Human face asymmetry.

In this article we will try to understand some of the properties of the structure of the human face, and why there are so many people who do not like their own photographs, and what to do about it?

The property of the human face that interests us in this article is that for most people, the left and right sides of the face are not exactly the same and are also slightly not symmetrical.

The asymmetry of the human face is very clearly visible in the famous photo of Abraham Lincoln (he had a particularly non-symmetrical face). In fact, this photo was taken exactly from the front in relation to Lincoln's face, although his torso is slightly turned. In the first photo we see the original photograph, in the second - its mirror image, in the third one - Lincoln's face, made up of two of his left halves, in the fourth photo - face made of two right ones. The last two photos illustrate the described effect especially vividly. Below is the result of carrying out the same operations on a woman's face. The makeup hides the asymmetry of the face, so this effect is less noticeable, but nevertheless it is obviously present, because the last two photos are still significantly different.

People are so much accustomed to this phenomenon that it may even seem slightly unnatural to them to have an absolutely symmetrical face of another person if they had such a thing. In view of such a great habit of ours to the asymmetry of the faces of all our acquaintances and people we are not familiar with, we do not even notice this difference between the left and right sides of human faces, or rather do not attach importance to it.

But this phenomenon still manifests itself in a very interesting way. The fact is that people most often see themselves in a mirror, where their face is reflected from left to right, and they get used to this “mirror-like” appearance. But all other people and cameras see people for real, without a mirror image.

Due to the asymmetry of the face, the picture that people see in the mirror is different from what other people and cameras see. Thus, in a photograph, a person sees himself as real, and in a mirror, reflected from left to right. The appearance of a person in the mirror is more familiar to him, therefore, looking at their photograph, almost all people unconsciously notice that “something is wrong”, and perceive it as “not pretty”.

Therefore, most people do not like their images in the photo. Although in reality this is only a matter of habit, because actually the people in the photo, in reality and in the mirror are equally beautiful. Indeed, there are no objective or even subjective reasons to consider, for example, the image of Lincoln in the first photo, more beautiful than in the second. The mirror image of any painting does not change its beauty.

In addition, for other people, the image of some familiar person in the photo seems familiar, which means it is as beautiful as the person actually is, because other people and cameras see a real person equally correctly.

For strangers, it makes no difference at all what they see in the photo of another person, because they are not yet used to his appearance. As for example, for us reading these lines, the first and second photos of Lincoln are the same from an aesthetic point of view, although he himself got used to his mirror reflection (i.e. to the second photo), apparently perceived his true photos (first photo) as "not nice" images of him.

But what if you still want to start liking yourself in the photo? There are two recipes here:
1. Flip your photos from left to right. You will see yourself familiar and you will like your photo. But this method has a very big disadvantage: only you will like this photo, because the rest of your friends will suddenly see you reflected for them, and they, in turn, will think “something is wrong” as they are used to seeing you in the photo and in reality the same and real. Therefore, it is better to keep these photos for yourself, and post the original versions of the photos on social networks.
2. Don't look in the mirror, take selfies instead. In this case, you will constantly see yourself as real and gradually get used to your real image, and you will start liking your photos in which you are again depicted as real.