Does the camera tell the truth? - YouLookFab Forum

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Does the camera tell the truth?

Marmee

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I just took pictures of myself using the self timer because my new jeans felt baggy after wearing them all day and I wondered if they would look different before and after washing. After looking at the photo I lost interest in the saggy and baggy problem. In the photograph, I look like a linebacker. My shoulders and upper body look like an overweight man's. Is it possible that the camera is adding weight? I know that I am slightly over my ideal weight, but my self image is different than what I saw on the screen.

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20 replies

Latest reply was from Marmee

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Camera angle can have a lot to do with it. And height. Aida once posted a great tutorial on taking good pics.
I know when my BF takes pics of me, versus the timer at about knee height, I appear shorter and overall smaller.

carter

Veteran

It's definitely NOT you! It's the angle, the lighting, the compression of 3 dimensions into two. There are few things I hate more than pictures of myself. Every.single.wrinkle shows up...even ones I can't find in the mirror. Thighs can look ginourmous if the angle isn't just right. My barely-there waist expands ridiculously if my arm is in the wrong spot. Drives me nuts. I just grit my teeth and hit "submit".

deb

Veteran

It took me a while to find the right place to take my pics. I am still not pleased with my shape but that is what I am and I have adjusted. That is the best part of posting pictures, the feedback and body acceptance. I also changed my style based on what I saw in the pictures.

FlorenceFearne

Totally hear you. In person, I think my forehead looks alright. Higher than some people have, but not freakish. In pictures, I always think, "OMG, must cut bangs now, now, now, before the local theater asks me if they can rent out that massive space above my eyebrows to project a movie on!" I've just resigned myself to it because I assume that people see me face-to-face much more often than they see me in photos, and I'm hoping that the mirror is telling the truth. Not only that, but photos are static, where your body is in motion. So even anything that you do think is bigger/smaller/wider/narrower than it should be probably only appears that way for a fraction of a second at a time in real life.

Aida

Veteran

The camera tells part of the truth Here is a link to an older post with lots of good info, including some of the tutorial Mo mentioned. I linked a few other things within that thread where I talk about how to improve WIW photos. I should probably compile all my photo info into one post one of these days...

Ultimately, even with really good outfit photos, it is going to be most beneficial to use the combination of the camera and the mirror because the camera simply cannot capture motion.

claire

I know exactly what you mean. I've been trying to post my first WIW for a couple of weeks, but there's such a huge disconnect between what I think I see in the mirror and how it comes it out in photos. Even when I feel really good in something it looks awful in a photo. Now I have gained some weight and still adjusting, but really, the gap between how I think I look and how the photo looks is Huge!

*off to read Aida's link!

DonnaF

Veteran

Not too long ago I viewed non-Photoshopped photos a fellow had taken of himself twenty minutes apart. The only thing that changed was the lighting. The first showed a beer belly and was pretty unremarkable. The other with lighting from above showed killer abs and an amazing sculpted body. Made me think I should walk around with a bright (but not wrinkle creating!) light angled *just so*.

Amy

(website)

Veteran

Wide angle lenses can also distort a person's proportions, kind of like a funhouse mirror.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

It tells a partially true story. You do have to fiddle a bit to get the angles and proportions more or less accurate. And lighting does play some role as well.

Even if the camera is telling partial lies, it's also really instructive. I know my style has changed a lot as I've gone over the WIWs. I see things in the photos that I never, ever catch in the mirror. And this is a good thing, even if it is not always comfortable.

Marmee

Veteran

Thank you all for your responses. I will look at Aida's posts.

My amateur photographer/engineer husband tried to explain something about depth of field or something while I was cooking dinner, but I didn't really get it.

Initially, I thought that YLF was helpful because I could look at other people's WIWs, but as I become more involved, I see that my own photos are just as important.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh, Transcona Shannon and I could give you a long sermon on this topic. Posting pics (or at least taking pics) increased the rate of learning, for me, by about a hundred fold. There is nothing like a picture to show you where the proportions are working (or not). Because that's something unique to your particular body, hair length & style, etc. And proportion seems to be one of the toughest things to get right.

