Saturday, 30 May 2026

Which image is the more accurate, a photograph of oneself or a mirror?

I really hate seeing photographs of myself. They seem to uglify me and make me look older compared to when I view myself in a mirror. Which in turn makes me reluctant to post photographs of myself online. But which image — a reflection of myself in a mirror, or a photograph of myself — most resembles how I really look like? Which image do others in real life see of me?

It is true that we see a reversed image of ourselves when looking in a mirror. But it seems to me that this is a relatively trivial point. I can take reversed image photographs of myself and have done so, but I no more prefer such reversed images of myself than when looking at a standard photograph. Taking a photograph of myself, irrespective of whether it the right way or a reversed image, doesn't make all that much difference in how ugly or old I perceive myself to be, certainly nowhere near as great as the difference between my mirror image and a photograph. 

Seeing a photograph, a 2D perspective of oneself or someone else with specific angles and lighting, means the mind has to extrapolate. That is the mind has to conjure up a guess what that person looks like even if that person is yourself. But when looking in a mirror, one's image won't be completely stationary, one will inevitably make some movements even if only very slight. That provides the mind with more cues as to the correct visual depiction of yourself. So the mind has more to work on in processing what you actually look like.

Also, this seems to explain why it is that when viewing 2 or more photographs of someone you have never seen before, they can sometimes look like a different person in each photograph. There is less information in photographs for your mind to extrapolate from, so there is less accuracy in what we actually finally see.

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Which image is the more accurate, a photograph of oneself or a mirror?

I really hate seeing photographs of myself. They seem to uglify me and make me look older compared to when I view myself in a mirror. Which ...

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