Many of us know the frustration of taking a selfie on our phones, looking at the result and being unhappy with it. It’s normal to feel like what you see in your camera doesn’t match what you see in the mirror, and that’s because it doesn’t! According to plastic surgeons, your selfie doesn’t actually show the real you.
Selfies Are Causing People to Change Their Faces
According to Dr. Boris Paskhover of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, “Patients under age 40 take out their phones and tell me they don’t like how they look … They literally show me a selfie of themselves and complain about their noses. I have to explain that I understand they’re not happy but what they’re seeing is distorted.”
In fact, a poll by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons found that 42 percent of surgeons have seen patients who want surgeries to improve their selfies for social media.
How Much Do Selfies Distort Our Appearances?
A recent study by Dr. Paskhover and his colleagues sought to determine exactly how much selfies distort our appearances – in particular, our noses. They accomplished this by determining a mathematical formula that calculates the distortion of facial features from certain camera angles.
Researchers modeled an average looking male and female face from a random sample of racially and ethnically diverse participants around the U.S. Using these models, researchers calculated the relative distortion of various facial features seen by a camera at 12 inches and five feet away.
They found that photos taken 12 inches away made the tip of the nose look 7 percent wider and the base of the nose 30 percent wider. Photos taken from 5 feet away saw almost no difference from appearance in real life.
“At that standard portrait distance of five feet, everything evens off,” Paskhover said. “That’s a classic portrait distance, which is fascinating. Photographers have known this for decades.”
Don’t Let Selfies Affect Your Self-Confidence
Dr. Paskhover recommends, “I really think we need to be self-aware that our cameras are skewing what we see. It’s not true… The younger generation needs to be aware of it — social media is everywhere.”
Many of us know the frustration of taking a selfie on our phones, looking at the result and being unhappy with it. It's normal to feel like what you see in your camera doesn't match what you see in the mirror, and that's because it doesn't! According to plastic surgeons, your selfie doesn't actually show the real you.
Features that are closest to the lens are going to be emphasized in the photo ― like noses. And when we take selfies, we're generally closer to the camera than we would be if someone else were taking our photo. At the end of the day, though, the way we appear in photos is the way we look to the rest of the world.
It's a reflection, so it shows how we look like in reverse. Because we're so used to seeing the reverse version of ourselves, seeing how we look in pictures can be jarring. And unless you're blessed with a perfectly symmetrical face, the photo version of yourself can be even more wonky.
Based on the information gathered, it seems that the back camera generally provides a more accurate representation of how you appear to others. The front camera, although more flattering and familiar due to the mirroring effect, can distort your features and make them appear slightly larger or plumper.
Mirrors are generally more accurate than photos because they're less susceptible to distortion and provide a 3-D view of yourself in motion. See your inverted image in a mirror by holding 2 mirrors together.Angle them diagonally so their edges touch and form a right angle.
This may be because when we look in a mirror, our image is reversed left to right, which can make us look different than we expect. In photographs, however, our image is not reversed, so we are likely to perceive ourselves as looking more like we do in reality.
Which is more accurate, a mirror or a picture? Viewing yourself in the mirror will provide a better picture of what you look like in real-time. Pictures are not the human eye, like mentioned earlier, there are so many variables that go into photos such as angles, lighting, camera lenses etc.
Similar to the inverted filter, the True Mirror flips a person's image to reveal how they're seen by others. This effect is achieved by placing two mirrors at right angles, although when you look straight ahead in the True Mirror, there is no distracting line in the middle of the image.
Introduction: My name is Clemencia Bogisich Ret, I am a super, outstanding, graceful, friendly, vast, comfortable, agreeable person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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