Ok, I look so damn studly in a mirror that I want to just touch myself (no homo). I recently saw a picture of myself from St. Pattys day and was like “who is this dude???”. Now, maybe it had something to do with the amount of alcohol consumed; it was early a.m around 1:30, but I doubt it. This guy had a 5 head, a bulbous nose and they eyebrows were so asymmetricalt, it looked like Hellen Keller shaped them.
This got me thinking: is a mirror or camera more accurate?
So, we all know a mirror reflects the X axis which essentially reverse the image of yourself and I see many people claiming that that is the reason a camera is more accurate.** However, going from personal experience and standing next to my Ex GF in front of the mirror, she looked exactly the same to me in the mirror as she did in person.** Some pictures of her look similar to the way she appears in person and some look weird.
So, going by personal experience, I’d have to say the mirror is more accurate even with the flipping of the image. It seems like a camera distorts your face sometimes.
Just to reiterate, if any of you claim the camera is more accurate, then why does a person I’m standing next to in front of the mirror appear to me as they would in person with the exception of the flipped image?
Last year I was standing next to a friend and looking in a mirror. She almost looked deforemed. I think it’s because I was so used to looking at her in reverse.
This might explain the OP’s observations, besides the 2D-3D thing - he is just used to seeing himself in the mirror, as are most people, because that is the only way you can really see yourself (try dressing, combing hair, shaving, etc, by taking pictures while you are doing it).
A mirror shows you as you were a few seconds ago, thus making you a few seconds older. A camera can be blurry, photoshopped, really, a mirror is more accurate. I’m guessing the strange image was from alcohol.
Take the St. Patrick’s Day picture and flip it left/right in your favorite photo editing software (or just MSPaint). If you look studly again, then there’s your answer – your face is not very symmetric, but your ex-GF’s face is. For what it’s worth, this is where my money is.
Yeah, it’s more like a few nanoseconds (a “light-foot”). Even if you took two mirrors so they reflect off of each other back and forth the reflections would fade out (mirrors not being 100% reflective) before any kind of noticeable (to the human eye; this can be done to measure the speed of light with the right equipment) delay can be seen.
A photo captures an instant of time, while your face is in constant motion. When you look in a mirror it’s over a period of at least a few seconds, so there is natural movement.You won’t see that in a photo. So a video would be more accurate than either, but the mirror comes in second. Also what Pasta said.
Oh, and thanks for the drive-by “no homo” remark, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Roddy
First, how is a mirror’s image ‘3D’ not 2D? It’s as 2D as a photograph is. Unless you mean that movement will cause things like parallax & perspective changes, but that’s just the difference between a still image and a moving one.
The main issue is simply that photography has so many more variables than a mirror does. First & foremost: When you’re looking at yourself in a mirror 99.99% of the time you’re seeing just yourself, and always at a medium to close-up shot, under good, direct lighting. Unless you’re taking a professional portrait in a studio, a photograph is usually none of those things.
Well, that, and parallax from the fact that you have two eyes, and from the focus of your eyes. An image in a mirror is 3D in the same sense that a physical object is 3D: Different parts of the image are at different distances from you. There is no sense in which the image in a mirror is 2D.
You may be confused by the fact that the surface of the mirror is 2D. But that’s not where the image is, any more than the window next to me is where the tree outside is.
Different parts of you are at different distances from the reflective surface of the mirror, this I get. But the image you see is on a flat surface, wouldn’t that make it 2 dimensional?
