My mirror is telling me lies!

I thought I was looking ok, until I got my gf to take a couple of snaps of me the other day. I still have a long way to go. :o

If I take my shirt off in public, do people see the mirror me or the photo me? :D

The Photo you. Sad but true.

My mirror is telling me lies!

I thought I was looking ok, until I got my gf to take a couple of snaps of me the other day. I still have a long way to go. :o

If I take my shirt off in public, do people see the mirror me or the photo me? :D

:) Hey there BubbleBoy. I know how you feel.

Mirror viewing is so biased. :lol: Whenever we look at ourselves we tend to see ourselves as better than the actual reality. :D

When I took some digital shots of myself the reality sunk in on how subjectively I was viewing myself in the mirror. I didnt think I was a stud when I looked at the mirror but I certainly thought I looked in better shape than I really was :)

The camera never lies. Its one of the most objective tools you have in your arsenal to get into better shape. :tu:

Regarding public viewing minus t-shirts. People will probably see the photo version of you. Its only the person without the shirt(you) that sees himself in a more flattering light.

Men are usually guilty of this thanks to his inflated ego(Not that its bad but it can distort perceptions at times :) )

Good luck anyways on your goals man :)

The mirror you. They're constantly seeing you in motion and from a lot of different angles.

Everybody sees an image on gelatin or celluloid or in pixels and swears it's a frozen moment in time. It's not. It's considerably flattened out. Ever hear the expression, "The camera adds ten pounds."? Ever know anybody in person for a while and then see them on TV? :lol:

Pictures are awesome for weight loss reference in their capacity to show difference between one controlled environment snapshot and another. That's it. Unless you're paralyzed and can't ever move of your own volition you're always seeing things from a different perspective and are always seeing things in motion.

Trust measurements. Trust the fit of your jeans. Trust what this week's picture looks like in comparison to the same one, under the same conditions, that you took eight weeks ago. :tucool:

M@

Relax Bubbleboy. The camera lies. I know this because I can take pictures of myself within seconds of each other under different lighting conditions and from different angles, and they look completely different. The flash especially tends to wash out certain areas and show you in an unflattering light. I even made a thread about it in the private media gallery.

Trust your mirror. Besides, it's more important how you think you look than how other people think you look.

I also got the same issue, the mirror me seems ok, but the photo me gosh!!.. the love handles seems to be even more exaggerated :o I look like some fat slob

Perhaps if you have darker complexion, it would be less of an issue on photo.

That's why I started Tanning :) it's part of my Diet plan.. :D

Thanks everyone....glad I'm not alone.

I guess when the day comes that I'm happy with the way I look in the mirror and on film......I'll probably have no use for this forum anymore :confused:

Pig might fly as well :D

Cheers

Yeah I hate this phenomenon too. Twice so far I've looked in the bathroom mirror, and with the lighting at the time coming through the window I thought I'd looked pretty decent compared to how I used to look. So I run and get the camera so I can take a snap and possibly use it as an avatar like so many others do (and they look great btw) on this forum. I take the snapshot in the same position, in the same light with a tripod. Look at the picture and I just look fat.

I think I'll stick with Spidey for the time being :).

Cheers,
Heavy

Yeah I hate this phenomenon too. Twice so far I've looked in the bathroom mirror, and with the lighting at the time coming through the window I thought I'd looked pretty decent compared to how I used to look. So I run and get the camera so I can take a snap and possibly use it as an avatar like so many others do (and they look great btw) on this forum. I take the snapshot in the same position, in the same light with a tripod. Look at the picture and I just look fat.

I think I'll stick with Spidey for the time being :).

Cheers,
Heavy

I did this tonight as well and I'd say 80% of the time this isn't because we really look that bad in real life. The mirror you is being seen through the lense of your eye. The picture you is probably being taken by a very wide angle lense if it's a point and shoot cheapy camera. In short the length (or focal length) of the lense that is on the camera distorts the image. Think of what a fish-eye lense looks like. That's an extremely wide angle lense allowing the camera to see a large area. To do this it distorts the way the light is focused and makes everything appear a little wider and bigger than you see it in your eye. You can also do the opposite of this and use a longer lense that would distort you the other way and make you appear slightly more compressed but due to autofocus features and other technical reasons these cheap cameras are made with wide angle lenses.

I tried to compress that as much as possible and still have it where people could understand it. Hopefully it's not too much gunk. Basically there's a very good chance your camera lies. You can get a camera with a "normal" lense that corresponds to the lense on your eye and get exactly what you see but not without getting a higher end SLR type job.

The other problem with digital cameras is that they can make warm lighting look very blue/white. They can even go so far as to reverse a healthy skin color into a goth whiteness.

As far as making yourself look good without a shirt on with a cheap camera it's probably not going to happen but they are wonderful motivating tools. You don't look as bad as the camera says you do but don't let yourself use that as an excuse to ignore what the camera says.

I guess that's why they say the camera adds ten lbs

(I'm not a photographer, but I play one on the Internet.)

That's why photographers use "portrait lenses", which are medium to long zoom lenses, and stand far away from their subjects. That way the distance between your various body parts will be relatively equidistant to the camera, and you won't emphasize the center portion of the image (nose, usually, or belly, in our cases).

If you use a simple digital camera, try to be about 2/3 max zoom...

Yeah I hate this phenomenon too. Twice so far I've looked in the bathroom mirror, and with the lighting at the time coming through the window I thought I'd looked pretty decent compared to how I used to look. So I run and get the camera so I can take a snap and possibly use it as an avatar like so many others do (and they look great btw) on this forum. I take the snapshot in the same position, in the same light with a tripod. Look at the picture and I just look fat.

I think I'll stick with Spidey for the time being :).

Cheers,
Heavy :lol: thats what i do... i try and never take photos of myself, till i know im ripped... even then im dreading i'd look fugly still.

"If it jiggles, it's fat." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

say it ain't so! K, I'm not taking a picture of myself for at least 3 more months! hahaha...

Ive seen swole cat say that the best lighting is natural (sun). I bet ur girlfriend took the pic with a flash, which ive heard aint good, "splashing" light onto someone kills any definition, its light from above that helps, hence the mirrior (with lights over the mirror im assuming), or the sun.
Just because your outside doesnt mean the lighting is good, all depends on how the sun is hitting you. Tan helps, i started tanning and im burnt. Oie...lol