Reasons You Look Bad In Photos

Do you avoid getting clicked by saying, “I hate having my photo taken,” or “I’m just not photogenic,” or “I look bad in photos.” Normally, anyones usual response would be that you just haven’t had a good photographer yet. I want to let you know that you are not alone. I have known many so far who say something similar before getting in front of the camera. And this got me thinking, if everybody thinks they look bad in photos, regardless of their size, shape, age, gender, then maybe it has nothing to do with photos at all. So I started to research on the images that people struggle with the most, and I have a handful of reasons why people think they look bad in photos, and I’m going to share those with you in this Blog.

Reason 1: The Mirror Effect

Have you ever heard your voice on a recording? Or on a voice message, as we use these days? The same thing that makes you feel embarrassed when you hear your voice on a recording is the same thing that makes you feel when you see yourself in a photograph. Essentially, your brain is being presented with a reality different to the reality it has come to know the most. Reason number one why you look bad in photos is that you’ve been looking at a reflection of yourself your whole life. Whether that’s looking in the mirror as you brush your teeth in the morning or checking yourself out in the shop window when you walk by. Your brain gets a clear idea of what you look like. When you see a photograph of yourself, however, you’re seeing the reverse or the flip and it can be a little uncomfortable.

But uncomfortable doesn’t mean bad. It just means that it’s different than what we

expected because the majority of us are not symmetrical in our facial attributes.

Contrary to what you want to do when you think you look bad in a photo, the way to overcome this is to actually look at yourself in photos more. Because this helps your brain understand that both realities are true.

Reason 2: Misalignment with Self-Perception

The second reason why you think you look bad in photos is that you may not agree with how you’re being portrayed. For example, those that socialise, learn pretty early on that their value and confidence is found in their appearance and ultimately the magnetism. So helping people find their confidence through attractive photos. It works for many, but not everyone feels confident the same way. And not everyone wants to feel attractive at all. I would never find my confidence in photos where I’m looking attractive or simply handsome. Sure, I can understand that these photos are technically great, but I don’t see myself in them. So they’re uncomfortable because it feels like I’m pretending. Once I was able to lean into my identity, however, I was able to start to ask for and create photos that resonated with how I wanted to be seen and more importantly, how I wanted to feel. So the next time you find yourself thinking you look bad in photos, get curious and ask yourself the question, “What specifically am I struggling to accept about this image? And does it have anything to do with how I’m being portrayed?” 

If you can switch from judgment to curiosity, not only are you going to release the shame of looking bad in photos, but you’re going to be able to explore your photos and ultimately yourself from a new perspective.

Reason 3: Hyper-Fixation on Insecurities

You can probably start to see that looking bad in photos has less to do with how you look and more to do with how you think. And reason number three is that you’ve taught yourself to hyper-fixate on your insecurities. Anytime someone would come and say he/she hated their stomach or didn’t like his/her chin, its understandable which photos they would struggle with the most. Whenever you look at photos of yourself, you might find yourself hyper-focusing on whatever your current insecurity is. We all do this, I have a squint in my right eye which is due to an accident that is quite visible in any of my pictures. Some of the most negative things were just telling me this was horrible. In fact, I almost deleted the images. However, because of the past mishap I was able to collect myself and realising what I was doing. I took a deep breath, centred myself, and once again, got curious, realising that my brain just needed me to help fill in the context. I asked questions like, “Who was I with? What was I doing? And more importantly, how did I feel the moment this photo was taken?” Suddenly, I could see the photo for what it was, this absolutely beautiful memory of myself and my friends hanging out. And I’m so glad I kept it because let’s be honest, keep looking at pictures recreates the memory and gets you a smile that just comes naturally. 

Dr. Wayne Dyer has said that “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” This applies to our photos, but also our bodies. When you find yourself hyper-focusing on whatever your insecurity is in your photo, it may look bigger or smaller, good or bad. Because at the end of the day, I don’t actually know how you see yourself. But what I do know is that whatever you tell yourself you’re going to see will be exactly what you do.

Reason 4: Unrealistic Expectations

All of the reasons why we look bad in photos have to do with reason number four. And this is that we’ve put some pretty unrealistic expectations on photography and our bodies. One of my favourite quotes comes from John C. Maxwell, who says that “Disappointment is the gap that exists between expectation and reality.” And if you’ve ever done any traveling, you know this to be true. But the thing is, bodies and photography don’t care about beauty standards, but we expect them too. Bodies are just biological organisms responding to a series of inputs, outputs, and genetics. Their whole job is to basically get you from point A to point B, keep you alive as long as possible. And they don’t care what you look like doing it. Photography, on the other hand, was created to simply document a moment in time. But somewhere along the way, we determined that every single photo of us has to be absolutely amazing. But the truth is, photography’s only job is to capture a fraction of a second, like one eight-thousandth of a second. But we’ve made these fractions of a second create some really big narratives, like “I look bad in photos,” that prevent us from showing up and being present in our lives. So today, I want to reassure you that sometimes a fraction of a second is just a fraction of a second. Sometimes a body’s just being a body.

The truth is, they’re just different photos. They’re not good or bad or right or wrong, they’re just different documentations. I’ve just known that one series of these images should make me feel less confident, simply because it does not live up to the expectation of what makes a photo or body good.

Reason 5: The Angle Myth

That brings us to our last point, reason number five. As you know, we have unlimited angles. Yet somewhere along the way, we’ve decided that certain angles are better than others. And for this one, I actually need your participation. If you do have a camera in your phone, open the camera and take a selfie. So got some good lights, find your angle. Look good - Handsome/Beautiful. If you reading this with someone, feel free to be in the photo together. You’re documenting a moment in time. Once you’re done with your selfie, don’t put your phone away and take a second photo. This time you’re going to take your phone and put it right to your chest. And you’re going to look down. You’re still smiling because you’re having a good time. You look amazing. Now, between picture one and picture two, if being radically honest, which picture do we like the most? One. Between picture one and picture two, if you had to post one to your social media today, which one are you realistically choosing? One. Now, between picture one and picture two, did your accomplishments and achievements disappear? No. Between picture one and picture two, did your love, passion, creativity and brilliance just vanish? No. And between picture one and picture two, what angle do you think your babies, your children, your grandchildren and your pets see you at the most? Two. And do they love you any less because you have a double chin or shadows under your eyes? No. The truth is, nobody that loves us unconditionally actually cares. All angles of view are worthy of being photographed simply because you are worthy of being photographed.

Beauty standards have done such a good job of conditioning us to believe that there is a right and wrong way to have a body. So it’s no wonder we put all this pressure on how we’re going to show up in photographs. But this pressure is preventing a lot of us from showing up in photographs with and for the people we love the most.

This past weekend was a family get together. And when I look at those photographs, do you think I see their receding hairline or wrinkles or whatever their insecurities

are? No. I see my family being happy together. Your people just want to see you being you. So I want to encourage you to take all the photos of all the moments and just recognise that they’re simply different documentations of this one wild, magic, amazing life of yours. And maybe, just maybe, you don’t actually look bad in photos.