The science behind why you look hotter in the mirror than in pictures and how your phone camera is distorting your face

DO you ever feel like you look hotter in the mirror than in pictures taken on a smartphone? Well, you probably are.

And there three reasons why that might be the case.

1

Cameras don't match the human eye

A camera lens is not like the human eye, which comes in twos.

Each of our eyes take a view of a person - or ourselves - from a slightly different angle, with both picking up different visual information to the other.

The brain then combines these two angles into one, three-dimensional (3D) image.

Your average smartphone camera, however, only has 'one eye' so to speak.

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This means pictures of you are flattened in a way that your mirror reflection is not.

Wide lens horror

Most smartphone cameras have a wide angle lens, which means parts nearer the lens appear bigger.

This is why your nose and eyes may look bigger, or even cartoonish, in close up photos.

This distortion is down to the camera lens itself, and is not what you really look like.

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Reversed reflection

You may also not be used to the version of your reflection that isn't reversed.

The image you see in the mirror is reversed compared to the image that others see with you face-to-face.

It's not the way you truly look.

Whereas your phone usually flip that image, so you're seeing the opposite to the reflection you see in the mirror.

Plus, in the mirror, you can move and adjust your posture.

Pictures can immortalise any unflattering pose that would be gone in the blink of an eye in real life.