A bit disappointed.

[t-girlxsophie]

I can look in the mirror and think I look pretty good (rarely tbh) but then I decide I'll take a wee pic for posterity and 9 times out of 10 it bears no similarity to what I saw,think my usual ratio is for every 10 pics taken there's 1 that I will be happy with

Sophie

[JaytoJillian]

I have about 10,000 pics from over the years on my flickr site, though I only make about 80 available to the public.

Not that I am an authority on digital photography, but I have learned a thing or two.

1. Go old school with a decent digital camera that has a self-timer (if it will shoot multiple exposures, even better)
2. A tripod is great for shooting most anywhere and minimizes the chances of your device falling onto a hard surface
3. Experiment with lighting and try to remember what works best
4. Play with the exposure settings on your camera during your lighting experiments
5. I am convinced that there is a "sweet spot" in the lens where I try to look for consistently decent photos (the six o'clock position when looking into the lens), but for pics in which I don't look directly at the lens--I look at points slightly to the left --9 o'clock or right --3 o'clock.

[Teresa]

Jillian,
The sweet spot for head and shoulder portraits is eye level , with a long focal length lens the nose is less prominent , the worse shots are lower shots , looking up someone's nose isn't flattering also the chin will be larger . Going back to the old tradional film star pictures often the eyes were kept in focus and the rest of the face left to blur away because actors use their eyes so much .

Digital cameras need far less light than old film cameras ( depending on the film speed ) so often all you need is a selection of reflectors , either white card or the photobrollies with gold or silver reflective coatings , the silver will give a cool skin tone and the gold will warm things up .

[Genifer Teal]

I rarely like selfies taken on my phone. I carry a real camera. It's so cute when ppl comment things like, do they still make those? Ppl often compliment the quality of my photos.

[ChubbyLeahCD]

I can relate with the OP. I feel fantastic wearing the clothes but when I see myself I feel ugly! Now keep in mind, I’m very much closeted so I don’t wear makeup out of fear that I won’t remove it all and will out myself and my body is not smooth. But when I look at myself in the mirror, even if I feel great with a tight dress hugging my body, a thong and cute shoes, I feel ugly and sometimes ridiculous.

[Patience]

The more pictures you take, the better they'll get. Sometimes, one angle may be more flattering than another.

[Leslie Mary S]

I to was a professional photographer and did things like wedding. You wouln't think I was a pro from the pictures I post. I am now down to 4 cameras 2 tripods, and a portable pair of umbrella strobes. The studio I used to have is gone with this last move.
Typically I too, will put 100+ photos on the memory chip.
When I started I was shooting B/W and processing them myself using an Omega enlarger. I liked doing dodging too.
Now I normally am doing photo restorations, etc. The last wedding I shot was my oldest daughter 3rd wedding in 2017. Came out of retirement to do it. Taking a wedding is hard enough but being in a wedding you are shooting is even harder. I have a wireless remote I used for those few shots I was in.