Why do I look so bad in photos?

In photos, especially on phones, I look so awful. I think I look fine in a mirror, but in photos it's just awful. Especially in the photos when they flip them(ex. Back camera on iPhone). I hate my face switched that way. Advice anyone?

Me too.

I read once that people see themselves as 10x more attractive than they really are while looking in the mirror. There's nothing you can do about it except care a whole lot less.

For the bi-zillionth time in this forum, … When a camera is held close to the face, the lens will distort the facial features.

The camera needs to be several feet from the subject and a medium telephoto focal length lens used. When I say camera, I mean a real camera, not a telephone.

For a start iphones and smart phones are no good for photos. In fact they take terrible photos.

Secondly, get yourself a regular point and shoot camera. Put the camera on a tripod and use the self timer to fire the shot, or get someone else to fire the shot. Make sure you are a good distance from the camera - like 2 metres or more. Use the camera's zoom to frame the shot instead. Use diffuse lighting, no on camera flash, if outdoors avoid direct sunshine, a shaded place is best. If indoors, by a window is a good place.

Phone cameras are equipped with a little version of a wide angle lens. This is so the average consumer taking a photo can get as much as the image in the shot as possible. When you're too close to the lens, the curvature will cause some distortion.

On top of that, despite the fact that we see many photographs of ourselves in our lives, our brains are not capable of properly seeing US in our physical form. Our eyes are used to looking out on the world, not used to looking back at our own body. So we do look at ourselves in a weird way. Its a psychological thing more than anything else.

Cell phones are not designed for portrait photography… In fact, they are designed for making calls, not photos. The little cameras in them are a selling point and, nice to have if you happen to be at a gathering of some sort, in an impromptu photo opportunity where you don't have a real camera or for recording some 'evidence' like an accident or criminal activity. As portrait cameras go, cell phones do not have a proper lens design for portraiture.

Taking your own photo with a cell phone is going to most certainly, distort your face. Why, you ask? Because that little lens in that iphone of yours is effectively a wide angle lens… Not a portrait lens. Even using a portrait lens at arms length will distort the subject.

If you want to use your phone to get an acceptably decent photo of yourself, have someone else take the photo… Not at arms length but at least 2 meters/6 feet away. You will notice a dramatic improvement.
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