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

[Tryagainplease]

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??

I think we bring our best face to the mirror and then get a horrible shock when we see the harsh reality. However that reality is what other people are seeing every day, and they clearly are not horrified by it, so my aim is to come to terms with what I actually look like rather than living in delusion.

@Mirrormirrorontheball

There’s a trick to it. Push your bottom jaw a little forward, lift the corners of your mouth, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth to hide a double chin, don’t stare at the camera, look over the photographer’s shoulder. Try to get the angles of your cheekbones by presenting side on if possible to look thinner. I sometimes grab my inner cheeks between the molars to lose a little cheek fat. Still look terrible though. Just not wuite as terrible as before.

Seriously

I always thought I looked worse in photos than in the mirror. It took me quite some time to realise that it was because I usually look in the mirror before I put my glasses on. When I put contact lenses in, I realised my reflection is nowhere near as good as I thought!

However, I have noticed that I look better in videos than in photos, so I think a still image is sometimes just not that flattering.

@ScreamingMeMe I wonder if we have similar faces. Mine is quite round but I've actually got good cheekbones, but I'm pale and those and my quite large expressive eyes just seem to disappear in photos. I know they exist cos like you, people compliment them, but in photos I become a human sized weak chin.

I look much better in real life than I do in photos. I'm not amazingly attractive anyway, but I'm definitely the least photogenic person I know!

@IncompleteSenten

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.

I don't think that's exactly it.

Because I can take a picture of DH or my best friend and they look fine in front of me but super awkward/unphotogenic when I immediately look at the picture. And I'm seeing them the same.

Don't think it's just cameraphones, this has happened to me all my life, from school photos, photo booth pics, seaside or holiday snaps: I always look drunk! Honest I'm not!
One kind person said 'oh you are one of those people who look fine in real life just don't take a good photo'
Really wish I had got it on tape!

This is me too - I'm generally considered to be fairly good looking (think "handsome" rather than beautiful) but in pictures I'm absolutely honking. I have a very beautiful friend who also looks awful on photos - eyes half shut, light reflecting on a tooth so it looks like she's snarling, that sort of thing. But in the flesh she's genuinely gorgeous. And I've also known people who are plain in real life but look absolutely radiant in photos. I think it's a quality you either have or haven't got.

Same! And the worst part is when you think you look nice then you go onto a bloody Teams meeting and you're like eugh really?!

I look horrendous in photos. I have very few that I like!

[quote Pedalpushers]@ScreamingMeMe I wonder if we have similar faces. Mine is quite round but I've actually got good cheekbones, but I'm pale and those and my quite large expressive eyes just seem to disappear in photos. I know they exist cos like you, people compliment them, but in photos I become a human sized weak chin.[/quote]
We do sound really similar

I used to hate photos of me because I was very awkward and felt about a camera as I might a loaded gun.

Now I like photos of myself because I put on a smile that looks good. I automatically do that for a camera and I like the sight of myself.

@Tryagainplease

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??

This is literally me. It’s a standing joke in our family. Bit sad though as it puts me off having my picture snapped with the kids and I would like to have photos to look back on which recognise the fact I was actually around!

Could have written this post myself ! Got myself made up and hair done this morning and checked in mirror and looked nice. Went to an illusion place with my dd9 where you get to take photos and my face looked terrible all puffy and tired. Hair looked very grey in places but dark in mirror at home! I guess photographs show everything. Think someone has posted something similar here before.

Me too. I have never been photogenic. I ruin all pictures. Yet I don't look that bad in real life. It actually does both me a lot!

I’m another who thinks they scrub up nice until I see a photograph of myself. I look positively bovine.

I think I like a handful of photos that were taken of me. Even at five years old I had the same expression in a school photo. I’m fucking doomed if I ever get married

Unphotogenic person here 👋🏼

My husband actually laughs about how bad I look in photos compared with real life

Sometimes I look ok in photos, sometimes I don't. I can't work it out!

Are you soft featured, OP? I’ve had this all my life - and my theory is that angular features photograph better than soft ones. The older I get, the better I look in photos; I think it must be the “hollowing” that comes with age!

I look terrible in real life and in photos. If I smile I look like a gurning piece of shit, so I never smile in photos, and tend to put my hand up to my face when I smile or laugh in real life. It's crap. I go through times when I don't think about what I look like at all, but it often makes me very depressed.

My husband took a pic of me and my napping toddler. My face has a flawless layer of foundation but oh...my.... god. My neck. Crepe central and I'm 30 effing 5. Kill me now!

I have big everything - eyes, nose teeth - bit like a horse really..... They're in proportion I guess. I don't mind a photo from a distance but oh god, Teams/Zoom calls are just awful. I honestly get so down when I see myself. I'm looking at all the other people on the call and they look like normal human beings, I just look like a troglodyte ...

Also - if you have a very “mobile” face, that is if you’re very visually expressive, photos will snap you mid move as it were and this makes for some less than flattering pictures. Sarah Ferguson is a good example, she’s often pulling funny faces in pictures, also Cherie Booth: she was laughed at a lot for her photos when living in no10, but is much more normal and attractive in real life.

I think if you have good teeth and full lips that helps!
I have ok teeth but I hate my lips-thin and disappear when I smile.
My hair also looks thin and wispy.
Every time we try to take a nice family photo, I ruin it!! there I am with no lips and scraggy hair!!!

God yeah!! I do have a very expressive face, and my husband is THE best at capturing my face mid move, usually with my eyes closed and mouth open!!!