Also, a string of daily photos (even if you do not show them to the group) can be reviewed and you can discover some helpful patterns. What do you really wear? What gives you high happiness? Are there wardrobe holes? All this becomes more clear with the photos.

Marmee

Veteran

Suz, you are right, I need to do daily photos. I actually started doing them, and then I'm not sure what happened. The great thing is that my daughter loves to take them (although the results are not consistent!)

Suz

(website)

Veteran

When I started here, my daughter did mine. (I got a tripod last year). She thought it was so funny. But we enjoyed it.

I find it tough to do daily pictures, too. And can't always keep up the discipline. But when I do, I find it really helps me a lot.

Krista is a member who learned a huge amount by taking pics. She rarely posted them to the forum but every now and then would put up a few along with her analysis of what she was discovering.

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

(website)

Veteran

Let me give you some perspective. Mae West was around 5 feet tall, and her waist was 22-23" through most of her career. By her own admission, she had a tendency to photograph 'heavy'. (So do I - although my waist isn't 22"!) I also read somewhere that photographs often look different from the reality of a person's shape and size, because they are two-dimensional and lack the depth and perspective that the human eye sees and processes visually when viewed in-person. I wish I could remember who wrote that article, it was very scientific, and made me feel a lot better about my photos versus reality.

And yes, the camera does add weight - and size - depending on the angle and lighting. Not just to people, either. How many times have you seen a really great photo spread of a gorgeous and spacious home for sale, only to go view it and find out it's teeeeeeny-tiny?

Amy

(website)

Veteran

Yes...what Suz said...I have learned far more by disciplining myself to take WIW photos, even when they make me unhappy. You WILL get beyond the unhappy spot and learn soooo much. I promise!

I have my camera set up on a tripod so all I have to do in the morning is walk in, click the remote and I have a photo. If you can work out something similar, it's much easier and requires *very* little time.

Beth Ann

Veteran

Ah yes, we all go through this! I take the "the camera has one truth -- the mirror has another" position. My camera angle needs to be a bit low to fit my whole self in the frame, and it drives me crazy. I think taking photos in the same spot at the same angle gives you a more consistent reference.

Also, remember that our eye singles out what we consider our flaws. Other YLFers will see you as a whole being. The more we see you, the more reference we have to your body type and style, the more helpful we are in helping you feel fab!

T

I agree with what everyone else has mentioned Marmee. Light, background, posture, confidence plus technical settings on the camera do play an important role in how your pictures turn out. Some of the highest paid professional photographers know this instinctively and which is why their talent is a gift. Some of us have a longer learning curve, but if you stay with it you will master it yourself too. I would only suggest that you don't give up and keep trying variations.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Suz is so right! I went through a time where looking at my own pics was downright painful. I felt so distorted and it messed with my head. But I stuck with it, worked on taking better pics (although they are nowhere in the class of Aida's beautiful photos) and making sure I got my angle and height of my camera correct. Then I knew that at least what I was looking at in the picture was a more accurate representation of my outfit and me in it.

But it's important to remember that a still two dimensional picture does not tell the whole story because you cannot show movement of a garment in a picture and there are times when this makes an outfit look better in real life than in the photo.

There are still times when I think an outfit in the mirror looks better than in the pic so I tend to go with the mirror as the truth.

And nothing has taught me more about proportions in an outfit than my WIW posts. These visual aids have been incredibly instructive. Even on days when I don't get to posting my outfit I will still take a pic for my own purposes.

Stick with it and don't get discouraged

shemarie

I have nothing to add, but a huge thank you for this post!! All of the helpful, informative replies from those of you who are so experienced and do this so well are much appreciated. So interesting. This is such an art! And this is exactly my struggle and a very big part of the reason why I haven't posted photos yet either. Time for me to study and practice and find some nerve!

Marmee

Veteran

Aida, thank you again for the link to your old post. I got a lot out of it. Beth Ann, I was also angling the camera so that I could get a full body shot. I think that created distortion.

I see a tripod in my future.