Many of us know the frustration of taking a selfie on our phones, looking at the result and being unhappy with it. It’s normal to feel like what you see in your camera doesn’t match what you see in the mirror, and that’s because it doesn’t! According to plastic surgeons, your selfie doesn’t actually show the real you.
Selfies Are Causing People to Change Their Faces
According to Dr. Boris Paskhover of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, “Patients under age 40 take out their phones and tell me they don’t like how they look … They literally show me a selfie of themselves and complain about their noses. I have to explain that I understand they’re not happy but what they’re seeing is distorted.”
In fact, a poll by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons found that 42 percent of surgeons have seen patients who want surgeries to improve their selfies for social media.
How Much Do Selfies Distort Our Appearances?
A recent study by Dr. Paskhover and his colleagues sought to determine exactly how much selfies distort our appearances – in particular, our noses. They accomplished this by determining a mathematical formula that calculates the distortion of facial features from certain camera angles.
Researchers modeled an average looking male and female face from a random sample of racially and ethnically diverse participants around the U.S. Using these models, researchers calculated the relative distortion of various facial features seen by a camera at 12 inches and five feet away.
They found that photos taken 12 inches away made the tip of the nose look 7 percent wider and the base of the nose 30 percent wider. Photos taken from 5 feet away saw almost no difference from appearance in real life.
“At that standard portrait distance of five feet, everything evens off,” Paskhover said. “That’s a classic portrait distance, which is fascinating. Photographers have known this for decades.”
Don’t Let Selfies Affect Your Self-Confidence
Dr. Paskhover recommends, “I really think we need to be self-aware that our cameras are skewing what we see. It’s not true… The younger generation needs to be aware of it — social media is everywhere.”
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FAQs
Because these are images that only show your appearance as 2D, not 3D, like in real life or how the human eye sees things. For instance, a selfie distorts your face, not to mention if the angle is wacky, lighting is off, and your camera sucks!
Do mirror selfies show the real you? ›
Selfies are not real life pictures. If we compare camera in real life picture then picture taken by 50mm lens (with full frame sensor) is only accurate like our eyes. But if we compare the selfie image and mirror, mirror is more accurate because selfie picture differes with phones and app you use to take selfie.
Does the camera show your real face? ›
The truth is neither flat mirrors nor cameras show us exactly how we look. Both methods are susceptible to distortions influenced by various factors. Mirror images offer self-perception reflections (when reversed), while camera photos capture how others perceive us.
Do I look more like mirror me or picture me? ›
This may be because when we look in a mirror, our image is reversed left to right, which can make us look different than we expect. In photographs, however, our image is not reversed, so we are likely to perceive ourselves as looking more like we do in reality.
How can I see my real face? ›
To see yourself as others see you, grab 2 mirrors. Place them next to each other so their edges are touching. Then, angle each mirror diagonally towards you, like you're holding a book, so the edges form a right angle. Now, look in the mirrors.
Should I trust the mirror or pictures? ›
The answer is simple: Mirrors. There's a difference between your image in the mirror and in photos. The image you see in the mirror is reversed compared to the image that others see face-to-face with you.
Do we look better in real life than in photos? ›
Because of the proximity of your face to the camera, the lens can distort certain features, making them look larger than they are in real life. Pictures also only provide a 2-D version of ourselves.
Is A selfie more accurate than a picture? ›
Summary. Mirror images provide a more accurate perception of self due to the mere exposure effect, while camera images show how others see us. Selfies offer a unique perspective but can be distorted and less accurate than mirror selfies.
Are selfies what other people see? ›
Many times, photos show us the opposite position of what we see in the mirror. Sources have pointed out that often times, when we take a photo of ourselves using the front-facing camera on an iPhone, the result is an image of our face, not as we see it, but as others see it.
How do you see what you really look like to others? ›
Similar to the inverted filter, the True Mirror flips a person's image to reveal how they're seen by others. This effect is achieved by placing two mirrors at right angles, although when you look straight ahead in the True Mirror, there is no distracting line in the middle of the image.
In terms of quality, Back camera stands out and that's the usual output of all back cams, they produce higher quality compared to front cam.
