Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Not to understand why my face looks so awful in pictures??

140 replies

Tryagainplease · 23/01/2022 14:24

Lighthearted!

I don’t think I look too bad when I look in the mirror. In fact, when I make an effort and put a bit of make up on I actually think I have quite a nice face. But I have never ever in my whole life seen a picture of myself where I think I look good.

Seriously, the few times I have attempted to take a selfie have made me quite depressed with me asking myself “ugh, is that really my face? Do I really look that bad to other people”

I don’t lose any sleep or anything over it but… what is the deal??

OP posts:
NutCheeseBag · 23/01/2022 15:20

@LefttoherownDevizes

I had to have headshots taken for a job and had a professional photographer in. We had a stand off, me saying I cannot take a good photo, him saying he could.

I won Sad

I have tried to 'practice' by taking loads of selfies and think it's actually made it worse

This happened to me too. Had a professional photographer in, I said I would break the lens, everyone laughed and assumed I was being modest. Everyone else’s photo went up on the website except mine.
EmpressSuiko · 23/01/2022 15:20

I’m hideous, even in the mirror, I’ve no idea what my husband sees in me.
My face is asymmetrical, my nose is huge, my skin isn’t nice and smooth, my bottom teeth are wonky, my whole face is just disgusting absolutely disgusting.

turnaroundtime · 23/01/2022 15:22

@Wiredforsound

It’s because you’re used to seeing your face in a mirror. That is a reversed image of you. Because faces are rarely symmetrical, a photo, which is a real image (not a reverse) of your face your features aren’t quite where you expect them to be. Think of it terms of holding text up to a mirror (it will be reversed and therefore difficult to read) versus taking a photo (not reversed but as you see it in real life).

You are neither uglier or better looking one way or another, it’s just that you are used to looking at your features in a mirror and it is discordant to your brain when you see your non mirror image in a photo.

but in this case of you reverse the photo you should like what you see but I still look weird in the reversed photo
EmpressSuiko · 23/01/2022 15:26

I will add that different camera lenses will affect how you look in the photo.

Not to understand why my face looks so awful in pictures??
Not to understand why my face looks so awful in pictures??
Nancydrawn · 23/01/2022 15:29

Have you tried mirroring the image and seeing whether you hate that as much?

ScreamingMeMe · 23/01/2022 15:30

@Invasionofthegutsnatchers

Some people I know are so photogenic. They look way better in photos than in real life. I'm the opposite
Same here Sad
ScreamingMeMe · 23/01/2022 15:34

Think of it this way: when you take a photo of a stunning landscape.or a beautiful sunset, does it ever look as good as rhe real thing?

(That doesn't explain why other people just look normal in photos, though...)

CateCroc · 23/01/2022 15:36

No advice but I am exactly the same - I could have written your post OP

ufucoffee · 23/01/2022 15:37

I'm this same but I think I'm deluded about what I actually look like Smile

Frolicinameadow · 23/01/2022 15:41

I’ve had people look at the photo they have just taken of me, look at my face and back at the photo again utterly puzzled.
To be fair I’m not pretty in real life so a camera appears to just highlight it. I actively avoid photos but I have some work scheduled to improve how my face looks. But unless I had a complete restructure I will never be considered pretty.

VioletOcean · 23/01/2022 15:42

I blame the lights
Look fine in bathroom at home
Get to work and by Christ I look like a potato

chesirecat99 · 23/01/2022 15:55

Being photogenic is to do with bone structure, how your 3D face translates into a 2D photograph.

I've told this story on MN before. When I worked in TV, my boss actually used me in a training session to illustrate the phenomenon of how the camera can turn a person who would be considered quite attractive in real life into Gollum. It's less of an issue nowadays as age has made me look like Gollum in real life too, not just on camera Grin

BoPeeple · 23/01/2022 16:02

@hangrylady

I always think this. I'm so very unphotogenic (is that a word)? I think I look decent then see a photo and am horrified. I think I may have some sort of reverse body dismorphia, going round thinking I'm an absolute babe but actually with a face like a bag of spanners.
This is me!

