Does anyone else ever go thru this.
I have a full length mirror in my bedroom.
I pick out a skirt and top, look at myself in the mirror, and think , looks good,
so I decide to take a photo.
In the photo I look completely, unattractive, fat and sloppy.
I don't which is lying, the mirror or the camera?
Although your current visions might be grounded in reality,
there are no shortcuts to get from here to there.
Face the facts and realize that you still may have to manifest this
dream the old-fashioned way: by creating a concrete plan,
putting in the hard work and maintaining an
unwavering determination to make it happen.
Sadly for me I'm never going to look good either in a mirror or a photograph.
Sasha
Same with my phone selfies. Camera lens point of view can distort. Trust the mirror
Rachel,
The camera is the problem, I was a pro photographer for thirty years and the selfies being taken now aren't flattering because the camera is used too close and with a wide setting on the lens. It distorts the body proportions and produces the effect you describe.
To take decent pictures full length should be taken just above waist height preferably with a long lens on the camera, a close up should be taken at eye level to give the facial features the best appearance , again with a long lens. Cameras can be made to lie when used in the right way !
Hi Rachel,
I think there is something psychological that goes on here. I experience similar things, but sometimes it is the other way around - unhappy with the view in the mirror, but look better in the photo. Perhaps it has to do with lighting or perhaps that the mirror view provides a better connection and because we want to look good our brain interferes with the objective reflection and gives us the reflection we want to see. There is often a time span involved with the photo or perhaps it is a different medium but I think our brains produce a more objective perception in photos because that is what we expect a photo to do. Truth is, as a semi-pro photographer (landscape and nature), all photos contain lies. As the advertising industry knows very well, perception defines truth more than reality does. That said, I think it is a mistake to assume that because you look bad in the photo (to your perception) that may not be the case with others. With some you will always look goofy, others won't really See you in the first place, and to others you will be a presentable woman even if not passable. Passing, I think, is an illusion to most of us. But if your avatar photo is representative, you really don't have anything to worry about. So, don't get too hard on yourself; we are our own worst critics.
xoxo
Gretchen
I've started using a selfie stick or at least the part that holds the phone, you can attach it to a tripod, this is what my recent pics have been taken with. You can then video yourself as well, saves having to run backwards and forwards pressing the shutter button. When watching a video playback you can pause the video, take a screen capture of a suitable image on the phone and post it to this forum
Last edited by Abbey11; 01-10-2017 at 08:31 AM.
OMG!! Owning my femininity .... and I LOVE it!
To add to Teresa's technical points, lighting has a lot to do with it. When you're looking in a mirror, you're getting soft bounce light from the room around you, but if you photograph yourself with the flash on it will be harsh and unflattering. The main light source should be something besides the onboard flash to take a nice portrait.
If you're lucky enough to be different, don't ever change.
I remember reading something about us not tending to like pictures of ourselves because the image of ourselves that we are used to seeing is inverted (we normally see ourself in mirrors so were used to the invert image) so that when we see a regular pic of ourselves something seems off/uncanny valley-esque.
Not sure if it's true but it's nice to think that everyone thinks we look as good as what we see in the mirror
I defer to the photography experts in the group for this one! I do think your avatar looks good! Hugs Lana Mae
Life is worth living!
"Foxy lady! You look so good!!" Jimi Hendrix
My camera doesn't lie, but I sometimes have to poke it in the shutter a hundred times before it finally reveals the truth.
I often get ready, look in the mirror and think, yes, pretty good, then take a photo and it looks so different. Do I believe my own eyes or the camera lens?
Here today, gone tomorrow....
When you look in the mirror you are seeing a reverse image keep that in mind.
A camera doesn't see you as you see you.
Nice to learn that the mirror is the fairest!
Thanks for the tips Teresa and Ellie.
Even using a tripod, I have had to take many dozens of selfies to try and get a usable pic. OK, so lose the wide angle shots. Take longer pics, then crop if desired.
Trust the photographers - Teresa and Ellie. I am not a professional but have a good camera and tripod and can use Photoshop when needed to fix small errors. I hate phone selfies and even worse when hand held vs using the timer feature and the phone set up resting somewhere. Posing is also important - look at some of the poses of pictures here or in catalogs. The poses here may be better to minimize certain features the GGs don't have to worry about. Stand at 45 degree to camera to minimize broader shoulders. Over the shoulder views give nice angle to face and hide Adam's Apple. Looking down when facing camera can also do this.
Fat-use corset or cincher to help.
Sloppy - take the time to check how your clothes and hair lay before deciding to take the picture - tough when under time constraints.
Unattractive - your avatar looks pretty - nice smile, good skin. Take off glasses to see the difference in picture. Better lighting - are you using flash? Natural light onto your front and not behind you?
Give us more specifics and the professionals can help you capture what you desire.
Hugs, Ellen
Generally, my mirror tell a favorable lie and my unzoomed camera (not a phone) mostly tells the inconvenient truth.
I was advised, many moons ago, that with a 35mm camera the best lens to use for portraits was the best quality 135mm that you could afford. With a modern digital that probably means that your setting the standard zoom lens to the longest focal length that it has. (Thereas, does that sound about right?) Forgetting to do so and using a micro 4 thirds at 18mm puts on a few pounds! (Been thereOriginally Posted by Teresa
)
And yes, avoid cheap flash at all costs. Bounce it, diffuse it or get some daylight! (My avatar was taken using available light in a hotel room, bounced one reading light off the ceiling, another off the mirror and judiciously placed a standard lamp. Make sure the camera is set to a highish ISO setting and the right colour balance and sit still! Then select the best photo out of the 30 that you take!)
