The photo problem, who else has it?

[Nattiedoll]

I honestly think everyone thinks they look worse in pictures. It's normal. I think pictures are all about lighting. Sometimes your camera doesn't access NATURAL light so it makes you look much different. I wouldn't worry too much. Try and practice what angles work best for you. Sometimes people pose in a way that doesn't work for them. You can't just snap a picture of you in any position, I certainly can't. But yea I think it's about the camera having an unnatural light that doesn't capture your real features. A camera/phone with a flip screen helps a lot so you can see how you look somewhat before you take the picture. There are also filters you can use.

[Cindy]

What an opportune post!

I have been contacted by a photographer who is doing an exhibition of portraits of transgender women who have no fear - for some reason she is coming to my place tomorrow to take pics of me.

I'll see if they are any good and try to pick up some tips.

[Elsa Delyth]

Yeah, I hate pictures of myself too, that's why internet disease is so prevalent. In pictures I think that I always look like a big goofball.

There are angles I like the look of myself better from though, and I think that we all see ourselves way differently than others see us. Like people call me skinny all the time, but I think that I'm fat as hell, and proportioned like a hideous mutant.

[Maybebaby56]

Yes!  Absolutely.  Many times I have stood in front of a mirror, pleased with what I saw.  I snap a selfie, and I am immediately disappointed in the image. It looks nothing like what I see in the mirror.  Just awful.  I can't figure it out.   The focal length of phone camera lenses? 

Terri

[Lili]

I am not photogenic too. So what i do is stand in front of a big mirror and take a portable mirror, moving it around to get a better representation of myself.

[Rina]

I've noticed that I often look a lot worse in selfies than in other pictures. There's something about the perspective in selfies which makes me look less feminine.

That said, I once forwarded a selfie to a friend of mine, and asked her what she thought. She was at work, so she showed the image to a coworker and asked him "Do you notice anything different about this person?". The only thing he seemed to notice was my sidecut hair, and replied "Is she lesbian?"...

So basically, while selfies do look worse than other pictures, and (at least in my case) still pictures in general also often look worse than the live person, there is a dysphoric component to it, where sometimes even if you think you don't pass at all in a picture, people who don't know you may well not clock you if they see it.

[Lyric]

You're experience is an interesting psychological phenomenon that most people experience. Since we look at ourselves in the mirror very often we tend to mentally overlook aspects of our appearance that are always there. Seeing yourself in a photo you more easily compare yourself to other people you see in photos and it's easier to notice the things you overlook in the mirror.

I find this a useful thing, though. Thanks to digital photography it's easy to snap shot of yourself in various outfits or even hairstyles to decide what your best look is. I learned a lot from just doing online digital makeovers, for instance.

[Marissa_K]

I actually like pictures of me somewhat but hate looking into the mirror.

When I came out to my brother his response was, omg I'm sorry. You're gonna be really ***** ugly, don't so it because you'll hate the changes and probably commit suicide. He is such a cheerful guy.

[iKate]

Yep. I'm not all that attractive. In fact I find myself quite not good looking. My pictures are always horrible. But somehow guys are attracted to me and I pass easily and effortlessly. Go figure.

[KathyLauren]

Selfies make everyone look bad.  They are taken from too close a distance, that unfairly emphasizes nose, cheekbones, etc..  Portrait photographers know this and deliberately take the picture from a long distance, using a long lens.  A professional portrait looks more natural for that reason.  Get a friend to take the picture for you, using a good camera with a zoom lens, and tell the friend to stand well back.

[RachelsMantra]

If I am in a selfie mood I have to generally take about 10-20 selfies before I find a picture that is actually flattering to me. Part of it is trying different angles and lighting. It's a process of trial and error. Professional photographers probably take hundreds of pictures of models and select one perfect picture out of those hundreds.

[Dena]

This issue drives me up the wall, not because of my pictures but yours. Far to many of the pictures on the site are taken with a cell phone that has a wide angle lens on it. Some of the pocket camera can also do this if the lens isn't zoomed out enough. This causes a fishbowl effect that isn't flattering. In the mirror we see a normal view and a professional photographer uses a mild telephoto lens to reduce the fishbowl effect even more.

I have spent years in the darkroom working with prints so I can see this not only in my shots but in those taken by others so sometimes it's painful to see the distortion caused by the camera of some attractive people.

[barbie]

Two tips of taking selfies or photos of yourself.

1. Go out and get outdoor photos. Cloudy day is the best as it is not too dark or too bright.

2. Take photos while you are moving. It makes you look more natural. One of my friends, a photographer, says photos of taking a pose are without life.

barbie~~

[abd789]

This issue drives me up the wall, not because of my pictures but yours. Far to many of the pictures on the site are taken with a cell phone that has a wide angle lens on it. Some of the pocket camera can also do this if the lens isn't zoomed out enough. This causes a fishbowl effect that isn't flattering. In the mirror we see a normal view and a professional photographer uses a mild telephoto lens to reduce the fishbowl effect even more.

I have spent years in the darkroom working with prints so I can see this not only in my shots but in those taken by others so sometimes it's painful to see the distortion caused by the camera of some attractive people.

AWESOME, so Im attractive.... yes!

[Anna33]

Which is real though? Our own perception of ourselves in the mirror or what the camera lens capture? I wondered about this before.

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[barbie]

Which is real though? Our own perception of ourselves in the mirror or what the camera lens capture? I wondered about this before.

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Oh. It is a philosophical question. Neither is real. It depends on your or their mind.

If you are more interested in showing yourself to others, the camera capture is more objective, IMHO.

barbie~~

[yokosoko]

Omg yes! I so have this problem! I can never get the photo to reflect what's in the mirror! I tried a video today in the do I pass thread to see if that gives a better representation... Since pictures can only say so much


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[Anna33]

Oh. It is a philosophical question. Neither is real. It depends on your or their mind.

If you are more interested in showing yourself to others, the camera capture is more objective, IMHO.

barbie~~

Oh no i meant how do ppl see us? The sameway we see ourselves or the way the camera captures us?


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[Laura_7]

Oh no i meant how do ppl see us? The sameway we see ourselves or the way the camera captures us?


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Maybe somewhere in between ?

Have you recorded your voice and played it back ?
It sounds different.
With pictures there is imo additionally an effect of kind of an aura... an emanation, which is not necessarily included in photos...
and photos can be misleading.
I once photographed a room to show it was not good... looked like a palace on the photo...
there are even movies making fun of this...
from outside a small camping vehicle, from inside a huge hall...

[Lyric]

Which is real though? Our own perception of ourselves in the mirror or what the camera lens capture?

That varies greatly from person to person. Everyone likes different things about people's appearance and looks at others differently. Still, I'd suppose the camera image makes it easier to compare one person to another, so that's probably closer to what people see-- on first glance, at least.

However, when we know a person for their personality and see them often we tend to look at them more as the personality and less as the objective image.