pictures....

[Katie145]

Why is it that I seem to look so much better and convincing in the mirror than I do in pictures I take of myself? Anyone else have this problem?

[JennaR]

Thats just the way it is. It's the same drag or drab we see ourselves in our mind one way, in the mirror another and in pictures yikes. just try to squint a little it helps me:doh: I use the picture manager to adjust the contrast,darkness, color... try not to be too critical were not and never will be model quality, but hey, not many people are, male or female

[Melinda G]

I know what you mean. There are several reasons for this.
First is the facial expression. Trying to smile and hold it for ten seconds while the self timer runs down is difficult. And I usually manage to blink just as the camera goes off.
Secondly, the camera flash is usually much brighter than the surrounding room light that we are seeing ourselves in, and tends to light up every wrinkle and blemish. That's why professional photographers use all those different umbrellas, and filters and veils over their flashes.
I have experimented bouncing the flash off the ceiling, instead of directly in my face. Makes a small difference. You also might try putting a piece of nylon stocking over the flash to soften it a little. Most consumer camera flashes are just too harsh, for good photos.
You might also try putting brighter bulbs in the room lights, and turning off the camera flash, for a softer look.
About the only meaningful progress they have made in recent years is eliminating red eyes.

[SuzanneBender]

Darling do what I do. Get a big SD card and fill it up with pics. You are bound to find 3 or 4 good ones.

Seriously. Smile, tilt your head and try shoot from different angles with the camera rather than straight on.

[Melinda G]

Keep in mind, even the professionally taken photos of movie stars in the magazines are heavily airbrushed and touched up.

[Engendered]

I've always noticed this and most recently today! :eek:
I blame the camera quality and how it handles different lighting. The better the camera, the closer to "reality" it'll capture. The good news of course is that what you see in the mirror should hopefully be what people in real life see when they look at you. (except reversed!) :)

[azncd]

You know what i've noticed... is that if you flip the picture you took with your camera horizontally, you're more likely to view it as being more in tune with what you're used to seeing in the mirror.

The truth of the matter is, most people aren't completely symmetrical from one side to the other, even if it is very slight. So we become used to seeing a certain view of our faces (reversed) in the mirror. When we see the image of our faces right side forward (not mirrored), it's ever-so-slightly different, and can make you think something is wrong with your face.

That might or might not be what's happening, but that was one factor for me.

[charlytuna]

your eyes are lies and pic are true
you can look at something and then look at a pic of the same thing and it's different then what your eyes seen. think about this and you will see it also

[Samantha43]

Darling do what I do. Get a big SD card and fill it up with pics. You are bound to find 3 or 4 good ones.

Seriously. Smile, tilt your head and try shoot from different angles with the camera rather than straight on.

That's what I do!

[sherri52]

We are never satisfied with the pics we take.

[VeronicaMoonlit]

Why is it that I seem to look so much better and convincing in the mirror than I do in pictures I take of myself? Anyone else have this problem?

When you are wearing the clothes and looking in the mirror, you are experiencing whatever emotions you feel while CDing and thusly your brain filters what you see. You feel good so you see pretty. Photographs don't work that way. They are a fixed moment in time, often looked at long after the event. You see the reality of what was.

Veronica Rogers

[msniki48]

Darling do what I do. Get a big SD card and fill it up with pics. You are bound to find 3 or 4 good ones.

Seriously. Smile, tilt your head and try shoot from different angles with the camera rather than straight on.


There you go Suzanne,

Katie...Suzanne is absolutely right... for every 20 or so pics i keep maybe 3 or 4....and at my age....the camera is getting farther and farther away.

I want to cry when i take a close up/1 :eek:


ohhhh make sure you smile....unless you have the biggest cheek bones...[ the smile enhances the cheeks...most male bodies do not. at least not this one....:heehee:

feel free to check out my pics....trust me as they are the best of the best...unfortunately....and you wonder why so many of us go out once a year....:doh:



hugs


msniki48

[Engendered]

I just want to disspell a little myth that's cropping up here. The eye is *better* than almost any camera. Most cameras are really bad at capturing what is *really* there for various reasons.
Here's a quick link:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Eye-vs-Camera---Different-Perceptions-of-the-Same-World&id=351621

[Nicole Erin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
So there is what goes into a pro photo. Simple isn't it?

I think it is best to go with what the mirror says. Whether you like the pics or not, go with the mirror.

Some folks do take good photos, some don't.
I know one lady who I saw her photo on one of those myspace type sites, and her photo is beautiful, like WOW, but in real life she is like "ehh whatever" looking. I mean the photo DOES look just like her but somehow different.

