# Whats more accurate, looking in the mirror or a photograph?



## jackie100 (Feb 20, 2009)

I look in the mirror so much that I can't really see what I look like anymore and sort of became desensitized to what I look like. For example, I have always been doing dark brown smoky eyes and wear colors like satin taupe etc and I thought it looked ok. I'm nc20, asian, with brown eyes btw. 

I started taking self portraits with a camera, just because I'm vain and want to see what I look like and what my makeup looks like and brown smoky eyes didn't look good at all (at least not when I applied it on myself). I tried a medium grey'ish color on my eyes and from looking at the pics I noticed it made my eyes pop much more. 

I also took pics of different combos and that made me realize certain colors were not flattering on me a tall, for example, hue washes me out but I never noticed how bad until I took pics of it.
When I looked in the mirror it looked ok. And I learned from studying pics of my makeup that on me, my lipglasses look better just by themselves, without layering them over any lipsticks, when I compared pics side by side...

Does anyone else have this? Like, you thought you looked a certain way but when you started taking pics of your makeup you realized that you look different than you thought? Or that the makeup looked different than you thought? Or that some colors just aren't flattering? 

For some reason I can't see this when looking in the mirror but when taking pics it's more obvious. 

So then I started wondering which one was more accurate, the mirror or photograph? And then I also wonder how I look like to other people. Sometimes I wish I could step out of my body and see myself from another person's point of view to see what I "Really" look like, in terms of makeup, face shape, body shape, hair, just everything.


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## kristina ftw! (Feb 20, 2009)

Please say mirror, please say mirror, please say mirror ... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




I don't photograph very well at all, so I REALLY hope the mirror is more accurate ... I mean, a photograph can capture you at awkward times/angles, you know? Whereas in real life, we're not 2D. If that makes sense, haha. 
And I'm the same way, with wanting to know how I look to other people!


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## jackie100 (Feb 20, 2009)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *kristina ftw!* 

 
_Please say mirror, please say mirror, please say mirror ... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



I don't photograph very well at all, so I REALLY hope the mirror is more accurate ... I mean, a photograph can capture you at awkward times/angles, you know? Whereas in real life, we're not 2D. If that makes sense, haha. 
And I'm the same way, with wanting to know how I look to other people!_

 
Yes, I feel like this too! I feel like I'm not photogenic at all in pics. I don't have anyone to take pics of me and my makeup and the worst is when I am taking the pics of myself because of the angles and my nose looks so much bigger and I think my face looks slightly bigger too when I'm taking photos of myself. It's hard to look flattering in self portraits. However, I have seen girls taking pics of themselves and they still look great.


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## iadoremac (Feb 20, 2009)

i would say mirror because i dont photograph well at all in my pics i look like a size 10 when i am a size 6, etc so its mirrors for me thank you very much


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## tracyann91 (Feb 20, 2009)

What an interesting question!  I wonder the same thing though.  I think that self portraits are often misleading because of perspective.  Think of those "the dog" pictures with the big nose and little body.  I noticed in the self portraits that I've taken (horror) that my face is very unsymmetrical.  I hate that!  But I never thought much about seeing in pictures what colors work and what colors don't.  I'll have to look at that!

I guess I'd rather continue to think that mirrors are more accurate though - I see less faults there!


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## Septemba (Feb 20, 2009)

I'm torn on this. Sometimes I feel like a mirror in natural light is the best representation, but it's whenever I take a photo in natural light that I can see what needs work, like psycho eyebrows or blush too strong.


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## Skin*Deep (Feb 20, 2009)

I vote for which ever one makes me look better!! haha
I've always wondered this myself. I think some of it has to do with distance, really your reflection is twice the distance away from you as you are to your mirror, with a photo your image is as far as you are from your camera. closer you can see more flaws. this is my theory anyway.....artificial light and natural light mess with me too, I do my makeup in front of a large window at home, and when I get to work under the fluorescent lights, it always looks different, usually it looks more washed out. Now I'm eager to see what everyone else thinks......


