• dingus@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Imo mirror selfies do on average tend to look a lot better. I think a lot of it must be that the photo is taken from further away. This causes two things…

      1. The picture isn’t a detailed because the shot is simply further away. Wrinkles, acne, and other imperfections are not as clear or pronounced.

      2. Features like your nose, chin, eyes, etc. appear smaller in far shots than close shots. In close shots, there is a bit of a “fisheye” effect due to the perspective, even if you aren’t using a fisheye lens. It exaggerates a lot of facial features and isn’t how you normally see yourself when you’re looking into the mirror because you just aren’t that close.

      No, it’s just just “because the image is flipped” which is what is repeated ad nauseum online. The biggest thing is the second point I mentioned.

      There was a gif out there somewhere that very simply and easily demonstrates this phenomenon of how wildly different your facial features can look from this.

  • DesertDwellingWeirdo@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    It’s the camera. A wider lens will help immensely, but you’ll need a dedicated camera for it. I never use my cellular camera for selfies.

  • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Ironically, the mirror is the one most likely to be misrepresenting your image. In addition to being a flipped image of what you look like, anything but the most perfectly flat piece of glass is slightly distorting your proportions. And some mirrors are built to intentionally distort your appearance to make you appear more flattering to yourself.

    • accideath@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      Most phone cameras also have a much wider focal length than our eyes though, which makes faces look a bit skinnier. I definitely look better in wide angle than in reality or telephoto.

      • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        Took me until my 20s to figure out that this is why I look like shit in close up photos. Phone cameras make my nose look suuuper disproportionately large. It’s a relief that I look better irl.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      15 hours ago

      In addition to being a flipped image

      Common misconception. Mirrors reflect images, but do not flip them. If you put two items next to each other, their order is preserved in the reflection, not inverted.

      The reason people think mirrors are flipped is because writing on shirts appear backwards, but that’s because your shirt is facing the wrong direction. Write a word on something clear and hold it up to a mirror. It’s not flipped. Put the word up against your chest like it was written on your shirt. Notice how you flipped the word in order to do that.

  • FrederikNJS@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    The depth perception also makes quite a difference. The side of your face can clearly be seen in a mirror to be the side of your face, but depending on lighting, the side of your face can look as if it’s part of the front of your face in a picture as you don’t have the depth perception. The result is that photos make you look fatter than your mirror image would.

  • mommykink@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Flip your selfies along the Y-axis. Most phones have a setting to do this automatically. That’s the “you” that you’re most used to seeing in a mirror. It won’t fix everything, like the limitations of focal length, lighting, or camera quality, but if you’re the type to really obsess over how much “worse” you look in selfies, that trick can do a lot.

  • dufkm@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    The mirror is how you see yourself. The camera is how you’re seen by others.