Why does your face look more symmetrical in the mirror than it does in photos?

Question

I took a physics class that had a unit on optics, and I remember the instructor saying that what you see when you look in the mirror is a distortion, and that your face is actually more asymmetrical than it appears to you in the mirror. I just saw this guy's question, and I tried to answer it but realized I've forgotten everything I learned in that class.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ao83RbAktNRDJ1ZLGRW5mfkSxgt.?qid=20070511201556AAh7g5N

What causes that distortion, and are photographic images distortions too? Which is less distortive?

Answer 1

I don't know about these distortion theories, since it seems to me my face looks about the same in every mirror. If mirrors cause distortion, wouldn't the distortion vary from mirror to mirror? The alleged variability in "flatness" would vary the distortion, wouldn't it?

As for the conversion to two dimensions, that logic sounds pretty shaky also. Both a camera and a mirror have to make the same 3-D to 2-D conversion, so why would they do it differently?

I think there is a simple reason why you look different in a mirror vs a photograph - not more distorted, just "different" - and the reason is that your face is not perfectly symmetrical to start with. Ask any artist, and they'll tell you that everyone's face is asymmetrical. The image of yourself you are used to seeing is the one you see in a mirror, since you see that image many times every day. In contrast, seeing yourself in a photograph is comparatively rare. The important difference between the two images is that your photographic image is rotated 180 degrees (note, for example, that the part in your hair is on the opposite side), which means all the asymmetical features get rotated as well. These differences become much more noticable in photographs because you see yourself in photographs much less often.

Also, here's a neat way to test this: Set up two mirrors so that you see yourself in a double reflection. If you have the mirrors positioned right, your right hand appears to be moving in the mirror when you shake your left hand. Don't you look different... more "distorted"? :)

Answer 2

If plane mirrors "distort" images (other than to invert them), then astronomical science would collapse. That's ridiculous. The matter of viewing your own face in a mirror or in a photograph is a highly subjective experience, influenced by factors such as a tendency to look at either the mirror or the camera with your face at a slight angle, which can produce the results you've described. It has absolutely nothing to do with the optical properties of mirrors or camera lens, because both are now capable of rendering images far beyond the ability of human eyesight to discern distortions. See my answer to the other Asker about this matter.

It should be added that having binocular vision does influence how an object looks, whether it's a refelection in a mirror or in a photograph, but, again, subjective appearances from such binocular vision still has nothing to do with "optical distortions" produced by either plane mirrors or camera lens. Perhaps your instructor was talking about orthorgraphic projections (telephoto shots), which isn't really an optical distortion, but a faithful reproduction of images at a distance?

Answer 3

Image in a plane mirror is is free of distortions but for the lateral inversion. If your face is symmetrical then this lateral inversion will also not be experienced. But in other mirrors or lenses some distortion does occur. costly and good cameras minimise this distortion. The technical name is spherical aberration. In simple terms image of a point object is formed by the rays starting from it and again reaching an image point after reflection/refraction. If they really meet or appear to meet at a point then the image is without distortion. This happens strictly for plane mirror only.

Answer 4

Make Your Face Symmetrical App

Answer 5

Yeah, it's distortion because it projects an image on a flat surface. Photographs are also distortions because the lens is circular. As for the more distorted one, it would depend on how far away you were from the object

Answer 6

unless the mirror is perfectly flat (which it never is), light will bounce off the mirror at angles slightly different than the angle of incidence, creating a distortion. the more bent the mirror, the more distorted the image.

Answer 7

When you look at a picture booth of your eyes see the same picture elements. Now when you look at the mirror your right eye will collect information of your face reflection on the mirror which is not the same information " reflections coming to the left eye. Thus I believe in this case your brain has to average the two information and give you the impression of equal sides of your face. How about that?

Answer 8

it just becoz of ur consious the mirror wont be perfect in any other cause