Do mirrors lie?

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mr p

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I've got this weird problem; I think mirrors lie. When I look myself in a mirror or a window, I almost always look super-handsome. To the point where I actually admire how I look. But in most photographs and films I look like utter/otter honeysuckle. Some pics are good though. It's a really big difference, which is what baffles me. How can it be like this?! :club: Is it because I'm short sighted and my face gets a bit blurred in the mirror? :/
 
I agree! It is weird, but it's the same for me. I look into a mirror and I see a fairly handsome, decently-built guy...

...But when I see a video or picture of myself, it just doesn't look right for some reason.

I think it has something to do with how a mirror reverses the image. A picture doesn't reverse an image like a mirror. For instance: I have a little mole on my left cheek. When I look into a mirror, it seems as though I'm looking at some guy (me) with a mole on his RIGHT cheek. However, when I see a picture of myself, the mole appears on the left, like usual.

So I think that somehow a reversed image of ourselves is somehow more pleasing to us. I have no idea why that would be, though. o_0 lol good question.

----Steve
 
Dude lol I have the exactttttt same problem though people tell me I have a photogenic face (that I look good in pics and all), in pictures its far far far worse than what I see myself in the mirror as in mirror I look like a superstar but in pics, even if I take it, I look like any average guy lol. People tell me I look good and all that honeysuckle but I just don't see it maybe because I m used to seeing a better me in mirrors lol. I dont know why. I m shortsighted too lmao maybe that.
 
Oh cool, I'm not the only one :D
For me, I don't think it's because of the reverseness. It's possible to take a great photo, but it's really hard. No one other than me has managed to do it. And when other people take photos of me, they don't just look weird. They look super-ugly. So what am I supposed to believe? That I'm super ugly, but at the same time get lost in my own mirror image? :S Haha. I even look good in rear view mirrors. (dangerous)
Maybe we correct our facial expressions in the mirror?

Edit:
**** it. I just made a recording of me, and took some photos, and they turned out great. I can't understand this :D It's like two completely different persons. Maybe it's the lighting.
 
this is an interesting question.. i look ugly both ways.. in a mirror or in pictures.. but i look super ugly in mirror.. i hate mirrors.. i wish there was scientific proof that they do lie!!
 
yeah mirrors lie. First you're seeing an image of your self in reverse.
Second, mirrors are not perfect. There's warp in the glass....

Third...you don't really see with your eyes. You see with your brain.
We all know the everything we see is upside down...and what we actaully see as the color is actaully
everything else except that color.
We all have blind spots in our eyes...our brain make up images to compensent for the blind spots.

However if we have a habit of viewing something..or have a bad perception of ourselves, our brain will
creat those images...
hahahahaaaa..Seeing is not beliving.
 
lol, i'm always happy with myself when i leave my house for a party,, then when i see the pics that they took of me,,,
it just depresses mee soo much that it's so different from my mental image...

sighh dam mirrorss
 
Same as the post above. It just shows me that I'm ugly and can do nothing to change it but maybe its all in my mind I don't know.
 
Yea i feel the same, but good thing i bought one of those magic mirrors where it actually tells you that you look good haha. And well the "reflection" in the mirror isn't exactly me but nevertheless i call it a mirror
 
Oh no, I was hoping they actually didn't lie :-O I guess that's good news for people that hate their mirror image, haha. So I'm unattractive now, bah. It's strange that some pictures turn out great though.

Lonesome Crow: Interesting, that part about "seeing with your brain". Another theory would be that I do tiny facial movements all the time, too fast for the eye to catch but cameras see them. Like a constant wave of minor change that makes the face look good. Or something like that.
 
Yes, I believe that is called not being photogenic. Same for me. I think I'm pretty enough although most of the time it doesn't transfer very well to pictures. Well, there are some good ones but you have to pick them.
 
I could think of a couple of reasonable explanations...

1. Imperfect camera technology. All kinds of warping, darkening, and brightening need to happen to process an image and a poor camera might not have the best technology to do this. Thus imperfections appear and make you think "oh that looks weird."

