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 argue for repeating it several times is also well known: we don't look good. Why is this happening? Why do we look ugly in photos?

• Related article: "Satisfaction with one's own body is closely connected to happiness, according to a study"

Physical appearance and appearance

We live in a world where the image has a great value in many aspects of life. Relate to others, get a job, find a partner... a person's image can indicate a lot of things about them, being socially judged. It is socially promoted that everyone tries to show their best in all aspects.

This also occurs at the intrapsychic level, the person trying to create an image and selfconcept positive and acting so that their identity is closer to their ideal. Physical attractiveness is one of the elements that are most easily visible from the outside, with which a large number of people cultivate it in order to feel better about themselves.

However, whatever we are, it is common that at the moment of taking a photo and seeing the result, a more or less deep displeasure appears towards the image that it reflects. Sometimes we look attractive and we can feel more or less identified, but at other times we think that the image does not do us justice; we look weird, different and even “ugly”. This sensation has different causes, such as the presence of a high self-demand, the self-esteem or being used to seeing yourself differently.

• Related article: "Aspectism: discrimination based on physical appearance"

push yourself too hard

As we have said, we live in a competitive society that requires us to constantly demonstrate the best of ourselves. Most of the people maintain objectives, goals and demands that are more or less realistic and acceptable according to their abilities. However, in many cases the individual may need to do everything to the best of his ability, striving for perfection and setting goals for himself 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 his ability and means to achieve it. This can cause that when you see a photograph the reflected image is not considered sufficient, feeling ugly compared to the ideal you would like to achieve.

Blame it on the camera!

The excuse we usually use when we look bad in the photos is not entirely wrong. And it is that part of the reason why we can see ourselves strange in the photographs (and sometimes not very attractive) 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 like when we look at ourselves 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 items to appear much smaller than they actually are. while others flatten the photographed elements, varying its apparent size or volume.

Also the luminosity, sharpness and perspective influence this fact, being able to exaggerate or hide aspects that we do not find so attractive about ourselves.

• You may be interested in: "What is your good profile for photos?"

matter of perspective

One of the aspects that can cause us to 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 is also relatively close. However, we don't usually see each other 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 able to be different, seeing us from perspectives we are not used to dealing with.

The habit and the effect of mere exposure

In addition to the fact that it does not correspond to the image to which we are accustomed, another aspect that participates in That we look weird or ugly in photos has to do with being used to seeing ourselves in a certain way. manner.

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 often applied in social psychology to talk about attitude change. before stimuli, people or groups due to frequent contact, but it can also explain intrapsychic phenomena such as this.

Our reflected image is not our real image but its reflection or specular image, which is an inverse image of reality, and this is what we are used to. In this way, the image returned to us by the camera, which is also closer to our real image and From the perspective of those who observe us, it would therefore be something different from what we are used to seeing. see. Although this is something that seems insignificant, it can help make us look slightly strange in photos at times.

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 level of self-esteem of the individual, the worse it is reflected in the photograph.

This is due to the fact that the human being unconsciously tries to maintain a state of internal well-being, causing us to try identifying with a positive self-image of ourselves to the point that said image is slightly higher than the real one. When observing the image of ourselves that the photograph returns to us, said unconsciously enhanced 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 affection binds us. 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 better perceived than it was. which would be objective (since we see that person or object in a very similar way to that reflected by the camera).

Similarly, people with low self-esteem tend to consider themselves less attractive than they really are, with what in photos that really go wrong for different reasons can be seen more easily identified.

Bibliographic references:

• Epley, N. & Whitchurch, E. (2008). Mirror, mirror on the wall: enhancement in self-recognition. Pers Soc Psychol Bull.34(9):1159-70.