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Fact sheet · updated

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

That is you,
the other way round.

Most of us know our own face only from the mirror.

Check a photo
A person seen from behind looking into a round wall mirror in a softly lit hallway, the reflection gently out of focus
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

FLIPPEDis what you know

A mirror shows your face flipped left to right. A photo shows it the way everyone else sees it. Add a camera held at arm's length, and the face in the picture can feel like a near stranger. Research explains both effects.

At a glance

≈ 30%

Wider-looking nose at 12 inches

Ward and colleagues calculated a 30% increase in perceived nose width for men and 29% for women at 12 inches, compared with a distortion-free projection. At 5 feet there was essentially no difference.

SELFIE DISTANCE · WARD 2018

610

People in two online studies

Across two internet-based studies with 610 people, images chosen by strangers gave more favourable impressions than images people chose of themselves.

PROFILE PICTURES · WHITE 2017

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Close lenses stretch,
strangers choose well.

One figure on selfie distance,
one on the size of the profile picture studies.

In a separate set of experiments, Epley and Whitchurch (2008) found people were more likely to pick an attractively enhanced version of their own face from a line-up as the real one.

A QUICK PHOTO CHECK

Which photo
feels off?

Pick a kind of photo to see what research says about how it shows your face. The bar shows how unfamiliar it is likely to look to you.

Based on Mita and colleagues (1977) as summarised in Psychology Today, Ward and colleagues (2018) and White and colleagues (2017).

Photo check

Choose a photo
A photo flipped like a mirrorFeels like you

This is the version you see every day. People in a 1977 study preferred their mirror image, an effect linked to the mere exposure effect: we warm to what we see often.

A portrait taken from 5 feetTrue to shape

Ward and colleagues found that at about 5 feet, a standard portrait distance, there was essentially no difference in perceived nose size.

An ordinary unflipped photoThe view friends know

Friends in the 1977 study preferred this true image of the person. It can look slightly wrong to you simply because you rarely see it.

A profile picture you choseMaybe not your best

White and colleagues found that self-chosen profile images gave less favourable first impressions than images chosen by strangers.

A selfie at arm's lengthNose looks bigger

At 12 inches, keeping cheek width fixed, the model showed the nose about 30% wider in men and 29% in women than in a distortion-free view.

Sources: Psychology Today on Mita, Dermer and Knight (1977); Ward and colleagues, JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery (2018); White, Sutherland and Burton, Cognitive Research (2017).

THE SHORT ANSWER

Familiar flipped,
stretched close up.

Three findings that explain
why a photo of you can feel off.

MIRRORS

You know the flipped you

In a 1977 study, people preferred photos showing their mirror image, while their friends preferred the true, unflipped image of them.

Check a photo

DISTANCE

Arm's length adds nose

A 2018 model found that at 12 inches a selfie makes the nose look about 30% wider relative to the face. At 5 feet the effect all but disappears.

See the numbers

CHOOSING

Let someone else pick

In two studies of profile pictures, photos picked by strangers gave better first impressions than the ones people picked of themselves.

Try it
A hand choosing one small printed photo from a row of soft-focus portrait prints laid out on a wooden table
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

FOUR THINGS TO TRY

Better photos,
fewer surprises.

None of these needs new equipment. They work with the two effects above: how familiar a view is, and how far the camera sits from your face.

  1. Step back from the lens

    Ward's model found the close-up stretch fades with distance and is essentially gone at about 5 feet. A timer or a friend helps.

  2. Flip a selfie to compare

    View a photo both ways. If the flipped one feels more like you, that is the familiar mirror view, not a better face.

  3. Ask someone else to choose

    White and colleagues found strangers picked profile photos that made better first impressions than people's own picks.

  4. Give a new photo time

    We tend to warm to faces we see often. A view that looks odd at first can feel more normal with repeated viewing.

WHY WE MISJUDGE OURSELVES

Kind to our
own reflection.

Epley and Whitchurch morphed photos of people's faces to look more or less attractive. People were more likely to pick an attractively enhanced version from a line-up as their real face, and spotted it faster among other faces.

The same bias appeared for a friend's face but not for a relative stranger's. So when a plain photo of you feels like a let-down, part of the gap may be the flattering picture of yourself you already carry in your head.

A hand holding a smartphone at arm's length outdoors for a selfie, with the phone's dark back towards the viewer
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Questions

Questions people ask

Why do I look different in photos than in the mirror?

A mirror shows your face flipped left to right, and that is the view you know best. A photo shows the unflipped view others see, which can feel unfamiliar to you.

Do selfies really make your nose look bigger?

According to a 2018 geometric model by Ward and colleagues, yes at close range: at 12 inches the nose looked about 30% wider for men and 29% for women relative to the face, with essentially no difference at 5 feet.

Which version of me do my friends prefer?

In the 1977 study by Mita and colleagues, as summarised in Psychology Today, friends preferred the true, unflipped image while the people themselves preferred their mirror image.

Should I choose my own profile picture?

White and colleagues found self-chosen profile images gave less favourable first impressions than images chosen by strangers, so a second opinion may help.

Why would I prefer my mirror image?

Psychology Today links the 1977 finding to the mere exposure effect, the consistent finding that we feel more comfortable with and favourable towards things we see frequently.

Sources

Where the facts come from

  1. Psychology Today (Tara Well, Barnard College): Why your photos don't look like you
  2. Ward et al. (2018), Nasal distortion in short-distance photographs: the selfie effect, JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery (PMC)
  3. White, Sutherland and Burton (2017), Choosing face: the curse of self in profile image selection, Cognitive Research (PMC)
  4. Epley and Whitchurch (2008), Mirror, mirror on the wall: enhancement in self-recognition (abstract, Europe PMC)

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