To ask if you are photogenic?

[PhotoFinder]

I’ve had to wade into the world of selfies as I’m using dating apps and most of my ‘natural’ pics are years old.

I am confident about how I look. I do get chatted up in bars and I think I look okay in person - but I need to take a stupid amount of selfies to get one ‘decent’ one. And most of the photos my ex had taken of me looked stupid too. I struggle getting the right post and it never looks quite right.

I’m almost tempted to post a pic (obv. incredibly outing) but even if I get critique I’m not sure I can do much better! So maybe I’m just not destined to be photogenic.

Are you? Are you better looking, worse, or pretty much the same in photos?

I look a mess in photos, however my husband always looks better. He is pleasant looking but in photos his skin looks tighter, and his expression hides age so we’ll. he gets frustrated that I can’t pull photo face off. He looks 10 years younger in every photo

Photos of me aren't always too dreadful, most I can just about tolerate. I don't go in for selfies though and would never post one on SM.

My son is weirdly unphotogenic. He's had several people ask if he has considered modelling. He's not keen but we did once try to take pics to send to an agency; none looked anything like him so we gave up

@Longdistance

Only at a certain angle. Head on, not so much, but my left side is my best side

Ah I see- for a sec there I thought you meant you look worse with your head on! Was about to say yeah me too🤦🏻‍♀️

So ugly in photos. One friend refused to have a reportage photo of me on her 40th party photo book because I looked so unattractive!

I was quite photogenic when I was younger. Lots of pictures of me looking better than in real life - people sometimes didn't believe it was me.

Now i need a bit of makeup and to straighten my hair and smile in a certain way to look human!

When I look good in real life I think my photos are fine. Though I don't at the moment, so they aren't.

DP has three sisters. One of them looks exceptionally pretty in real life, but quite unremarkable in photos. The other two are the opposite - ordinary in real life, but beautiful in photos. It's as if the camera somehow picks out their best features. They both have warm, engaging smiles when the camera is on them, whereas the other sister tends to look a bit like she wants the photographer to piss off!

I look lobsided in photos. Like a Van Gogh painting.

Not Van Gogh FFS - Picasso!!

I look much better in real life. Most people do, I think, even attractive ones. That's why professional modelling is a thing.

Lighting, angles, lenses :) it's not you being unphotogenic, it's that selfies are notoriously not great!

I'm a photographer, mostly small businessess and boudoir (but rarely at the same time 🤭) and I often have to explain that the reason you can't replicate my flattering shots with your phone is a combination of skill and kit.

Also, selfies are bloody hard work. I've redone my own headshots over lockdown because I live on my own and why not - and even with skills, lighting and incredible kit selfies have a very low hit rate - I like maybe 1 in 40 shots I take, whereas for my clients it's more like 1 in 4 or 5 makes the final cut!

Try a ring light or outdoors on a cloudy day for soft light, and getting someone else to take the shot. If you have to take it yourself, lift your phone higher in front of you than you think, stick your chin out and down a bit, and be prepared to take many before you find one you like.

Or book -me- a friendly local photographer to do it for you! I'm actually considering adding this as a service as I do lots of headshots and dating profile pics seems like a lovely thing to be able to help with!

Strike through fail 😂 that was tongue in cheek about me but I'd love to know if it's a service people would actually use!

Interesting that most people find this. Who are these ‘perfect selfie’ people and how did they do it?

I think they must spend hours posing in a mirror and take literally hundreds of selfies to choose from. Selfies really are so unflattering. Not surprising considering you take them yourself & largely “blind”.

X post @undercoveraessedai

Your post has made me feel better, at least. You absolutely should offer that as a service. You’d get tonnes of business, I’m quite sure:

I look so haggard in photos, surely this can't be the real me?
It bothers me a lot because my eyes look so down turned and I just look like shit.

I also look rough in the mirror in the hairdressers but not in mirrors at home or anywhere else.

I think iPhones take a shocking photo as I do look marginally better in photos taken by other phones.

I'd love to have some hope that I don't really look like Mama Fratelli from the Goonies IRL.

All the wrong angles to be photogenic.

Can’t take a good photo to save my life. On my wedding day I told the photographer I’m not photogenic and he said “yeah... I noticed”.

I don’t know what it is but I barely even have any photos with DS because they never turn out right!

Photos have always been an issue. I have spoilt many a group shot. My face looks disproportionately large, it looks like am missing a tooth when I smile and my eyes are either shut or so puffy they might be.
My friend on the other hand who is attractive in real life looks an absolute stunner in photos. 10 years younger, thinner and always happy and light.

Get someone else to take the photo from much further away!
I am photogenic but not in selfies.

Nope. I was actually scouted as a model twice when I was younger as I was tall and skinny and did some catwalk stuff but photos never matched up to how people perceived me face to face.

Oh blimey no. I see photos of myself most and experience horror

There is an App that I use that means before you take the selfie you pick a make style which is added to the picture before you take it so you can see what you look like with the make up on
It’s made my crap horrible selfies look presentable

I look shit in photos generally.

However, if I make an effort, I can take a selfie that makes me look much more attractive. It's all about the angle and make up.

I suppose if the camera never lies, that probably makes me a mess who scrubs up well.

During lockdown I told my other half to use a certain picture if I passed away 😂 morbid
I even sent it to my best friend & sister with orders to use these photos .😂 if it was left to DH no one would recognise me

With the right lights and angles yes.

I always think I look hideous in photos but I’ve been told I’m photogenic.
The problem is, I’ll look at a photo that somebody says I look good in and think, ‘shit, how bad do I look in real life then?!’