• aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Ironically, the mirror is the one most likely to be misrepresenting your image. In addition to being a flipped image of what you look like, anything but the most perfectly flat piece of glass is slightly distorting your proportions. And some mirrors are built to intentionally distort your appearance to make you appear more flattering to yourself.

    • accideath@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Most phone cameras also have a much wider focal length than our eyes though, which makes faces look a bit skinnier. I definitely look better in wide angle than in reality or telephoto.

      • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Took me until my 20s to figure out that this is why I look like shit in close up photos. Phone cameras make my nose look suuuper disproportionately large. It’s a relief that I look better irl.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      In addition to being a flipped image

      Common misconception. Mirrors reflect images, but do not flip them. If you put two items next to each other, their order is preserved in the reflection, not inverted.

      The reason people think mirrors are flipped is because writing on shirts appear backwards, but that’s because your shirt is facing the wrong direction. Write a word on something clear and hold it up to a mirror. It’s not flipped. Put the word up against your chest like it was written on your shirt. Notice how you flipped the word in order to do that.

      • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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        2 days ago

        It is flipped. The mirror is showing you the reverse side of the card, so the image in the mirror is flipped twice. Two flips make a normal. A person looking at that card from the mirror side would see it as reversed, but the mirror flips it again so it looks normal to you.

        • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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          2 days ago

          The mirror is showing you the reverse side of the card

          Yup! See the guy’s finger is on the reverse side of the card? It’s touching the N on the right side of your view. If you looked at it from where the mirror is, you’d see the guy’s finger touching the N, but now it’s on the left side of your view. Because you flipped, not the writing.