It's called lens distortion and it can render your nose, eyes, hips, head, chest, thighs and all the rest of it marginally bigger, smaller, wider or narrower than they really are.
The mirror is a reflection.
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.
However, pictures show your image the way you really look. When you look at yourself in pictures, it's a slightly different version of yourself than you are used to seeing. Psychology Today added that not everyone prefers their mirror image over their actual image because some like how they look in photographs.
The mirror is more accurate, since it doesn't exhibit any optical aberrations. You can't achieve that with any camera. Only flat mirrors can do this.
When you look at yourself in a bathroom mirror, you're seeing an image from double the distance to that mirror. That makes a huge difference in the distortion effect. For those pictures you're going to post on the internet, figure out some way to put a little more distance between you and the camera.
Hold two hand mirrors in front of you with their edges touching and a right angle between them like the two covers of a book when you're reading. With a little adjustment you can get a complete reflection of your face as others see it. Wink with your right eye. The person in the mirror winks his or her right eye.
Does camera show your real face? A photograph of you is your real face. When you look at the image of yourself in a mirror, you are looking at the reflection of your face, your face is exactly opposite what you see. A picture of you is most accurate as to what you look like, as the image faces the right direction.
We have spent our lives seeing our faces in the mirror, and we have become used to seeing our face that way round. So when we reverse that image, it doesn't look right. No one has a perfectly symmetrical face.
Sometimes it makes them look better, but the mirror is always more accurate. Unless you're using your phone screen as a reflective surface, in which case you can trust it.
In short, what you see in the mirror is nothing but a reflection and that may just not be how people see you in real life. In real life, the picture may be completely different. All you have to do is stare at a selfie camera, flip and capture your photo. That's what you really look like.
The camera lens is not the human eye
That results in all sorts of weird idiosyncrasies. It's called lens distortion and it can render your nose, eyes, hips, head, chest, thighs and all the rest of it marginally bigger, smaller, wider or narrower than they really are.
There's another psychological bias that affects us when looking at pictures of ourselves. It's called the confirmation bias. It's the bias that makes you hate you. The confirmation bias is our tendency to search for and find information that backs up our previously held beliefs.
REASON #1: YOU'RE A REVERSE VERSION OF THE SELF YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR. No human face or body is perfectly symmetrical. Although we often think we're surrounded by symmetrical people, this is only because our brains “correct” what we see within just seconds of meeting a new person.
In a series of studies, Epley and Whitchurch showed that we see ourselves as better looking than we actually are. The researchers took pictures of study participants and, using a computerized procedure, produced more attractive and less attractive versions of those pictures.
People see the outside appearance, like a picture or mirror reflection. That is you.
I found the front camera gives more pleasing pictures than the back one, for example, the pictures taken by the back one often shows my eyes are proportionally smaller. Also the front camera seems to produce completely dark pictures when the lighting isn't good, while the back camera can still produce clearer pictures.
More accurate is your image in the mirror. Phone lenses distort images when the object is near the lens. The image get less distorted the farther you hold the phone from the object.
A new study shows that 20% of people see you as more attractive than you do. When you look in the mirror, all you see is your appearance. When others look at you they see something different such as personality, kindness, intelligence, and sense of humor. All these factors make up a part of a person's overall beauty.
A non-reversing mirror, also known as a True Mirror, allows you to see something as though you were looking directly at it, instead of its mirrored image.
So, is that really what other people see when they look at you? Again, we're sorry to inform you that the answer is yes. If you think about it, it makes sense. The only time you see yourself is when you either look in the mirror or when you use your front-facing camera to take a selfie (or record a video).
No matter your age, the easiest way to correct facial asymmetry is with the help of either braces or, in more severe cases, corrective jaw surgery. Dr. McGrory recommends a series of treatment methods designed to realign your bite pattern in a process called intercuspation.
The way you view yourself will influence how others see you. If you have any complexes, they will manifest themselves and people will notice them. Either way, wanting to be someone you are not, trying to please everyone, being yourself and not letting anything influence you, having a personality, it's all noticeable!
We physically cannot see what our faces look like. We can't physically visualize what we look like in the eyes of another person. Just our own.