Does photographing yourself in a mirror increase the effective camera-to-subject distance?
Asked 7/2/2022
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If I take a self-portrait by aiming my camera at a mirror instead of holding the camera directly at arm’s length, does the mirror make the effective camera-to-subject distance longer? For example, if I’m standing a few meters in front of the mirror, will that greater effective distance reduce the exaggerated perspective you get in close-up selfies and make facial proportions look more natural?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
4y ago
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The image you see in the mirror is twice the distance from the mirror plane to the observer which will help with compression when taking a selfie. Your image will be mirrored if taking a picture of the mirror image. You may want to flip the image in post processing.
Go in to a dressing room and orient the mirrors so they are almost aiming towards each other and look at the repeated pattern of reflections that get smaller and smaller. You can also do this if your eyes are just above a handheld mirror aiming at a wall mounted mirror.
You can visit the Wikipedia page which gives the mirror equation showing this relationship.
Originally by user98537. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user98537
4y ago
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Yes. With a flat mirror, your reflection appears the same distance behind the mirror as you are in front of it. So the effective camera-to-subject distance is:
camera-to-mirror + mirror-to-you
If the camera is close to your face, that’s roughly twice your distance to the mirror. Example: if you stand 3 m from the mirror and the camera is 2.5 m from the mirror, the effective distance to your reflected image is 5.5 m.
That longer distance gives a more natural perspective than an arm’s-length selfie, because perspective is determined by camera position relative to the subject. The mirror doesn’t change lens perspective by itself; it just creates a longer optical path to your reflected image.
One practical note: the resulting image will be laterally reversed, so you may want to flip it in post.
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