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## iadoremac (Feb 20, 2009)

i think a mirror is better especiallyunder natural light, cameras IMO are a bit complicated with the flash and no flash etc


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## M.A.C. head. (Feb 20, 2009)

I'd say the mirror, especially when you're using natural lighting.

A photo is a pixelated image, it's two dimensional, and it's often warped by things like angles, lighting, focus, etc. 

Two nights ago I was trying to take pictures of my make up for a challenge here on the site, and I must have been trying for 45 mins to get all of the camera settings just the way I needed them so that I could take an "accurate" picture. When I checked myself in the mirror, I thought I looked great, that I had done a great job with my make up. In the photos, the lip gloss looked like ALL shine, my lips looked crooked, my neck looked weird LOL And so on. I just trust the mirror because I'm not one to lie to myself, and I'm generally pleased when I check myself in the mirror, if not, I tweak it until I am.


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## Beauty Mark (Feb 20, 2009)

I think I look fine in either, but the thing with photographs is they're dependent upon many camera settings, lighting, and angle. Also, they're around much longer to obsess over.


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## Simply Elegant (Feb 20, 2009)

Definitely the mirror. Even with a really good camera with all of the settings properly set, you can still manage to take one that looks inaccurate. If you take a picure of yourself without the self timer standing far enough away, you can make your features look exaggerated and out of proportion for example. I think the mirror is most accurate, then video, then camera.


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## nunu (Feb 20, 2009)

I would go for mirror, because in pictures the flash can be so harsh that it changes/washes a person out. It can also make things look brighter than what they really are.

Example: Russian red lipstick is a matte, when i took some pictures of me wearing it the flash altered its colour and made it seem like i was wearing a gloss when i wasn't.


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## florabundance (Feb 20, 2009)

Mirror!
Camera's pixelate your face, and that doesn't work in favour of some people. Also, lighting, angles etc.


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## User93 (Feb 20, 2009)

I really hope that's mirror, cause Im not photogenic at all... anti-photogenic.. I always look really wierd in fotos :/


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## NatalieMT (Feb 20, 2009)

I heard, now I don't know if this is wholly correct, that they most accurate image of yourself is your reflection in a window, then secondly in the mirror then last of all in a photograph.

I think I look so different in the flesh than I do in photographs so I really hope the above is 100% true.


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## browneyedbaby (Feb 20, 2009)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *NatalieMT* 

 
_I heard, now I don't know if this is wholly correct, that they most accurate image of yourself is your reflection in a window, then secondly in the mirror then last of all in a photograph.

I think I look so different in the flesh than I do in photographs so I really hope the above is 100% true._

 

Interesting! I hope that's true too


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## wifey806 (Feb 20, 2009)

i always thought mirrors don't give a true reflection..? Is it like in PhotoShop type of programs where you can swap a pic to its "mirror image"? Cuz in pics I'm like "_that's_ how people see me??" 

heck, maybe high def video is best lol :*)


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## User35 (Feb 20, 2009)

im glad other girls think about this. Lol i thought i was a freakazoid or something. I like my face and hair best in a mirror, my body sucks in both though.


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## luvsic (Feb 23, 2009)

I feeeeel the pain of not being photogenic. There are rarely any existing pictures of me that I like, because I feel like the lighting on cameras really washes out my face and features (with flash) and no flash can look odd in different lightings. I have to take hundreds of pictures to find like, 3 I like sometimes! I think I look best in natural lighting, honestly. But I've found the angle I look best in pictures, so I'm stickin' too that :/ ... we can't all be models who look good at every angle, after all. I'm trying to accept that..

What I heard is that people look most accurate on video settings, since it's not necessarily 2D and you are moving and such, so it's how other people see you...to certain extents 

meh, I still think I look better in person... I know a girl who is so pretty in pictures, but in person she really doesn't look all that great. That's why some models look awesome through the lense but can look completely different in real life. Some people are photogenic and some are not - as for me though, I'd rather look great in person than on camera. 

