If you’ve ever wondered why your face looks gorgeous in real life, and then not-so-great in the selfie you just took, you’re not alone. A few scientists apparently also got so fed up with their lack of decent-looking profile pics, they decided to invest time into figuring out exactly what causes some selfies to look like so bad. According to a research letter published in the JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery journal in 2018, the reason your pic looks less than stellar is because of the position of your arm — namely, that your arm would need to be 5 feet long in order to take a selfie that doesn't distort your facial features.The study found that selfies taken at just 12 inches away (the average distance between your extended arm and your face) forced a "funhouse mirror" perspective that makes your nose look up to 30% wider than it is in real life. Great! “For years, I've heard patients and family members say, ‘Oh, look at my nose, it looks so big,’ when they show me a selfie," Dr. Boris Paskhover, study co-author and plastic surgeon, said in an interview with Live Science. “I was always telling my patients, 'That's not how you really look.' I knew that selfies distort how your nose looks. And I wanted to prove it." Rather than just looking at a bunch of bad selfies and saying, “Yup, definitely looks weird,” Paskhover and his team of scientist buddies at Rutgers Medical School and Stanford University devised a mathematical model that compared the distortive effects different camera angles can have on male and female faces.The results? A photo taken from 5 feet away, “a standard portrait distance,” resulted in no distortion, but a photo taken from 12 inches away resulted in a 30% nose increase in men and a 29% increase in women. Luckily, you can combat the distortion by either giving up selfies altogether or, perhaps give the camera to a friend for that "perfect" shot.For tips on how to get a better picture, watch the related video above.
If you’ve ever wondered why your face looks gorgeous in real life, and then not-so-great in the selfie you just took, you’re not alone. A few scientists apparently also got so fed up with their lack of decent-looking profile pics, they decided to invest time into figuring out exactly what causes some selfies to look like so bad.
According to a research letter published in the JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery journal in 2018, the reason your pic looks less than stellar is because of the position of your arm — namely, that your arm would need to be 5 feet long in order to take a selfie that doesn't distort your facial features.
The study found that selfies taken at just 12 inches away (the average distance between your extended arm and your face) forced a "funhouse mirror" perspective that makes your nose look up to 30% wider than it is in real life. Great!
“For years, I've heard patients and family members say, ‘Oh, look at my nose, it looks so big,’ when they show me a selfie," Dr. Boris Paskhover, study co-author and plastic surgeon, said in an interview with Live Science. “I was always telling my patients, 'That's not how you really look.' I knew that selfies distort how your nose looks. And I wanted to prove it."
Rather than just looking at a bunch of bad selfies and saying, “Yup, definitely looks weird,” Paskhover and his team of scientist buddies at Rutgers Medical School and Stanford University devised a mathematical model that compared the distortive effects different camera angles can have on male and female faces.
The results? A photo taken from 5 feet away, “a standard portrait distance,” resulted in no distortion, but a photo taken from 12 inches away resulted in a 30% nose increase in men and a 29% increase in women.
Luckily, you can combat the distortion by either giving up selfies altogether or, perhaps give the camera to a friend for that "perfect" shot.
For tips on how to get a better picture, watch the related video above.
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