In this article we will try to understand some properties of the structure of the human face, and why there are so many people who do not like their own photos, and what to do about it?
The property of the human face that we are interested in in this article is that in most people, the left and right sides of the face are not exactly the same and are also slightly unsymmetrical.
The asymmetry of the human face is very visible in the famous photo of Abraham Lincoln (he had a particularly unsymmetrical face). In fact, this photo is taken exactly from the front in relation to Lincoln’s face, although his torso is slightly rotated. The first photo shows the original photo, the second photo is its mirror image, the third photo shows Lincoln’s face made up of his two left halves, and the fourth photo is made up of his two right halves. The last two photos particularly vividly illustrate the described effect. Below is the result of performing the same operations on a woman’s face. The makeup hides the asymmetry of the face, so this effect is less noticeable, but nevertheless obviously present, because the last two photos are still significantly different.
People are so much accustomed to this phenomenon that it might even seem slightly unnatural for them to have a completely symmetrical face of another person, if they came across one. In view of this great habit of ours to the asymmetry of faces of all our acquaintances and strangers, we do not even notice this difference between the left and right sides of human faces, or rather do not attach importance to it.
But this phenomenon still manifests itself in a very interesting way. The fact is that people see themselves most often in a mirror, where their face is reflected from left to right, and they get used to their “mirror” appearance. But all other people and cameras see people for real, without the mirror reflection.
Because of facial asymmetry, the picture that people see in the mirror and what other people and cameras see is different. Thus in a photo a person sees himself real, but in the mirror he is reflected from left to right. The appearance of the person in the mirror is more familiar to him, so when looking at his photo almost all people unconsciously notice “something wrong” and perceive it as “ugly”.
That’s why most people don’t like their images in a photo. Although, in fact, it is only a matter of habit, because in reality, people in photos, in reality and in the mirror are equally beautiful. And really, there are no objective or even subjective reasons to consider, for example, the image of Lincoln in the first photo, more beautiful than in the second one. The mirror reflection of any picture does not change its beauty.
In addition, for other people the image of some familiar person in the photo seems familiar to them, and therefore as beautiful as the person really is, because other people and cameras see the real person equally correctly.
For strangers there is no difference at all what they will see in a photo of another person, because they are not yet accustomed to their appearance. As for example, for us reading these lines, the first and second photos of Lincoln are the same from the aesthetic point of view, although he himself, who was used to his mirror image (i.e. the second photo), apparently perceived his true photo (the first photo) as a very “ugly” image of himself.
But what to do if you still want to start to like yourself in the photo? There are two recipes:
Reflect your photos from left to right. You’ll see yourself as you used to and you’ll like your photo. But this method has a big disadvantage: only you will like this photo, because your other acquaintances will suddenly see you reflected, and they in turn will think “something wrong” and “ugly”, they are used to see you in photos and in reality the same and real. Therefore, it is better to keep these photos, and post the original versions of photos on social networks.
Do not look in the mirror, but instead take selfies. In this case you will always see yourself as real, and gradually get used to your real image, and you will start to like your photos in which you are again depicted as real.