OK, do any of you ladies have this problem? For my prom that was 2 years ago, my dad took these SUPER *high definition* photos of me and I looked misrably bad in all of them - you could see my disgusting skin and all of my bad features just seemed to pop out...like my nose looked huge and my hair looked really greasy. They were just bad pictures over all. *Do high definition cameras make you look worse?? *I feel like with the right lighting and hair/makeup you can look alright, otherwise you have the potential to look like a train wreck...or at least I do. :/


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## Lyssah (Feb 23, 2009)

I have to agree with everyone else. Mirror! I dunno what it is about the camera but nothing looks as good as it does in real life.. I even apply that when taking photos of my bf. 

To make sure, I always check two mirrors before leaving the house... Bathroom and the car!! I sometimes take photos but like everyone said, It never looks very good or accurate (at least that's what I'm believing!).


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## kaexbabey (Feb 23, 2009)

i think the most accurate is taking a picture next to a window, or outside with no flash. or just looking at yourself with a mirror in natural daylight. biiig difference i tell ya. because taking pics will make you look different with different flash settings. like if it's too bright, then it will completely change the way e/s or lipstick looks on you in real life.


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## spacegirl2007 (Feb 23, 2009)

the mirror is a reverse left-to-right image of what you look like.
a photo (or probably video actually) is more accurate for what you look like _to other people_.
the most accurate depiction would be in a "true mirror":

true mirror: non-reversing mirrors

in a photo, you are frozen in one milisecond of time. naturally a lot of people dont like the way they look in photographs. also because we are SO used to looking at ourselves in a reverse mirror, there can be the effect of "that's not what i really look like!" (this is further explained in the link above). but usually if you ask other people, they will say oh that's not a bad photo of you! sure, that's what you look like. its all just a matter of perception. where you are probably thinking "that's not what my hair looks like" or something specific, other people are more likely to look at you as a whole.


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## ginger9 (Feb 23, 2009)

The problem I have with mirrors is they are not all consistent. Ever go shopping and find that some mirrors in the stores are more flattering than others? Some mirrors are actually sliming and they stretch you out, some can warp the other way and make you look shortened and stout. Lighting is also very important.


I like to take whole body pictures with a camera because I think it may be more accurate reflection of what I look like (less so face shots). Because I find that looking in the mirror, depending how I feel that day, sometimes I think I look fat, while other days I feel great about what I see. I think for me, what I see in the mirror can sometimes be affect by my mood.


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## luvsic (Feb 23, 2009)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *spacegirl2007* 

 
_the mirror is a reverse left-to-right image of what you look like.
a photo (or probably video actually) is more accurate for what you look like to other people.
the most accurate depiction would be in a "true mirror":

true mirror: non-reversing mirrors

in a photo, you are frozen in one milisecond of time. naturally a lot of people dont like the way they look in photographs. also because we are SO used to looking at ourselves in a reverse mirror, there can be the effect of "that's not what i really look like!" (this is further explained in the link above). but usually if you ask other people, they will say oh that's not a bad photo of you! sure, that's what you look like. its all just a matter of perception. where you are probably thinking "that's not what my hair looks like" or something specific, other people are more likely to look at you as a whole._

 
Interesting...

although I'd like to own one of these true mirrors, I don't have 200+ bucks I can shell out...I did try the 90 degree angle test though with two hand mirrors. What I saw in the reflection wasn't so bad 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 but I really want to see what I would look like full-length...


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## BEA2LS (Feb 23, 2009)

the true mirror thing is so interesting! i never thought it like that..


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## melozburngr (Feb 23, 2009)

I think mirror.. lol I recently tried online dating, and my pictures are not terribly unflattering, I thought they were more or less good representations of me... but you know what EVERY single guy I went out with said in the first date? You look WAYYY better in person than your photos...  Some of us just arent photogenic, and the what you see in real life version is 100% better! lol  (at least that's what I think, and if it helps me sleep at night? Meh, not going to question it too much)


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## wifey806 (Feb 23, 2009)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *wifey806* 

 
_i always thought mirrors don't give a true reflection..? Is it like in PhotoShop type of programs where you can swap a pic to its "mirror image"? Cuz in pics I'm like "that's how people see me??" 

heck, maybe high def video is best lol :*)_

 
 Quote:

   Originally Posted by *spacegirl2007* 

 
_the mirror is a reverse left-to-right image of what you look like.
a photo (or probably video actually) is more accurate for what you look like to other people.
the most accurate depiction would be in a "true mirror":

true mirror: non-reversing mirrors_

 
thank you for that! i thought i was crazy for thinking this for so long!


