Differences Between a Camera and a Mirror

[Ryanswannell]

This may end up a long, drawn out post, but please bear with me 👍. Recently I looked through some of my friends pictures that I was tagged in from a night out on my Facebook profile, and I noticed something very strange. I looked completely different on camera to how I thought I looked earlier that evening.

So, I tried a little experiment. I looked in a mirror, just as I did before I went out the other night, and memorised how I looked. Afterwards, I took some 'selfies' (ugh ) with a phone camera (as my mate did) and then looked through them. I looked completely different again.
My skin tone had lost some colour, my forehead looked bigger and my face was more round. The strange thing is, my mates in the pictures looked the same .

Why is this? Is the mirror/camera playing tricks on me? Are there any reasons you guys know of why I looked so different between a mirror and a camera? Maybe psychological or physical reasons?

An answer would be hugely appreciated 👍.

 

[Slash]

Trick of the light.

 

[Intronium]

Trick of the light.

This, and also a major difference is that you are used to the mirrored image of your face. Everyone has facial asymmetries here and there but our brain gets used to seeing them in the mirror. However with close up selfies or camera pics you see the unmirrored you, whose slight asymmetries you aren't used to.

 

[TB]

Have a read through this, especially if you're even remotely interested in photography. My take on it would be mainly due to a difference in focal length between your eyes and the phone. Also, keep in mind that where you hold the phone while taking the picture will affect how it turns out.

 

[TenEightyOne]

As @TB says, partly to do with focal length and lens distortion (selfies at arm''s length are still a bit "bulls-eye" on many phones).

There's also some psychology going on, it's quite hard to "see" your own face. When you're looking in the mirror it's different from if you were looking at a picture of what you see in the mirror. Hard to explain but true