How you look in photos: The quiet difference between a moment and a photograph

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken to so many women who told me the exact same thing, and I would really love to talk about this from a photographic point of view, because it’s something I find incredibly important.

“I don’t like how I look in photos.” — said by too many women

By the way, I also don’t like pictures of myself when other people take them, so I completely get it, but I also understand why I feel that way.

These two photos are almost the same, right?

But not quite, and what makes this even more interesting is that both images are completely unedited, the only thing I did was convert them into black and white, and everything else you see happened in camera.

And yet, they look completely different, even though it is the same person in the same moment.

The part most people don’t notice

The difference comes from things that are often not even consciously noticed, like:

• how the light falls on the face

• how the body is positioned

• how the angle is chosen

• whether there was any kind of guidance or direction

• whether the image was created with intention

  
  

All of these elements together completely change how a person appears in a photograph.

In real life, this beautiful woman looks much closer to the version on the right, and when you see her, when you hear her speak, when she smiles and moves, that is how she actually looks, whereas the image on the left doesn’t fully reflect that, even though it is still her. And that is what photography can do.

If a photo is taken without paying attention to light, angles, posture or timing, it simply becomes a random moment, and not something that was intentionally created to show someone in a way that feels true to them, and yet those are often the images we end up judging ourselves on.

Why selfies change how you look in photos

It’s very similar to selfies, because when you take a selfie, you naturally adjust, you try different angles, you move into better light, and you take more than just one photo before choosing the one that feels closest to how you see yourself, which means that even those images are not random but consciously created.

I completely understand why so many women start to believe that they are not photogenic or that they just don’t look good in photos or look good at all. Because if most of the images you see of yourself come from unintentional moments, it makes sense that you start to trust those images over your actual reflection.

Photography is a craft

If you wanted your hair cut and coloured, you probably wouldn’t go to someone who has never really learned how to do it properly, and photography works in exactly the same way.

So why is it that we start to believe that a quick snapshot is an accurate reflection of who we are?

When someone truly understands how to work with light, picture composition, angles and movement, the result can feel completely different, not because you have changed, but because you were finally captured with intention.

So if you’ve ever felt like you’re not photogenic or that you don’t look good in photos. It might not be you at all, it might just be the way the moment was captured, and how you’ve been used to seeing yourself in photos.

As someone who feels the same way about herself in photos, I understand how personal this can be, and as a Boudoir Photographer in Glasgow, it is incredibly important to me to take this into account during every session.

I take the time to guide you, to adjust the light, the angles, and the atmosphere, so that what we create together actually feels like you, and not just like a random moment captured.

Sabrina x