How much do you trust the mirror vs a photo of yourself?

[Fuzzballs]

I know this sounds a bit silly but it's making me lose all confidence in how I look.
I look at myself in the mirror and whilst I don't see a supermodel looking back at me, I think I look ok, sometimes I am very happy with the way I look. Then I see a photo of myself and I see awful flat hair in a colour and style that doesn't suit me and makes me look old, I see someone two dress sizes bigger than I see in the mirror and someone who doesn't look good in their clothes, nothing flattering at all.
Why is this? I guess the camera doesn't lie so it this a case of me only liking the image I see of myself in the mirror from the front, and other angles look awful? It's upsetting me because other people must see me as I look in photos and all I see In those pictures is an ugly person. I know there is more to life than looks and I can accept how I look if only I didn't keep getting these upsetting surprises, why do I look so different in photos to in the mirror??

[Featherstep]

many of us 'pose' and put on our 'mirror face' when checking ourselves out - consciously or not.

This, for sure. I always present my best angle and face and sort of ignore/ unsee the fat unflattering angles and imperfections. We aren't 'honest' when looking at mirrors.

On the other hand, photos also lie - as pp said, lighting, angle, unnatural pose and expression all play a role. Also lots of people labour over their makeup and pose for perfect Instagram photos but you see them in real life and feel vastly disappointed. They've perfected the photo but they don't look good at all in motion.

Overall though, I'd say a normal, unfiltered and posed photo is much more truthful than a mirror.

[Childrenofthesun]

Oops, just noticed this is a Zombie!

[Childrenofthesun]

Some people definitely have a photogenic quality. I have a friend who always looks incredible in photos. In real life, she is not even particularly attractive.

I look terrible in photos! I have quite an angular face and it doesn't look good on film. It's probably a fair reflection, as the mirror doesn't really show all my angles, but I'll kid myself that what I see in the mirror is the real me.

[UbiquitousDust]

*look displeasing

[UbiquitousDust]

There has been some research in this and they found that the way light bounces off real things compared with how light shows in a pictures is different. The human eye is used to seeing real life light and images and so pictures look disappearing. That's the same reason why sometimes real photos look photoshopped.

[XingMing]

I posted on the early part of this thread (Zombie alert) when I was three years younger, and haven't really changed my view. The image of me in the mirror (failing eyesight und so weiter) is one I am happy to live with; pictures/selfies less so. I've never liked pictures of myself and hate having my picture taken, but I am not fatter than I was, and I have stepped up the exercise regime, but even so, there is no concealing the passage of time and the effects of age and gravity. Believe me, I work on it, but there comes a point when it's style, not beauty. I am there now, so that's what I aim to influence.

[neveradullmoment99]

I think I look a nice and slim 12-14 (qWhich is what size I wear) but photos make me look much larger. It's the horrid surprise that I don't like. It makes me doubt myself and want to wear a bin bag

Me too. I thought I looked ok until I saw a photo on my birthday. I looked like I was a few stones heavier. Really upset me.

[IcedPurple]

It's not just photos.

When I look in the mirror when I'm getting dressed or about to go out, often I'll be quite pleased with myself and exit the house feeling good! Then I'll catch sight of myself in a shop window or other mirror and feel horrified! Especially in broad daylight. Yikes! I think this is because many of us 'pose' and put on our 'mirror face' when checking ourselves out - consciously or not. However, when we just happen to catch a glimpse of ourselves walking past a mirror, we haven't had time to 're-adjust' ourselves, and so the impression is quite different.

And while I'd love to think otherwise, I bet that the latter is closer to how I 'really' look.

[FlorenceLyons]

I find there's a huge difference between how I look in photos and how I look in videos. In photos, whether staged or natural, I rarely think I look good. On video I think I look 100 times better! No idea why.

[TheCountryGirl]

Two of my friends look beautiful in photos but in real life well, they are attractive but not as attractive as some friends who take terrible pictures. So I am not convinced the camera doesn't lie. It most certainly does.