Seriously though, wouldn’t you rather be better in real life than in photos than the other way round?

I also think being attractive is about more than a ‘still’ of your face. Beautiful women have a certain grace about the way they move and talk. You can’t see that in photos.

ScreamingMeMe · 23/01/2022 16:04

I’ve had people look at the photo they have just taken of me, look at my face and back at the photo again utterly puzzled.

Oh yes my friends and family agree with me that I don't look good in photos. It's not just me.

fussychica · 23/01/2022 16:08

I'm not photogenic but my wedding pics were brilliant so the photographer must have been a genius or perhaps my happiness just radiated from me! This was 1979 so no trickeryGrin.
Now I find wearing sunglasses and looking slightly upwards while smiling when having my photo taken helps hide eye bags and minimises jowls which is essential at 65!

IMONTHETOILET · 23/01/2022 16:12

@hangrylady

I always think this. I'm so very unphotogenic (is that a word)? I think I look decent then see a photo and am horrified. I think I may have some sort of reverse body dismorphia, going round thinking I'm an absolute babe but actually with a face like a bag of spanners.
I don't think I have read anything that so accurately describes how I feel about myself 🤣
IncompleteSenten · 23/01/2022 16:18

Pictures don't lie. What you see in a photo is how you actually look.

I bet you look absolutely fine!

The reason you think you look awful is you think you look like your mirror reflection. But you don't. You see yourself flipped round and our faces aren't perfectly symmetrical so how you really look and how you look in the mirror aren't the same and that difference feels weird and doesn't look right.

I once took a picture of my face and used photo editing software to cut my face in half and reverse each half and put it with the unreversed half to make two separate faces.

Oh.
My.
God.

Two very different people!

Oddly, one was reasonably not ugly and the other looked like a gargoyle that had been beaten half to death.

Faces are weird.

Ohyesiam · 23/01/2022 16:23

My mum used to say that photos “ never did me justice” meaning while I’m pretty, I’m not photogenic.
I’m just glad I’m not young now with everything being about photos.

JustDanceAddict · 23/01/2022 16:23

I don’t mind photos too much but Zoom - omg!

villainousbroodmare · 23/01/2022 16:24

I work with a lady who has a very pleasant face in real life, really looks nice. I have seen photos of her and taken photos of her (as well as other staff) for our website and they are all appalling. I have no idea why.
I always take about a dozen to use the best one, and tell her it's much better to look lovely in real life than fake lovely in a photo.

MilduraS · 23/01/2022 16:31

I have the same problem. My face looks very wonky in photos. I also look terrible on my webcam. There's a mirror behind my screen and I look nice in that but then I jump on teams and it's like I'm not wearing a scrap of makeup.

ScreamingMeMe · 23/01/2022 16:36

Pictures don't lie. What you see in a photo is how you actually look.

Maybe for you.

It's not about looking "wonky" or asymmetrical for me. My face just looks like abog, white egg, whilst in real life I have some bone structure. I also have big eyes (my best feature and something I receive compliments on) - they don't stand out at all in photos. It's so weird.

Fluffycloudland77 · 23/01/2022 16:39

@Frolicinameadow

I’ve had people look at the photo they have just taken of me, look at my face and back at the photo again utterly puzzled. To be fair I’m not pretty in real life so a camera appears to just highlight it. I actively avoid photos but I have some work scheduled to improve how my face looks. But unless I had a complete restructure I will never be considered pretty.
Me too! I’ve always been considered attractive but somehow it doesn’t translate into photos.

Dh has deleted so many photos over the years.

Leah2005 · 23/01/2022 16:42

I photograph badly too but satisfy myself that as I am quite animated, I don't translate in a still shot.

iBrows · 23/01/2022 16:42

It’s mainly lighting and the way shadows fall on your face. Take a selfie by the window or outside where fewer shadows will be cast and you will look loads better.

Symmetry doesn’t always equal beauty. If the features on one side of a face are “ugly” having them mirrored perfectly on the other side won’t help so don’t worry about that.

You probably look way better than you think - so many people use filters on their photos now that we feel bad when we can’t replicate that unnatural “flawless” look.