The main reason why do you look fatter in photos is optical lens properties, but there are also other factors that influence the result. These are your posture, sloppy clothes, and hunching, which can make your neck and torso look shorter.
Almost everyone feels they appear larger in pictures than in real life, but thankfully, there's a science behind it. Factors such as camera lens width, angles, and focal length can easily make even the slimmest of people appear wider by distorting their features or expanding the width of their faces and bodies.
“The camera adds ten pounds.”
This common phrase actually describes the effects of lens distortion caused by wide to semi-wide angle lenses, which can make people in pictures appear heavier than they really are.
THE ISSUE: Your phone's front camera is using a wide angle lens, so its sensor is grabbing information outside of what you see on your camera's screen and trying to cram it into a 4:3 ratio. This makes whatever is at the center of the photo look curved and wider— this is why your face looks so wide in selfies!
This is because the camera captures an image of your eyes from a different angle than you see in the mirror. The camera lens is located above your eyes so it takes a picture of the top part of your eyes, while you see the bottom part of your eyes when you look in the mirror.
This is because the reflection you see every day in the mirror is the one you perceive to be original and hence a better-looking version of yourself. So, when you look at a photo of yourself, your face seems to be the wrong way as it is reversed than how you are used to seeing it.
If you think you look better in person than in photographs, you're probably right. According to new research by psychologists at the Universities of California and Harvard, most of us succumb to the “frozen face effect” in still photos — and it's not very flattering.
When it comes to appearance, which is more accurate, the camera or the mirror? A flat mirror has no aberrations or distortion like a lens does. So your reflection in a mirror will always be a more accurate representation of you.
“Stick your chin out a little bit—think of leading with your forehead,” says Burr. “It brings the head forward a little bit but slims under the jaw line and the neck.” Lowering your chin down a touch will keep the pose from looking unnatural, she says. Don't miss these other tricks for looking better in photos.
Why is my face getting fat but not my body? Increased facial fat is typically due to weight gain. It may also be as a result of water retention, which can make the face appear puffy or swollen. Making changes to a person's diet and lifestyle can help support weight management and prevent excess facial fat.
Guzman said weight loss was typically noticed in our faces first. According to a Canadian study on the social perception of weight loss, "women and men of average height need to lose or gain approximately 10 pounds for anyone to notice the difference in a face," he said.
While everyone loses weight differently, dropping as little as 3 to 5 pounds can show up on your face first, Eboli says. That's because when you exercise your whole body (and eat healthy), you burn fat all over.
Mirrors can provide an accurate representation of our physical features, such as the shape of our noses or the color of our eyes. However, they can also distort our appearance in subtle ways, such as making us appear wider or taller than we actually are.
THE ISSUE: Most smartphones, including iPhones, have a wide angle lens on their default camera. Wide angle lenses cause barrel distortion within photos, causing the subject to look more rounded and wider than they are in real life.
One major factor is that photos generally show us the reverse of what we see in the mirror. When you take a photo of yourself using some (but not all) apps or the front-facing camera on an iPhone, the resulting image captures your face as others see it. The same is true for non-phone cameras.
A camera has only “one eye”, so photography flattens images in a way that mirrors do not. Also, depending on the focal length and distance from the subject, the lens can create unflattering geometric distortions.
Accentuate your jaw.
A well-defined jaw will make you look slimmer in photographs. Bring your head towards the camera by extending your neck. However, don't simply point your chin at the camera as this looks unnatural. Angle your head slightly as you pose by tilting it to the left or right.
Shy magazine recommends taking pictures with the camera slightly above your head. This forces you to look up for the picture which hides your double chin and the downward angle of the camera makes your entire body look slimmer.
This is because the reflection you see every day in the mirror is the one you perceive to be original and hence a better-looking version of yourself. So, when you look at a photo of yourself, your face seems to be the wrong way as it is reversed than how you are used to seeing it.
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.
You become familiar with this image because you see it every single day of your life. But the image you see in the mirror is NOT what everyone else sees. The reflection you see in the mirror each morning is a REVERSED IMAGE of how you appear to the world, and to the camera.
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.
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.
However getting to the question, it is technically very possible for a person to have an attractive face but not be photogenic. The problem is that the camera captures the face in 2D as opposed to our 3D vision. As the face appears to be flat, details like chin and nose are flattened on the face.