You’ve probably heard it a hundred times, or even said it yourself. “Get my good side.” Most of us probably just think of it as a joke and allow ourselves to be photographed on whatever side we happen to be facing at the moment. Still, there are people who will change positions in a photo because they swear that they have a good side—and they won’t be caught dead posing with their “bad side” facing the camera. But how much truth is there to that? Do people really have a good side and a bad side?
Well, it turns out your position-changing friend may actually be onto something. Even the best looking people don’t have perfectly symmetrical faces, so there are always going to be very slight differences in the photos you take from each side. Many people know this already, but don’t use that knowledge when it comes to photos. If you look in the mirror, you might notice that when you smile, one corner of your mouth moves upward a little more, or one of your eyes closes slightly less. This is pretty normal, and though most people don’t really notice it, you do because you look at your face so often.
But that’s not all. It turns out that most people are perceived more favorably when they are photographed from the left side. A study found that people overwhelmingly prefer to look at the left side of other people’s faces in photographs. That even held true when the left side was mirrored to look like it was the right side. The study found that people’s left side tended to exhibit “a greater intensity of emotion.”
So you’re most likely going to look best photographed from your left, but that’s not 100% certain. Some people may legitimately look better from their right, so don’t give up hope if you think your right side is your best.
What you can do is check out your old photos and decide which side you think suits you best, and get some opinions from trusted friends. You probably have quite a few pictures from either side if you haven’t given it any thought until now. You can also hold a piece of paper up to cover half of your face while looking in the mirror. The side with the most upturned features (mouth, cheeks, eyebrows) is probably your “good” side.
So is your friend being a little dramatic when she moves to another position before you take a picture? Probably, but it does seem that she’s technically right about being photographed from a certain side.
No matter what side you’re standing on when a picture is taken, the best way to display it is always with a wifi cloud frame from Nixplay. Enjoy crystal clear picture quality for all your photos—not just those selfies from the left. Check out our selection of frames today and find the perfect one for you!
Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.