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## lumiere (Feb 24, 2009)

Yeah, I think the photograph is more accurate. Although I wish it were the mirror.


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## perfectdefect (Feb 24, 2009)

I hope it's mirror cause everytime I see a photo of myself i think i'm super gross but when I look in the mirror i'm usually happy with what I see.  I really don't photograph well...


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## luvsic (Feb 24, 2009)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *lumiere* 

 
_Yeah, I think the photograph is more accurate. Although I wish it were the mirror. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


_

 
I look sooo horrible in photos...although it honestly depends sometimes on what the lighting is and what angle I take the photo at. Out of hundreds of pictures, I'll be lucky to find one I like. Flash tends to wash out my face, and distort my features, and no flash means that I don't always get captured in the best lighting. IRL I have small eyes, but they are a little more deep set than what shows up in pictures - a beady, yucky bug-looking eye. And my nose in person is much, MUCH smaller than how it photographs, for some reason the lense makes my nose look GINORMOUS and horribly bad...even my mom said that pictures really don't do me justice. I feel the same way. I hate it when people say I look "fine" or "good" or "just like you" in pictures when I really do look horrible...I pray to God they're not more accurate than the mirrors. 

But I don't think photos are more accurate since the lighting can be toyed with and angles can make you look entirely different...but maybe that's just my excuse for not being photogenic 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I want to try out that true mirror thing.


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## jackie100 (Feb 24, 2009)

Wow, thanks all for your responses. I didn't realize there was so much technical aspects of it as in a photo pixelating the image etc. 

I would also love to use the "true mirror" somewhere to see how I "accurately" look but I'm not ready to spend $200 on a mirror either.


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## k.a.t (Feb 24, 2009)

I'm hoping mirror lol

Luvsic..I'm the same...I always end up taking hundreds of pics to end up with about 3 I actually like =/

I really want a true mirror now lol


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## Ggxox (Feb 26, 2009)

My make up always looks fantastic in the mirror but washed out and rubbish in photos. There was a really useful thread on here for how to take good make up pics but I can't find it now...anyone got a link?

xoxo


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## lafemmenoir (Feb 26, 2009)

To the OP we are >>>here<<< on this topic, as I posted in WOC forum that since I been attempting to do FOTD with my new camera, I could not tell you the horror I had from the photo.  I looked a hot @#$ mess and my eyes were so not white I looked jaundice, greasy and my hairs?


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## fintia (Feb 27, 2009)

I am not that photogenic too.. I have to take tons of pictures to finally get like 2 or 3 that are good and post them here... lol I look a bit different in pics that when I look myself in the mirror..


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## CherryAcid (Feb 27, 2009)

I would like to think a mirror is more accurate because i photograph so badly i can take 20 pics of me and only 1 or 2 if that make me look semi decent.  I always seem to look like i have 20 chins and a huge pregnant belly in pics.  I'm not thin by any means but im certainly not fat 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




  Though on one point my skin always looks nice in both pics and mirrors


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## giasexy (Jul 19, 2012)

Of course this would be mirror  reason being have you ever been told oh wow the pictures do you no justice well that's true . Cameras can add weight or slim you down when really that's not true also they also can make you seem tall when your short cameras are made with different settings and can be 95% off in some cases like when you take a picture of the sky looking at it from a mirror then from camera its more unappreciated. hope this helps.


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## Jenrbelt (Jul 19, 2012)

I lean toward mirror, too. I think photos are just unnatural anyways. I mean how often are people actually still? While a photo captures a moment, the way in which we look to others must be a combination of all of our movements added together.


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