2. Lighting. When you're in your bathroom looking at the mirror, there's most likely generous lighting coming from above. This casts shadows making abs look ripplier and muscles bigger. Even makes faces look better, in my personal opinion.

3. Quality. Perhaps the limited capacity of the camera just doesn't match up to the better-than-any-HD resolution you get from plain eyesight. I like this argument cause it means you really do look better than in photos, in your eyes or through others'.

It's hard to understand why quality photography is so difficult, and I don't claim to know much but I respect it. Maybe someone who's taken a photo class or two could help us out.
 
I haven't read through yet to see if anyone has mentioned this but one of the reasons that we tend not to like photos of us is that we are accustomed to see the reversed image of our faces. The mirror reflects a reversed image whereas photos catch us the way other people see us.

I saw some study somewhere where people were given pairs of photos of their face- one of them a standard photo, the other a reversed mirror-image. For the most part people chose the mirror image as the one they preferred.

So to speak, pictures of me look "backward" to me because I am used to what I see in the mirror.

Then there's the issue of whether or not we're actually photogenic. Some people have faces that just love the camera; others of us have faces that repel the camera. lol

Edit: I should have read ahead! I see jedi mentioned it already. lol
 
well...I had a very bad body image once. Everytime I looked in the mirror..I thought I was too fat. (and I'm a guy :p)
People were telling me I needed to put on wieght or I was going to disappear.lol
At that piont in time of my life...I only weight 105lb. I wore size 27 slim fit pants.lol I thought I looked good.
I'm 5'7"

Today I wieght 140. I lost almost 10lb. I had to go buy new pants becuase all of my pants are too baggie for me now.
Here's a recent picture of me about 3 months ago. My wieght was 147.
I was nowhere near being fat. I'm 43 and I'm nowhere near being balb.lol
I have beautiful olive skin. In other words...I'm bless with a nature tan and I aint hairy.lol
I barely have any hair on my body on my arms, legs, back...etc.lmao
Once upon a time..I hated the way I looked. I bascailly grew up around a bouch of white or cucasian people.
I stood out like a fucken shiney door knob.:p
mikie-1.jpg


here's a picture of my duaghter...She's a heart breaker.lol
In other words she has guys chasing after her because she smexy...
So how can i be ugly...if she looks just like me???
It's just the perception or bad image I had of myself.
Her mother is a very beautiful looking woman. She had all kinds guys hitting on her when I first met her.
But she asked me out. It kind of blew me away becuase I didn't think a beautiful woman like her would want anything to do with me.
Especailly if she could have any guys she wanted. I thought she was too good looking for me. Which is one of the reasons I nevered consider approching her.
I've watched guys hit up on her and get rejected.lol
The turth of the matter is she found me attractive and thought I was cute, which is one of the reasons she asked me out.
Another thing was...i was bascailly broke and didn't have a dime in my name. She had a car. She used to take me out all the time.
Somewhere alone the line she loves me and cares for me very much. It's more than skin deep.

So how can i be ugly...if every women that I've had long term relationships with had asked me out???
I felt very much the sameway when Jenni asked me out.
Jenni was a very beautiful woman inside and out. All eyes would turn to her when she enters a room.
On top of that..She was a very successful professional woman. She made twice the money i made.
Women in their bussiness dress with knee high boots totally turns me on :p
I thought she was ....way...way out of my league.
She dressed very professional..and there i was in my jeans and T-shirt having a romatic dinner with her in a very fancy resturant.
Somewhere alone the line she found me very attractive beyound my looks and how much money I made.

What I'm saying is...the experinces and evidence are contrary to the negative images and perceptions i have with myself.
My negative perceptions of myself gose beyound my looks....and it's all in my head.

Jordan21A.jpg
 
my mirrors and pictures tell me the truth...that I am not attractive. I know I am not... but then again, I don't even try to make myself look attractive...so I suppose i shouldn't complain. I will post a pic soon...can't do it from my computer here at work.
 
Its actually something to do with the lights most bathrooms have. it makes you look thinner, and a little bit more tanned.
 
Take a picture of yourself in the mirror with a camera.

Problem solved.
 

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