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ME! I take pretty bad pics about 95% of the time. No matter how good I look in real life or how good I think I look, I never look as good in a picture. My girlfriend is a photographer, she said to me "a pretty girl does not a model make". I'm going with it. Just because our facial structure looks meh sometimes when it's photographed doesn't mean we don't look great in real life!!!
My friends tell me all the time how bad I look in pictures, and they are right! If you look at a professional photo of me vs. something like a cell phone pic, it doesn't even look like the same person.
I really am the worst picture taker ever! I consider myself to be average in looks but man, I'm just flat out disgusting in pictures. BTW...you're picture is not nearly as bad as you're making it sound. Even if you're not photogenic, I like your smile...apparently the picture doesn't mess that up :)
The same thing happened to me today! I was feeling pretty confident, liked what I saw in the mirror, had a little pep in my step and all. Then, I had my picture taken for a work ID and when I saw the ID I was taken aback by how not-cute I looked. Ugh. So, I like to think that we both just take bad pictures, but we're hot in person (which I think is better than thaving the opposite problem.) ;)
To be fair, this photo has a lot of really harsh unflattering light. I think that people with somewhat angular faces tend to not always photograph as well because snapshots show too many shadows. When someone actually looks at your, their eye can see into the shadows and actually see you-- but in a camera your eyes are totally lost and thats what makes the pic not so great I think. Better lighting would improve the pic tenfold.
I think you are too hard on yourself (because I think you are precious!), but I am also a hypocrite because I SO do the same thing. I always feel like a look put together and cute and then see a picture of myself and recoil in horror! I am not naturally photogenic. One time a photographer told me to think of something really funny that I could laugh at right before a picture was taken. This doesn't help my hair/makeup/expectation issues, but it does make me look more lively and photogenic. I think we are our own worst critics, though. My FI will take a picture of me and say, "Look at this pretty girl." And I want to respond with, "EW! Who would marry her?" He just rolls his eyes and keeps the picture, so I guess I am not all that bad. :)
My brother and my mom. Weird part? I personally think they are the most attractive of us, but they BOTH have these awkward picture smiles and get what we now call the "frankenstein look." Like, my brother seriously has the BEST eyes in the whole world and my mom is gorgeous....but so not photogenic. It's so weird!
My stepmom ! She is gorgeous in real life ! But unfortunately she looks terrible in every photo I have ever seen of her !
@CorgiTales: I agree with this. It's all about having the right setting and angle for the camera.
that pic is great! I bet that's how you really look, or even better in real life! I have like 5 pics of me that I actually like - the rest not so much, I just laugh it off, really what else can you do?? We just have to know that the way people see us all the time (not in photos) is awesome, and we don't need to look at most of our pics!
DH, I love him to pieces, but he takes THE WORST photos of me.
completely unphotogenic, i swear he AIMS for giving me a double chin and wonky eye.
@burris4: I don't understand what is unphotogenic about you in the first photo? You look lovely - I would never look at that photo and think you were ugly?
Believe me, I feel the same way. I don't like most photos of myself...I am compelled it doesn't always look like me most of the time and of course the camera adds 10 pounds and of course some angles aren't the most flattering. I prefer the mirror--I feel it captures my true appearance the best because nothing seems to be distorted! :)
Don't worry, you are gorgeous! I go through the same thing.
I'm the opposite. I look wayyyy better in photos than in real life.
That's a lousy pic of you,(first one) but I can see through it and you ARE cute as a button! Warm eyes, vibrant smile...I'd kill for your skin.
The only way to get over it, is have some really GREAT photos taken by somebody who knows what they are doing! Stop the cycle! LOL
@KatyElle: This.
It's frustrating when you look in the mirror and see what everyone else sees, but phone cams are so unflattering. FWIW I think you look lovely and I'm not just saying that.
@KatyElle: I am the same way. I have the weirdest facial expressions on camera, and I swear the camera adds weight to what I see in the mirror. Drives me crazy, which is why I hardly ever take pics.
I will say though, I do think I looked pretty good in our e pics, which I was REALLY happy about :)
@burris4: The second pic is super cute!!! In the first pic you have the "forced smile" and bad light and that "ok take my pic" pose, which is totally unnatural. (I recognize these things because that's what I do too!!!) I think it just depends on whether, in that moment, you are smiling for real or you are smiling cause you're taking a picture. :)
I know exactly how you feel. So many times I'll look in the mirror and think, "Wow, I look so cute!" and then I'll take a picture and get frustrated because the picture version of me is an ugly troll. What PP have said about light and shadows is completely true. Some people just aren't photogenic, which in a world that's increasingly virtual (and thus dependent on photographs vs. the real thing) can be disheartening.
I think you are lovely (and might I add, cute outfit!). In the second pic you posted, which has better light, I can definitely see where the first one is just a bad set-up for a photo. So don't despair, and try to remember that pictures just can't ever come close to the real thing. We are trained by beauty mags to want to attain perfection, but none of the photos you see in those things are real. They take the base of a real human being and use image manipulation to create a piece of art that is without blemish.
@burris4: I agree with what CorgiTales said, the light is very unflattering in the first pic. Seriously, you look so fab in the 2nd pic!!
