why do we look good in front of the mirror, but look awful when taking a picture of ourselves 10 seconds later? Is the mirror or the camera more correct?
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Your brain sees you a little better looking than you actually are in reflection. A camera doesn’t care
Is the camera a smartphone selfie camera? They distort the photo in that things closer to the lens become bigger, which gives you a big nose amongst other changes.
Mirror flips your image from left to right and you’re used to seeing yourself like that so when a camera shows you like how you’re not used to see yourself it looks weird and ugly
When looking at yourself in the mirror, everything is flipped along the z-axis. When looking through a camera, it’s not flipped. We are not perfectly symmetrical so it looks slightly odd since you probably see yourself in the mirror more often. If you use a webcam you can turn the mirror flip on and off and see how different you really look. I also notice this a lot if I look at my cat in the mirror vs looking straight at him. He has very non symmetrical coloring and almost looks like a completely different cat to me in the mirror.
The fact that when looking at mirror you are always seeing the same angle of yourself adds to the effect too.
It’s not a gold rule, but:
Your mirror still allows you to see in 3d.
Your camera doesn’t.
You have a non photogenic face, it means that in 3d you are cute but in 2d you suck.
Some people are the other way around, you can have a face that is pretty in2d but it’s meh in real life.
Also you may be an awful photographer, as I am.
Lighting as well. Never take a picture lower than eyesight or you’ll see the age and tiredness (eg, shadows and sag)
Own experience asa 35 yo 😛
Faces are rarely perfectly symmetrical. You most commonly see yourself in the mirror so that is the image that you are used to seeing. When you see yourself in a picture, it’s often flipped horizontally so you brain has a tiny uncanny valley moment like “ew that’s not what I look like, that must be an ugly imposter!” [SciShow Psych did a good explanation of this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYLU-HiUPAQ).
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