Some folks take good photos, some don't. I sure don't :brolleyes:

Look, pictures give you an idea of what someone or something looks like but should not be gauged to real life. Photography is an art. A good photographer doesn't need airbrush or photoshop.

Even without airbrushing, photoshopping, and whatever, a good photographer could take a picture of anything and make it look good. Pics tend to have one thing that you don't see - they activate your imagination. Like say in Memphis, there is some Elvis restaurant. In the brochure it gave the impression like it was in hollywood, just something about the photo, but in real life, it was on some dumpy looking street.

[Carly D.]

I control the angle that the pictures of me are taken.. In other words no head on shots that show my face.. I know that my closer shots I think I look male without any doubt but further away and with the right lighting I could pass as female, who couldn't?

[Katie145]

I think my biggest issue with pics i take of myself is my 5 o'clock shadow. I use an electric razor and go back with a straight razor, cover with concealer, foundation, and powder. In the mirror, I see nothing. In pictures I take, I still see it. Maybe the flash is exposing it?

[jessikasummerfox]

Is there a way to turn off your flash on your camera? If it is possible try taking a bunch of shots with natural light, like sitting in the sunlight across from a large window.

Camera flashes, while they help provide enough light for your picture to be in focus, can often be a little cold and too harsh. If the natural light photo is blurry, a tripod, even a mini desk one, can help. Just set the timer on the camera, rush across from it, pose, and be as still as you can. :)

[theresa]

I've noticed my better photos are those that are taken with the camera above my head angled downwards. Must be a good angle for us.

[Jocelyn Quivers]

I also look better and about 5-10 pounds lighter in the mirror as opposed to the camera.

[Sarah Doepner]

The flash is a big part of the problem, as many have already mentioned. When you look in the mirror you are surrounded by light, usually a softer light that is filling what you see from many angles. The flash overwealms all that fill and flattens the image. Turn off the camera if you can or find a way modify the way it hits you. I'm still working on that and haven't been happy yet, except with natural lighting.

The other thing to consider is when we are looking in the mirror there may be a slight haze of pink fog that distorts our vision. At least, there is for me. I never look as good in the photos as I do in my friend, the mirror.

[Super Amanda]

Darling do what I do. Get a big SD card and fill it up with pics. You are bound to find 3 or 4 good ones.

Seriously. Smile, tilt your head and try shoot from different angles with the camera rather than straight on.

There is some good advice..as is most of what everyone is saying. I found it hard at first to find my smile. I mean as a guy I never smiled much, so I had learn hoe to strike a balance between whta feels natural, and what looks good to me.



We are never satisfied with the pics we take.


I disagree here, however. I am quite proud of how far I've came along over the years at self photography. Some of my first pics were awful, but that's how I learned to take better ones.

[Karren H]

You need to do what I do... Hire a female stunt double to take photos of!! Awesome results every single time! Lol

in my humble opinion, I look beter in photos than in person.

[Kate Simmons]

I pay my mirror off to lie myself. Pics do not do that. I guess it depends on if you want an honest assessment or not.:)

[Connie D50]

In my case not only do I look worse, I'm much much bigger :sad:

[Michelle 51]

Keep in mind that a mirror is backwards to the real thing.Whats left is right and whats right is left so we look different. Also in a mirror your eye level is completely different than it is looking at a picture. As mentioned above a picture always tells the truth where as in the mirror we can daydream a bit and create a bit of an illusion.Sad but true.

[MargaretJ]

Take lots of pics, with a digi camera it isn't costing you anything, and you'll eventually find that flattering angle that suits you. My particular favourite is to hold a camera above head height and look up into it. I also tend to use the Macro setting if the camera is close to my face.

[Frédérique]

Why is it that I seem to look so much better and convincing in the mirror than I do in pictures I take of myself?

How about taking a picture of your reflection in the mirror (with no flash)? Many girls here do just that, with excellent results…


I just want to disspell a little myth that's cropping up here. The eye is *better* than almost any camera. Most cameras are really bad at capturing what is *really* there for various reasons.

Being a photographer for :thinking: years, I agree completely, but sometimes a camera can see more than the human eye, under certain circumstances. This theory is played out during most sporting events, where the announcers observing the action do not have an aptitude for processing visual information quickly or accurately. Some times cameras see too much, as in the case of portraiture (the subject of this thread), but the human eye can better process that RAW information…

[Cheryl T]

In the mirror we all seem to see what we want to see. In pictures we are more critical and objective as we can "stand back" and see better what others see.
This is the reason I love to take pictures as it allows me to be more honest about my appearance.