Last edited by Judith96a; 01-10-2017 at 11:22 AM.
Yup. Phone camera makes me look like a troll 97% of the time.
Oh, I Soooo get that. Most of my photos, I think my face looks fat. It is bit of both. Angles can help or hurt you. The mirror doesn't do a lot for seeing your profile or behind you. Plus the lighting can really be off on photos. The other thing is that a photo, does not really show you in action, which may capture just the wrong moment. But there is truth in the camera too.
Rember, you can be the prettiest girl in the room, or the ugliest, when you are alone. It's your choice.
Last edited by Meghan4now; 01-10-2017 at 11:41 AM.
If the professionals want to give advice - I have the Panasonic LUMIX G7 (a micro 4/3) and often use the Vario 14-140 mm lens and external flash unit. I capture RAW and JPEG to give me flexibility if needed. I normally use timer and click it and use the 10 seconds to pose, but could switch to the smartphone app to control it, see my self to check pose and focus, then activate the timer and then just need to put phone out of sight.
Thoughts?
Hugs, Ellen
So there are a lot of cheap tricks that can help you get around not having a lot of expensive toys. I can't remember if there's a forum rule about linking to external sites so someone call me out of this is a problem, but check this out for some neat tips: https://petapixel.com/2016/11/08/sho...eryday-places/
Bottom line is that hard direct light in general isn't very flattering, so you want to bounce and/or diffuse it. One of the simplest things you can do is sit next to a window. Unless the sun is beaming directly on you, you'll get some nice soft light coming in from outside. You can hold a sheet of white paper or poster board to bounce some light back onto your face to fill in the shadows which will help. If you want to use a flash, you can turn it backwards and have it point at a big blank wall rather than directly at you. Flash umbrellas do the work of diffusing the light so that it's softer, but that's an extra toy.
Photographers and film makers back in the day would smear Vaseline on the lens to soften the image and make the women look more heavenly. I wouldn't go smearing Vaseline on your lens but you can get a similar effect using a sandwich bag. Google sandwich bag photography and you'll see what I mean. That's getting into more advanced stuff though so your best bet to start out is just getting nice soft light
If you're lucky enough to be different, don't ever change.
We see what we want to see. Our brain has the ability to let our eyes focus on specific areas and things, vs the camera lens that sees everything. I get dressed and do my make up, look in the mirror and like what I see. Then I take a photograph and often it is quite different. That's OK. It is what it is.
Hi Rachel, I have often mentioned on posts that your camera and your Mirror
can be your best friend or your worst enemy,
The mirror shows a reverse image and the camera shows the actual image ......
Last edited by BLUE ORCHID; 01-10-2017 at 02:03 PM.
Having my ears triple pierced is AWESOME, ~~...
I can explain it to you, But I can't comprehend it for you !
If at first you don't succeed, Then Skydiving isn't for you.
Be careful what you wish for, Once you ring a bell , you just can't Un-Ring it !! !!
I've said it many times on threads on this forum. The eye sees what the mind wants it to see. I do not have the equipment or the inclination to take pictures of myself en femme, although when I was in my thirties I did. That was before digital cameras. I actually took film to be developed not knowing what the end product would be. The pictures did not turn out badly. I was in a lot better physical shape three or four decades ago. The family pictures I have of myself NOW attired as a man show all the imperfections I do not see when I look in the mirror. When I am en femme and doing my domestic chores there is a full length mirror in which I can see myself. I think I make an attractive older woman from a distance. Based on the photos of myself attired as a man, I'm sure my imperfections will be as glaring en femme.
They both lie. It's a total conspiracy.
I don't wear women's clothes, I wear MY clothes !
As Traci suggested in the wardrobe thread, maybe this belongs elsewhere (the photos thread)? But anyway.
I really dislike the whole selfie style of close-up, arm's-length photography. It reeks of a self-absorbed trend with bad aesthetics.
I like a tripod and remote shutter control. The deluxe rig is a hard wire to a nearby TV or monitor for framing the shots. I've tried lots with the flash (this on a generic Olympus 3.2 mpx point-and-shoot), room lights reflected here and there, and natural light with all the shades up, with mixed results. The natural light actually seems to show more flaws. One little dodge that actually works pretty well is to place a couple of layers of cellophane or clear plastic (i.e., the various forms of "Scotch" tape) over the flash lens to diffuse it.
A decent tripod offers a variety of heights to shoot from. I like it as tall as possible to avoid that Big-Giant-Lady-Glaring-Down look, and I play with the zoom a lot to change the framing. Don't hesitate to crop the original image to minimize cluttered backgrounds and focus on the subject, and learn to use Photoshop or similar tools to tidy things up without turning it into a psychedelic concert poster. Play with contrast and color balance and saturation. The blur tools, faded back to a percentage of their initial changes, can make a big difference. You want to avoid the look of those (also trendy) extreme, high-detail close-ups that adorn so many modern magazine covers. You know, the ones where you can see every pore and follicle in gruesome black-and-white?
And oh, the joys of digital, constrained only by the storage of the card. You younger folks here simply cannot imagine rationing shots because you only had 12 or 24, and then wondering what the tech at the photo processor might think. I go back to the days before auto-exposure, and long before auto-focus. Use a big card and snap away, then discard the uglies. And smile, dammit! It's the sexiest thing you can wear.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one here who enjoys updating and changing avatars and profile pics often. Last count, I had over 80 avatars archived.
Vanity, is that you in my mirror?
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