WHY YOU MAY THINK YOU ARE NOT PHOTOGENIC

Why Do You Think You Look Good in the Mirror But Bad in Photos?

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The answer to that is quite simple; your face is the wrong way round in photos versus what you see in the mirror. 90% of people hate having their photo taken and try to hide their face, as they believe they are the least photogenic person amongst their friends or in their family (if not the world).

However, if you flip someone's portrait using an app or on a compute and create a mirror image, then they will most likely prefer their new picture. This is because we have spent our lives seeing our faces in the mirror, and we have become used to seeing our face that way round. Photos capture our image that is the reverse of what we see in the mirror and so it doesn’t look right to us. Hence, we dislike the photo.

Most people part their hair on one side rather than the other.
Most people have one eye slightly larger than the other.
Most people have one curvier eyebrow and one straighter or pointier.
Most people smile slightly more out of one side of their mouth than the other.
Most people have a mole, scar or facial feature on one side and not the other.

And there are many other examples of such facial asymmetry and the list goes on.

So if your nose tilts 2 mm to the left, then when your image is the other way round in a photo it appears to be 4 mm to the right of where you’re expecting it to be.

When you add all these things together, when you see your face in reverse to how you expect it to be, it’s you, but not you. And that makes you feel uncomfortable.

Consider this image of one of the world’s most famous faces—Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Which version to you prefer—the one on the left or right?

90% of the people shown these two images prefer the one on the left—the way she was originally painted. However, if you show people images like these (original and flipped side by side) of someone no one knows, the result you will get is a 50/50 split in preference.

And that’s because most of us are more far more comfortable with what’s familiar. Familiarity = Preference.

So when you look at a family photo, or group shot, everyone else looks as you expect them to—the way you see them every day. But you don’t. Your face is the wrong way round to what you are expecting. So you think you are the least photogenic one in the group. Meanwhile, everyone else is thinking exactly the same thing. So when you say to your sister, “you look great, but I look awful in this,” she thinks you’re crazy, because to her you look fine and she thinks she’s the odd looking one.

Find a photo of yourself and hold it up in the mirror—look at its reflection. And if it looks better to you that way round, it will look fine to everyone else the normal way round. But if you are taking a photo of yourself for your own satisfaction, then by all means flip it.


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