With the rapid advances in technology that come with living in the 21st century, a large portion of the population in any developed country walks around with a camera in their pocket.
This new widespread photography technology allows people to take pictures anywhere at any time- this could be bad news for some people who consider themselves unphotogenic.
Why Am I So Unphotogenic?
1. Your Photos Are At Bad Angles
One of the most important aspects of photography is the mastery of angles. The human body, including the face, can look completely different by even slightly changing your camera angles.
People often talk about having a good side when it comes to pictures, and they are not exaggerating.
Due to the asymmetry of human faces, certain sides may photograph better, especially at certain angles.
If you are not aware of which angles work best with your face, you will likely find yourself to be unphotogenic as your pictures will not be flattering to your form!
2. You Don’t Practice Taking Pictures
Practicing a picture may seem self-absorbed, but practice does make perfect!
By taking multiple pictures for fun or adjusting your camera until you find an angle you are satisfied with, you can figure out which angles work best for your face.
As everybody’s face is different, no two angles will work the best for everybody. By practicing taking photos, you can find out which angle, pose, and lighting styles work best for you!
Practicing your pictures may seem odd, and you may feel foolish, but when the time comes to take a good picture, you will be thankful to have spent so much time practicing.
3. You Face The Camera
It’s silly to think that you would want to face away from the camera- but looking directly into the lens can distort your face and make it seem flat!
A photograph tip that many celebrities and models use is slightly angling their heads. This angling helps give your head some more angles and seem less like a dinner plate to the camera.
Angling your head in any random direction is not wise for many reasons. This tactic circles back into needing to practice. You will have to find out which angles look best on you!
4. You Force Your Smile
Many people cannot naturally smile on demand, so they force a smile while taking pictures. In many cases, people can easily pick up on a forced smile.
If you want to show a more natural smile, try thinking of a funny joke or a happy memory while taking a picture.
This tactic helps provide a more natural smile, which can make you look far better.
5. You Are Taking Selfies
While selfies have rapidly become the most popular style of picture, they are also one of the worst ways to determine what somebody’s proportions genuinely are.
Cell phone cameras often have a different depth of field than larger cameras, along with a lack of lighting settings. While many modern phones seek to rectify this issue, some issues remain.
Therefore, selfies do not properly reflect what you look like. If you rely on selfies, you may perceive yourself as particularly unphotogenic.
6. Your Camera Has A Different Depth
Once again referring to the depth of field, every camera has a different depth. Depth of field refers to the distance between the nearest and furthest parts of a photograph.
With the different depths of field, cameras may manipulate the perception of depth in an image and make your face seem far more flat or far longer than it is.
This difference in depth can make you look odd and make you think you are far less photogenic than you are.
7. You Don’t Know Lighting Tricks
While these lighting tricks may not help during casual group photos, they can level up your selfie game.
Photography is, for the most part, a game of lighting. Light can manage to illuminate, focus or highlight certain features of your face.
The proper lighting can entirely change how your face appears, for better or worse.
An impromptu photoshoot after dinner may not be the best case for lighting, but your selfies can take advantage of certain lighting tricks!
If you are taking a selfie, try placing a sheet of printer paper just under your chin to reflect light onto your face. This trick can illuminate your face and reduce the appearance of a double chin.
Additionally, you can take advantage of natural lighting to make yourself look better! Make sure light sources are in front of you and that no lights are turned on behind you.
By utilizing simple lighting tricks, you can look far better in any photograph!
8. You Don’t Smile With Your Eyes
Many people do not smile with their eyes, meaning that while their mouth and cheeks are smiling, their eyes are staring dead into the camera.
Smiling without your eyes can produce an odd and unsettling look resembling Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. Nobody wants to seem like a serial killer, so try smiling with your eyes!
9. You Don’t Want A Picture
If you are not fond of taking pictures, you will not put as much effort into looking nice for the picture. Not putting in any effort will make you look worse in the picture.
When you look worse in a picture, you see yourself as less photogenic and are less willing to take more photos. It is a self-perpetuating cycle.
Try being excited for a picture and see what changes!
10. Your Face Is Asymmetrical
Many famously-handsome actors and gorgeous actresses are known for their symmetrical faces, along with models who get paid to look pretty.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, our faces tend to be asymmetrical.
There is no shame in this form; most people’s faces are asymmetrical to some degree, and it does not stop anybody from being attractive.
However, particularly asymmetrical faces can be more challenging to photograph well, especially on a cell phone camera. Thankfully, challenging does not mean impossible!
This circles around once again to practicing photographs. You have to know which angles work for you and what makes you work best.
You are not unphotographable- you simply need to learn what your unique face requires to look its best.
Everybody looks different for a reason, and sometimes that has side effects. Your face is yours, and even if it can be hard to photograph, you should love it!
11. You Don’t Photograph Well
Ultimately, some people do not photograph well. This status is not an indication of attractiveness; some beautiful people may not photograph well, either!
Not only do some people not photograph well, but some people refuse to believe that they can photograph well at all.
Because the human eye is so fundamentally different from all available cameras, you can be attractive while still not photographing well.
This difference is nobody’s fault and is no condemnation of appearance; unfortunately, it is exclusively due to the limitations of technology.
Perhaps in the future, somebody will design a camera that photographs people as they see themselves, but this is unlikely.
In the meantime, consider practicing your picture-taking regardless of how photogenic you believe you are.
If you cannot take a picture you are happy with, you may still find it to be worth it to get as close to one as you can get!
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why you are so ugly in pictures, why you look better in the mirror, and why you can’t run in your dreams.
In Conclusion
To wrap it all up, there are many reasons you may not photograph well. These reasons vary from the specs of your camera to your pose or even the structure of your face.
Thankfully, none of this means you are unattractive! While you may believe yourself to be unphotogenic, a camera is very different from a human eye. You are still beautiful!