[CharleneM]

Is there a way to turn off your flash on your camera? If it is possible try taking a bunch of shots with natural light, like sitting in the sunlight across from a large window.

Camera flashes, while they help provide enough light for your picture to be in focus, can often be a little cold and too harsh. If the natural light photo is blurry, a tripod, even a mini desk one, can help. Just set the timer on the camera, rush across from it, pose, and be as still as you can. :)

I agree with Jessika,

This is how I took my avatar picture.

My camera has a fairly wide angle lens. I took it hand held, and took lots of shots, until I found one that was pleasing, and in focus.

[Super Amanda]

In the mirror we all seem to see what we want to see. In pictures we are more critical and objective as we can "stand back" and see better what others see.
This is the reason I love to take pictures as it allows me to be more honest about my appearance.


Have you ever had a mirror that you seemed to look better in than the others? There is even an old Seinfeld episode where George Costanza comments on how the restroom mirror makes him look like a movie star. I don't trust mirrors all the time..the slightest bit of flex can distort a mirror image, for better or worse- think fun house mirrors.

I don't think we see what we want to see, rather the mirror is a refection, fluid, moving as you move, breathe and blink. A Photo is unchanging-completely frozen, from a fixed perspective. If you could stand THAT still in front of the mirror, it probably would begin to look uncanny.

[jayme357]

Cheryl has it nailed. In the mirror we see what we want to see. We can move in any way we choose until the image is exactly how we perceive ourselves. Sadly, the camera has no ability to read our minds. It sees what it chooses, and we have virtually no say over the result. How sad! Still, we can discard the picture as many times as we need to until the picture in the camera fits the picture in the mirror. Ain't life great?

[LaceyMay]

One piece of advice I have been given, is to place a mirror behind the camera. That way when I am posing for the camera, I can see exactly what position my body, face, hands,eyes, and whatever else is in.
This also helps to avoid making the same mistakes repeatedly when trying for a certain facial expression, or posture.
Also Lighting is very important. Proper makeup for pictures helps as well. Going a little thicker on the application of blush, bronzer, toner, and contouring properly, will help to enhance what you want enhanced. (ever notice how heavy a professional models make up is?)

[kayesimone]

lots of practice pics...don't be afraid of different angles and lighting and poses...and sometimes we just look like what we look like! smile, laugh and try again!

[angelfire]

I guess I'm the opposite. I find that I look better in pictures. In the mirror I find I pic away at all my flaws way too much, and I actually notice them more in the mirror, even when compared to a good quality picture. I still notice some of my flaws in pictures, but I find I notice more in the mirror. Maybe because I am taking a closer look.

[jenniferlives]

A lot of it is attitude.

You're concious of the process of dealing with a camera and waiting for the photo. Your mind is leading you away from your feelings and that comes across in some photos. This is especially true whenever the eyes are visable.

Relax and go with your feelings, feel natural and reveal your emotions without feeling forced. Don't think about it too much (unless that's the look you're going for).


Also, anything more than a couple glasses of wine will show in your eyes - even if your not intoxicated...(again, unless that's the look you're going for)

The comment about setting the camera at a higher angle, bouncing the flash off the ceiling (or placing a transluscent material over a built-in flash), and using a mirror behind the camera also help a lot.

Digital cameras are great, because you can experiment for free and take as many pictures as you want -but they are very revealing

Jennifer
:battingeyelashes:

[Lee51964]

it has a lot to do with the lighting and angles a good photographer can make a young girl look like a sexy older woman just useing the lighting

[Rachel Morley]

When you are wearing the clothes and looking in the mirror, you are experiencing whatever emotions you feel while CDing and thusly your brain filters what you see. You feel good so you see pretty. Photographs don't work that way. They are a fixed moment in time, often looked at long after the event. You see the reality of what was.
I always wondered about this. What Veronica wrote is pretty much exactly what my wife told me it was too. When we look in the mirror our emotions are playing a part in it all too. Our brain mixes the image and emotions together. No wonder we look better! The added thing with me is I am slightly near sighted and I don't wear my glasses in girl mode, consequently when I look in the mirror I get automatic soft focus!

[eluuzion]

There are good reasons why we are called "amateurs" and people good at it are called "professionals". hehe

The lighting factor can have a dramatic impact on the results. Reflecting the lighting (shining the light away from you toward a white screen/sheet on wall, which reflects the lighting back toward you) from several areas of the room works much better than "direct" lighting aimed right at you.

Unfortunately, the only way to make the end product "match" the image you have in your head...is to use photoshop...lol