just goes all weirdly lopsided. Ugh, it’s so depressing! I’ve learnt to camera dodge now ...

I’m not a photographer or a model but I do work in that industry during photoshoots. It’s all to do with the angle/height of the camera in relation to you - knowing your best angles and being to project them correctly for the camera. It is actually quite hard to do when you can’t see what the camera is showing (obviously very unlike a mirror).

I have seen the most drop dead gorgeous girls fail miserably at modelling because they couldn’t work the camera right. And I’ve seen average girls absolutely nail it.

It’s why people look so much better in selfies, they can automatically angle themselves and the camera better. But practise will make perfect

me too - I look ancient and miserable - hence holiday pictures with none of me - need help