this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
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Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

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If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

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Anon reflects on a conundrum (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 day ago by Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works
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[–] DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works 23 points 22 hours ago (5 children)

This mirrored/asymmetrical stuff is mostly wrong. It can definitely cause an "uncanny" vibe but doesn't explain why you're a 7/10 in the mirror and a 3/10 in a photo.

You look different in the mirror versus photos because of the different focal length, different depth of field, and different angle.

I look pretty good to my own eye in the mirror but look like an absolute blumpkin in photos. However, you can take a pretty good selfie that looks like what you see in the mirror by placing the camera about 4 feet away from you and at a slightly elevated angle.

[–] a_wild_mimic_appears@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 hours ago

also, it helps quite a bit to look at a point slightly above the camera lens when getting photographed - at least the photos of me became a lot better

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago

Exactly. If anon is taking a selfie, the fish-eye effect of phone camera lenses can seriously distort your face. Especially when used up-close.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

i believe that being photogenic is definitely a thing. i don't know if it's bone structure that reflects light a certain way, or the stillness vs motion, or just attitude, but there is something about some people that makes them look way better or way worse in photos.

[–] twice_hatch@midwest.social 6 points 20 hours ago

Distance is 90% of it. Everyone looks better from typical conversation distance, and worse up close.

Focal length and depth of field only allow you to get good framing at different distances. There is no lens that makes a selfie at 2 feet look as good as a photo from 6 feet.