Why Do We Look Ugly In Photos? Science Explains It
Take a photo. Look at the result. Delete it immediately. This is a sequence that is repeated relatively frequently in most people at the time of being photographed.
The main reason they usually give for repeating it several times is also known: we don’t look good. Why is this happening? Why do we look ugly in photos?
We live in a world where The image has great value in many aspects of life Relating to others, getting a job, finding a partner… a person’s image can indicate a large number of things about them, being judged socially. It is socially promoted that everyone tries to show themselves at their best in all aspects.
This also occurs at an intrapsychic level, with the person trying to create a positive image and self-concept and acting to bring their identity closer to their ideal. Physical attractiveness is one of the elements that are most easily visible from the outside, so a large number of people cultivate it in order to feel better about themselves.
However, no matter what we are, it is common that at the moment of taking a photo and seeing the result, a more or less profound dislike appears towards the image it reflects. Sometimes we look attractive and we can feel more or less identified, but on other occasions We think that the image does not do us justice; We look strange, different and even “ugly”. This feeling has different causes, such as the presence of high self-demand, self-esteem or being used to seeing yourself differently.
push yourself too hard
As we have said, we live in a competitive society that It requires us to constantly demonstrate the best of ourselves Most people maintain established objectives, goals and demands that are more or less realistic and achievable according to their capabilities. However, in many cases the individual may need to do everything as best as possible, trying to achieve perfection and setting goals that he cannot achieve.
The same can happen when taking self-image into account: the person may want to have an excessively good image, regardless of their ability and means to achieve it. This can mean that when you see the reflected image in a photograph, it is not considered sufficient, feeling ugly compared to the ideal you would like to achieve.
It’s the camera’s fault!
The excuse we usually use when we look bad in photos is not entirely incorrect. And part of the reason why we can look strange in photographs (and sometimes unattractive) has to do with the instrument through which we are portrayed. And it is that Camera lenses are not the same shape as a human eye which causes the final product to be different depending on what it is observed from.
Just as happens when we look in a concave or convex mirror, the lens used will make the image look slightly different from what we perceive through the human eye. Some lenses will cause distant elements to appear much smaller than they really are. while others flatten the photographed elements varying its size or apparent volume.
Brightness, sharpness and perspective also influence this fact, and can exaggerate or hide aspects of ourselves that we do not find so attractive.
Question of perspective
One of the aspects that can make us look ugly in photos is perspective. Normally people we are not able to observe our own face so that the only reference we have of it is the image that reaches us through mirrors and reflective surfaces.
The point from which we observe the image tends to always be the same: a slightly elevated position that coincides with the height of our eyes and also relatively close. However, we do not usually see ourselves from a long distance, from below or from a height higher than our eyes. The image that the camera returns to us and the vision that other people may have of us will also be different, seeing us from perspectives we are not used to dealing with
Habit and the mere exposure effect
In addition to the fact that it does not correspond to the image we are accustomed to, another aspect that contributes to making us look strange or ugly in photos has to do with being accustomed to seeing ourselves in a certain way.
At a psychological level it has been observed that human beings show a tendency to have a preference for things you know, increasing the positive evaluation of what surrounds us the more frequent the contact with it. This effect is called the mere exposure effect and is usually applied in social psychology to talk about the change in attitude towards stimuli, people or groups due to frequent contact, but it can also explain intrapsychic phenomena like this one.
Our reflected image is not our real image but rather its reflection or mirror image, which is an inverse image of reality, and this is what we are usually accustomed to. In this way, the image that the camera returns to us, which is also closer to our real image and the perspective of those who observe us, would therefore be something different from the one we are used to seeing. Although it is something that seems insignificant, it can sometimes help us to perceive ourselves as slightly strange in the photos.
Biases derived from self-esteem
Another of the main aspects when it comes to explaining why we look ugly in photos It has to do with our self-esteem Specifically, various studies and experiments have shown that the higher the individual’s level of self-esteem, the worse it is reflected in the photograph.
This is because human beings unconsciously try to maintain a state of internal well-being, causing us to try to identify with a positive self-image of ourselves to the point that said image is slightly superior to the real one. When observing the image of ourselves that the photograph returns to us, this unconsciously improved self-image is partly denied, causing us to consider that we have gone wrong in the capture In other words, as a general rule, people tend to consider themselves physically more attractive than they are.
This effect also applies to those people, objects or stimuli to which we are attached by affection. The fact of maintaining contact with something or someone we appreciate causes the image we have of him to be subjectively embellished However, in this case sometimes the affect makes the image itself be perceived better than it would be objectively (since we see that person or object in a very similar way to that reflected by the camera).
Likewise, people with low self-esteem tend to consider themselves less attractive than they really are, so in photos in which they really look bad for different reasons they can be seen more easily identified.