I'm pretty unphotogenic. A guy that liked me once actually said "pictures of you don't do you any justice". And then he introduced me to his friend and his friend was like "wow, your a lot prettier than your picture"... It definitely makes me wonder how bad they thought I looked in pictures. I think they meant it as a compliment, but it was definitely hard not to take it as a little bit of an insult. lol
@burris4 I definitely think you're being too hard on yourself. you look better in the 2nd pic, but the lighting is 1000x better. and not that we have to be models, but there are things you can do to look great in most pics. good posture, turned slightly to the side; chin pointed down slightly and most importantly a REAL smile. i tell my SO all the time- smiling is not showing your teeth, a full face smile (as tyra says SMIZE- smile with your eyes) makes all the difference. laugh and remember how your eyes feel. try to replicate that when you smile for a picture. maybe even laugh for real. it brightens your face up!
Meeee! I'm like that! I always think I'm so gorgeous in real life, but then someone snaps a picture and I feel like a huge uggo. It's not a good feeling. But I always justify it by saying a camera could never capture my beauty. Haha. I find it's especially bad if it's like a group photo or a far away picture. Those are really bad. I look best in close-up pictures by myself when I can position my face/body how I know it looks best. I don't even want to imagine how not pretty I'm going to look in my wedding pictures.
OMG I'm so like that!! The image I see in the mirror vs a photo of me are two COMPLETELY different things! I think I look good then when someone takes a pic I'm like "UGH!"
I wonder WHICH image do people see IRL? Mirror or photo?
I look awful in about 99.9% of photos too....I have had friends yell at me to smile when I am pretty sure that I am smiling....therefore I hate photos
@KeeKalena: I wonder that too! I'm like "Do I really look like that to everyone that sees me??!"
@CarolinaCola: I sure hope it's the mirror image! But you look SO gorgeous in the pictures I see of you!!
People have told me that I'm photogenic but there are just some times where I go "You people are BLIND."
I've got a friend who, in real life, I swear is one of the most gorgeous people I've ever seen. She's stunning. But she photographs awkwardly-- she has a strange smile in all of her photos and she just looks stiff and plain? I have no idea how it happens, but she definitely is one of those people who just doesn't photograph well!
I used to never show my teeth in photos because I thought it made me look strange. Now I'm all smiles and I think it helps? Who knows if it was just growing up or gaining some weight, but I finally think I look a little okay in photos!
@o0olibelulao0o: I would get that a LOT from guys I met online. We'd eventually meet up in person and they'd be like, "Oh, wow, your pictures really don't show how pretty you are!" I guess that's a compliment? LOL
OP, I think you're beautiful! And I agree with the posters who said that lighting and angle are important. I photograph absolutely terribly, and I know I'm not really that unnattractive. Please don't judge yourself based on a crappy photograph!
@KeeKalena: I have been asking myself the same thing. "Is this how people see me?". I have to believe it is the mirror image and not the camera image or I would never leave my house.
@burris4: LOL you're so funny! I have asked people that question and they say that the mirror image is more accurate because in photos, it's the camera that has to take the subject and translate it into a picture, so things may change etc.
Makes sense to me!!
you have beautiful features! It's just bad lighting
I was starting to feel discouraged looking at pictures of me trying on dresses, because my head looked HUGE! But then I did a little googling, and I realized that my point-and-shoot camera, when fully zoomed out, is slightly wide-angle, which is going to distort the edges of the picture and stretch them out - hence bigger-looking head than normal! It was a relief to know that it wasn't accurately reflecting reality. :)
So yeah, there are a lot of weird little things about taking pictures with a camera that can distort how you look - it doesn't mean you look that way in real life!
@HeyKaraoke: haha yea that's no good! The thing was I knew him in real life, but I guess he looked at my pictures on facebook and showed his friend but had to say "she's prettier in real life"... it was just awkward. lol
You are adorable in the first picture and very beautiful in the second picture. I've definitely had those days where I'm thinking I look great and then have a picture taken and want to cry! I feel like out of 100 pics, maybe 3 or 4 will look like I *think* I look.
Whether the camera captures someone's true beauty definitely depends on so many things related to photography, the lighting, the angles, the photographer, etc.
My theory is my personality IS my beauty. I suck at being photographed. When I was match.com dating almost every date said "you look much better in person." MM was smart he said " why did you put up a pix of your older uglier sister-" lol
Before the wedding I sent lots of photos to our photographer, with the disclaimer- Give me at least 10 good shots and I will be happy-. He was prepped when we got to Vegas and really worked to pose me right. I think working with the photographer is key. and not having great expectations. Like I said I wanted 10 good shots...
Some of us just do not photograph well, no matter what our mothers tell us.
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I was thinking that I looked really great today. Everytime I looked in the mirror I thought "wow burris4, you are cute". I was so convinced that I had it going on that I asked my husband to take a picture of me to I could fully appriciate it, then he showed me the picture. Hair doesn't not look at all like I thought it looked in the mirror (well, nothing in this picture looks how I saw it in the mirror)
I have never been photogenic at all. I am seriously the worst picture taker EVER. I am starting to wonder if I am really as unattractive as I am in ALL my pictures. It is depressing. Have you ever known anyone who is attractive but photographs horribly.