Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Why do I look shit in photos or on the webcam?

53 replies

aliciaflorrick · 07/05/2013 19:16

I put my makeup on in the morning, I stand under a window so it's done in a natural light, I use good quality products. When I'm finished I stand back and while not a natural beauty I look okay, quite passable, reasonably attractive. So why oh why do I not take a good photograph? On photos my skin looks grey and I look older than my age, my eyelids look heavy and droopy and my nose is huge. I look like shit.

Is it true that the camera never lies, and I have a magic mirror in my bathroom telling me I am the fairest of them all.

I really want to look nice, it's been a hard year and I'm really trying to sort myself out in the grooming department.

OP posts:

Pinkflipflop · 07/05/2013 19:18

This is probably complete nonsense but I heard that if you use a moisturiser with SPF you take on a grey/white pallor in pictures.

hugoagogo · 07/05/2013 19:26

I am just the same, I fear the photo may be the truth

Fisharefriendsnotfood · 07/05/2013 19:27

My lovely dsis always says that that is what I look like and I'm in denial. Bitch

TiggerWearsATriteSmile · 07/05/2013 19:28

The camera never lies. Everyone I know looks just the same in photos as real life. I've come to the conclusion that's just the way it is. That's how you look.

maybemyrtle · 07/05/2013 19:29

Nooo, I'm sure you look great. Some people (myself included) just look crap in photos. I can't remember who said this but I like it: "I have the kind of beauty that moves". We come in 3d and are in constant motion - webcams/photos can never really capture that.

DameFanny · 07/05/2013 19:30

I've been in photos that my mother didn't recognise me - I'm not photo-friendly.

Original poster

aliciaflorrick · 07/05/2013 19:33

Well that's it I'm doomed, stuff the expensive hair cuts and make up, I'm just going to invest in a paper bag.

OP posts:

MeeWhoo · 07/05/2013 19:38

Don't despair! I don't look good on pictures but on videos I look the way I think I look IYSWIM, so I think I am just antiphotogenic!
Webcams are generally not the best quality and normally the lighting is not good enough for the cam and the angles are awkward, so not something I would judge by. Have you been videoed (sp?) recently with a videocamera or a photo camera?

AlwaysSleepingBeauty · 07/05/2013 19:40

I look terrible in photos and on webcams etc, I always try to think that I'm just not photogenic, as my friends tell me I am attractive, however what I see in pictures is hideous.

I always try to remember that some models who look stunning in photographs are more ordinary in real life, and some people are plainer in photographs but lovely in the flesh.

WeAreSix · 07/05/2013 19:44

Isn't it something to do with the light-reflective particles in make up? So the flash / lens picks up colours you wouldn't normally see.

Maybe

mewkins · 07/05/2013 20:14

I look like my mum in photos. I am in denial.

Lizzylou · 07/05/2013 20:16

I always look crap in photos, always.
I am hoping that it is just that I am not photogenic
Love that beauty that moves quote.

LadySlatternlysHoover · 07/05/2013 20:18

I have a magic mirror on my dressing table. It has natural light behind it which is diffused because it is a frosted window. I look good in this mirror and that's the one where I do my make-up and hair.

Every other mirror in the house is not magic though - so I don't look in those.

It's all to do with the lighting I'm afraid.

YoniOno · 07/05/2013 20:30

This is why I hate Skype. MiL always wants to Skype with me and DS by I cannot stand seeing myself with a weird smug smile, double chin and horrible skin

LadySlatternlysHoover · 07/05/2013 20:33

Skype is not flattering at all, is it Yoni?

I put DS in front of the webcam and sit slightly out of shot.

xTillyx · 07/05/2013 20:53

Some people just aren't photogenic- myself included. Are you pale? I am and flash makes me look awful. Had this conversation with my friend last week, he was laughing at how bad I look in every pic and that "it doesn't reflect what's in the flesh"

Original poster

aliciaflorrick · 07/05/2013 21:43

Well now I'm starting to feel a little better. All I need to do is avoid cameras, mirrors and Skype! And stick to my magic mirror on the landing - not too worried about all the other mirrors in the house, they could use a good clean so the muck tends to diffuse the impact I think.

My eyes used to be my redeeming feature, they were lovely, I can't get over how horrible they are now, massive hoody eyelids that make me look like I'm hungover.

I am very pale and I think I have that pallor of someone who spends all day in front of a computer screen (which I do). Maybe time to get some sun on my skin now the weather is getting better. Sun kissed rather than frozen blue.

Maybe start a plastic surgery fund; eyes, nose, botox.

OP posts:

freerangeeggs · 07/05/2013 22:11

I look like a crack zombie in most photos. My DP thinks it's hilarious and actually kept one particular example on his phone for ages to whip out at parties. Luckily everyone seemed to think it was funny that I looked so bad so presumably I do look better in real life!

Also, I have seen myself on video and it's fine. I'm no Megan Fox but closer to the mirror than the photo :) I'm sure it's the same for you.

ggirl · 07/05/2013 22:24

I think some people just look awful in photos.
DD had a boyfriend who was quie attractive in real life but looked shite in photos.
I am the same..in real life I am a goddess in photos a witch

TigerseyeMum · 07/05/2013 22:30

Lol at crack zombie, this is me definitely.

I have a friend who irl is very attractive but in photos looks awful, and unrecognisable.

I am not photogenic at all but irl not very attractive either so it's not such a shock. My wedding photos came out really well, partly due to a good base and foundation and partly because of the magic of a professional photographer. It seems to be all about light reflecting off particles.

tabulahrasa · 07/05/2013 22:30

I've got two friends (I have more than just the two, but they're not relevant to this anecdote, lol) both very pretty in real life, one always looks stunning in photos, even ones taken where she's in the middle if doing something that would make anyone else look awful, the other friend is impossible to get a good picture of without loads of posing and retakes...

I think some people definitely look better or worse in photos than in RL and of course some, like me, look awful in both, lol.

TwllBach · 07/05/2013 22:36

People seem to think I am pretty but in photos I am honestly foul. In photos my eyes are tiny and squinty and my cheeks are massive.

It makes me want to cry, often. I also start to sweat with nerves when a photo opportunity that I can't avoid comes up.

xTillyx · 07/05/2013 22:55

alicia I think you're probably being hard on yourself. Whenever me and my friends take group photos its hard to get one that we all like. I always think my friends look fine bit they hate it,want to delete it.

This sounds so mean but sometimes it really is the camera or camera quality...my 4 year old is the cutest little thing ever but when I look through the photos she's taken of herself on her Kiddizoom camera,she looks like Gollum with a double chin :p

OnTheNingNangNong · 07/05/2013 23:01

I too look like a crack zombie in photos, I'm too pale and I smile like Mr Burns.

xTillyx · 07/05/2013 23:03

Oh and Twllbach I can relate to this, I avoid photos to the point where I couldn't find any of me and my friend of 10 years for her hen do scap book.

Sorry to hear it upsets you

Flip

1 2 3