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 feel the same. For some reason I rewatched our ring door bell video of me walking upto our door. Am absolutely horrified not only with how I look but how I walk! Potato stomping up the path!

A miserable potato too 🤣

Absolutely! This is me.

Oddly I have a friend who is average looking in real life but every photo of her is amazing. I don't see her that often as she's in another country now but when I last saw her I was kind of shocked to be reminded that she doesn't actually look like her pics...

I think it is something about cameras. I actually had what I thought, was a nice ID photo for once, when my boss saw it she said it didn't do me justice. So maybe its cameras that are the culprit

@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.

I’ve just tried this, and I look like I’m trying not to vomit.

I'm the same. Sometimes I'm quite happy with how I look in the mirror (maybe my eyebrows are looking especially fine, or something) so I'll take a selfie (to show my sister perhaps) and it looks awful. It's so confusing - I have gorgeous(ish) mirror me right in front of me and ugly troll me on my phone in my hand. They both look real, but they both can't be real can they?!

I've even tried taking a photo of my mirror face but that still looks awful. I suppose this is proof that my brain is distorting my perception of my own face on the mirror and it's the photo that's the true image. Well, that's a depressing realisation 😭.

Lockdown really destroyed my confidence in my looks, seeing myself on screen for zoom and teams meetings. I didn't realise before how old I looked, I found it quite upsetting, as vain as I know that sounds.

I wonder if there have been any scientific studies of this. It seems to be a common problem

@JustDanceAddict

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

Yes. This was why I banned video cameras from my wedding! Out of all the photos that were taken there were going to be a few that looked ok and would allow me to pretend that I looked nice on my wedding day. But not a video!

@Whatwithonethingandanother

Lockdown really destroyed my confidence in my looks, seeing myself on screen for zoom and teams meetings. I didn't realise before how old I looked, I found it quite upsetting, as vain as I know that sounds.

Yes. The only good thing is that when people take photos of me I have quite a round face. That is probably a good thing as you get older as you look a bit younger (despite my eye bags).

Oddly I have a friend who is average looking in real life but every photo of her is amazing

me too she's only 3 weeks younger than me, so age-wise is a great comparator - she looks much better in photos than I do.

@Whatwithonethingandanother

Lockdown really destroyed my confidence in my looks, seeing myself on screen for zoom and teams meetings. I didn't realise before how old I looked, I found it quite upsetting, as vain as I know that sounds.

I feel the same. I always avoided Skype and things like that, and then when COVID came along, no choice.

It doesn’t help that my boss is absolutely stunning and looks like a model on every call, every single morning. Everyone else looks exactly like themselves so logic tells me I must in fact have a jowly pale potato in place of a head

Definitely possible to improve with practice. I know my angles and rarely take a bad photo when I know it is going to happen. If someone takes one of me unawares I usually look awful! Get a nice friend to take loads of photos of you from different angles with different smiles. When you find one you like, stick with it!

I have come to the conclusion that I look better in motion 😁

I think a lot of it has to do with your bathroom mirror/lighting. If you have good bathroom lighting, then you’ll look good on a day to day basis (in your mind anyway). But a selfie will be in different, often harsher lighting. So will not reflect the image you have from your perfectly lighted bathroom. True for me anyway..

Taking pics close up distorts your face
blog.photofeeler.com/selfie-distortion/

I’m so glad I am not the only one.

Seriously, I don’t mean to brag but I do get told I am attractive in real life! I’m under 40, get asked for ID still sometimes for alcohol, even get told I am ‘hot’ by some people!

Then, on my pics I look like Quasimodo!

I would try some of these tips but to be perfectly honest, I don’t think they will work and I will just be depressed. I think other people must be talking absolute shite when they compliment my appearance. This has to be the only explanation

@Potatopotate

I have come to the conclusion that I look better in motion 😁

Me too. Especially when I'm running away from a camera.

Right so I’ve just taken some selfies and flipped them around so they’re a mirror image (i.e. what I see in the mirror) and they look much better.

So that’s what it is, the way me face ACTUALLY looks to other people is repulsive and I only look good in the mirror

@RussiasGreatestLoveMachine you don’t need to do them all at once you might do yourself an injury.

Downturned mouth? Lift the corners of your mouth in photos
Undershot chin? Push your jaw forward
Double chin? Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth
Prone to blank stares or deer in the headlights look? Look over the photographer’s shoulder. Widening your eyes also helps but practise first or 😳
Plump face but with cheekbones? Turn your face to the side to get the curve of cheekbone then turn eyes to the photographer.
Photos from above also hide double chins and slim the face.

Photos from underneath are never ever good unless you are young beautiful or have fantastic bone structure

I always take horrible photos, my face does this weird expression thing whenever a camera is pointed at me, a cross between pain and constipation. When we had photos for our work ID card the technician taking the photos kept insisting on doing retakes, I told them not to bother as it was unlikely to get better but they insisted but after 3 attempts gave up!

I'm the least photogenic person ever !
I hate having my pic done, my wedding pictures are dire and I avoid having it taken as much as poss.
Any camera hates me.

@Eightiesfan

I always take horrible photos, my face does this weird expression thing whenever a camera is pointed at me, a cross between pain and constipation. When we had photos for our work ID card the technician taking the photos kept insisting on doing retakes, I told them not to bother as it was unlikely to get better but they insisted but after 3 attempts gave up!

This is so funny but also me. It's like as soon as a camera appears my face just doesn't know how to act and I can literally feel it contouring.

Was my daughters birthday recently and people were taking photos I could just tell my face was doing that thing.

I too have an asymmetric face - one eyebrow higher than the other and I swear in photos it looks like that whole side of my face is higher literally like the other side is dropping and I've had a stroke. It's just so weird. Ive even considered getting a brow lift to try and sort this problem.

Doesn't help that my eyebrows are two different shapes either but that's another story.

But again - I look in the mirror and think I look great!

I have decided I have reverse body dysmorphia too.😂
And yes low lighting and poor eyesight are exacerbating it.

Get a selfie stick and hold it at arms length so the phone is at least 2 arms length from your face. Spin around to get the best lighting. Take the photo then crop it so it's just your head and shoulders in the image. It makes the world of difference! Bit embarrassing to do it public though

I'm average looking for a 60-something and have never been photogenic, going as far back as school photos! I always look awkward.

My best friend is also average looking and a few years older - she effortlessly dazzles in photos, she really does. She has a nice smile (normal teeth) and her face just lights up.

Not fair!