Mirror problem

Nathan Cremer · 12-19-2002, 01:29 PM

I have just come to the realization that I have a major problem seeing. I recently did a self portrait. The problem I'm having is that when I flip the image on my computer, I can see flaws in the proportions and placement of my features. It doesn't look the same to me.

I'm going to post the image and the reverse. I'm curious if anybody can tell which is the original, and which is the mirrored image.

Nathan Cremer · 12-19-2002, 01:31 PM

Here's one.

Nathan Cremer · 12-19-2002, 01:32 PM

Here's another.

Nathan Cremer · 12-19-2002, 01:37 PM

If anybody knows how I can train myself to fix this problem, please let me know.

Josef Sy · 12-19-2002, 02:17 PM

Nathan,

I think it is the first one that is the original. The flaws you are talking about...Is it the ears and eyes?

Jean Kelly · 12-19-2002, 04:17 PM

There is nothing wrong with your sight Nathan. No face is totally symmetric. Ease up on yourself. Okay?

Jean

Jeff Fuchs · 12-19-2002, 04:23 PM

I think the problem is that when you view the flipped image, you see it with "new eyes". Take a master painting and flip it, and it will look funny to you (if the masterwork is a familiar one).

Holding a piece of art up to a mirror has the same effect, which is a trick known to masters over the centuries. It's not just you. Everyone has the same "problem" to some extent. One of the great masters (Can't remember which) said to "hold your painting up to a mirror to see its ugliness" (His words. Not mine)

The proof of this comes when you post the two versions of the image the way you did. Most people can't tell which is the original orientation. You perception is prejudiced by having looked at the original so intently for a long time.

Another way to see the work with new eyes is to set it aside for a few days, then look at it again. I wish I had done that with the self portraits I posted. They were quick drawings that looked fine to me before I set them aside for a while. Unfortunately, I had already posted them.

Peggy Baumgaertner · 12-19-2002, 04:35 PM

Nathan, I think the second one is the original.

I base this response on the slightly over defined egg shape that is created in the second image, while I see...less of a flow or rhythm in the first image.

I will go no further until I find that which is which. If I am correct, I'll have more to say. If I'm wrong - I don't want to stick my neck out any further!

Peggy

(By the way, they are both very close. Anything I say is of the smallest consequence. If you are worrying about the difference being obvious, it is not.)

Josef Sy · 12-19-2002, 04:44 PM

Hi Peggy,

I picked the first one as the original. I am wondering if it has to do whether if one is right handed or left handed. Hmm.

Are you left handed by any chance?

Nathan Cremer · 12-19-2002, 05:46 PM

The original is the first one. The only test was to see if other people view it as I do. This has been a good exercise for me.

I am right handed. And, another thing I heard is that people have a "strong" eye. The same as you have a "strong" hand or foot. So, this means you're seeing more with one eye than the other. There is a way to test it, so it is true. My "strong" eye is my right, just like my hand.

I want to be able to train my eye to see these problems. And for now, I'm gonna do this exercise of flipping it on my computer, or a mirror, to see any flaws I might have missed.

Another thing that concerned me was that when you do a portrait of yourself from a mirror, the image is flipped. That is how you see yourself, but that is not how other people see you. For example, I have a "cowlick?" on my right side. In the portrait, it's on my left. I don't know how big of an issue that is, though.

The specific flaws I seen when flipping it were one of my eyes is off kilter, my nose is off-center, and my mouth could use a slight adjustment. Maybe, my lack of noticing was from staring at it too long from the same viewpoint.