[jacqattacq]

*in the mirror

[jacqattacq]

I’m the same. In the littoral I’m a size 12-14 hourglass, relatively slim although I. Can see that I would prefer how I looked if I lost a stone. I look curvy rather than fat. My hair looks ok most of the time, I have big, striking eyes, and skin is clear and even.

In photos I look 2 dress sizes bigger and as though flab is melting down all parts of my body. My hair is a weird fuzzy mess that looks a state cen when freshly cut, coloured and styled, my eyes are tiny and squinty like a bigs, my face is fat and my skin is really blotchy. I look like a completely different person.

[CrazySheepLady]

I have exactly the same issue, OP. Now, after reading this thread, i feel thoroughly fed up.

[JuliaHunt]

Depends on a lot of factors, I think

[blueshoes]

For me, I think I look better in mirrors because my eye sight is not great and it is like soft focus. God help others who see the true me.

[goodnessgraciousgoudaoriginal]

To be honest I think photographs are the most accurate.

It's true that you can get unflattering pictures - a bad angle, or pulling a weird face for example - but if you consistently think you look different in photos then it's more likely that it's because the picture of you in your head is not accurate.

I'm not very photogenic, so often don't picture very well, but I don't think I actually "look" different between the photo and the mirror so to speak.

[HappyGirlNow]

Ok... So I'm generally happy with my face in the mirror AND in normal photos...

BUT if I reverse the camera on my iPhone for a selfie (eg to check out new makeup) I look god awful, my face looks a different shape and everything!

Can anyone tell me why please???

[SixtyFootDoll]

Gals it's not just me!
I am happy with what I see in the mirror ( unless it's the micro in the changing rooms at next then I look like a bag of porridge), but in photos I look awful.
Laughably so, in fact it's a running joke in my family that I am so I photogenic.
My mum is forever saying ' that photo doe st do you justice' 😀

[southeastastra]

ooh i wonder how easy it would be to make one realhuman

[RealHuman]

They had one of those in a travelodge I stayed in once - at least, the corner the sink was in had two mirrors on adjoining walls, at right angles to one another. I stood in front of that for ages, just looking at myself the wrong way round!

[thegiddylimit]

Depends who is taking the photo as well. DH is a truly horrendous photographer, he tends not to zoom in so all the inperfections at the edge of the lens distorts the image, he tends to use the flash, he doesn't compose his pictures, he doesn't wait for people to pose for formal photos or for them to relax and look truly natural for informal ones, he also doesn't edit his photos so you see all the bad ones as well as the OK ones and his camera is a bit shite to begin with. He's taken pictures of people who have been horrified by their image and then I have to take a photo to show them it's not them, it's him.

Conversely I'm quite good at taking photos (and even better at hiding the terrible photos) and I've had people say 'your family always look gorgeous in your photos' and I think 'yes, but you didn't see the hundreds of other photos that were rejected'. E.g. if I'm taking a photo of the young cousins in the family (so lots of kids under 10) we'll get them all together in a good mood and I'll pick somewhere with an nice background preferably outside or somewhere with natural light, DH will stand behind me and do rabbit ears or jump out so the kids all look at him/me and the camera and laugh, then I'll take about 30 photos while he is being daft behind me. Only one of those photos will be sent to people.

[southeastastra]

you can buy \link{http://www.grand-illusions.com/acatalog/True_Mirror.html\a true mirror}

[LuluandtheNightshade]

Abraid2 - I totally agree about the sizing. I am now a size 10 - what I was when I was 18 - it's a conspiracy by the fashion industry to make us think we are smaller than we are and also to recognise that everyone is now bigger. And yes - we are larger than we think - we have grown to tolerate a fatter society. Also it doesn't seem to be the same in the rest of Europe where sizing is normal and I notice that I am two sizes bigger suddenly! Personally I prefer a photo most of the time.

[DiscoDiva70]

In photos my face can look as flat as a pancake, yet in a mirror my face looks fine.

Mirror v photo? I don't know Wtf is the 'real' me!