Why you look shorter (or taller) in photos
Photos are unreliable for judging height. Four things change the result far more than people expect.
1. Camera height
A camera below eye level makes people look taller; a camera held above the head makes them look shorter. For a fair comparison the lens should be at about half the subject’s height.
2. Distance from the lens
Whoever stands closer to the camera looks bigger. A step forward can “add” several centimetres, which is why group photos are poor evidence of celebrity heights.
3. Wide-angle distortion
Phone front cameras are wide-angle. Close up, they stretch whatever is near the edges of the frame and shrink what is in the middle.
4. Posture and footwear
Slouching can cost 2–4 cm; trainers add about 2–3 cm and heels 5–10 cm.
A to-scale drawing avoids all of this: every figure on the SizeCompared board is drawn from its measured height.
How to take a fair height photo
- Stand both people the same distance from the camera, shoulders in one line.
- Put the camera at chest height and at least three metres away, then zoom in.
- Keep the phone upright and level, not tilted up or down.
- Take shoes off, or wear similar ones, and stand straight with heels together.
- Use the rear camera, not the selfie camera.
How big are the errors?
A camera held at face height and one metre away can make the nearer person look 5 to 10% larger, which is 9 to 18 cm on an adult. Tilting the phone upwards by 20 degrees stretches the legs and can add the look of several centimetres. A selfie taken at arm's length distorts most of all, which is why heads look large and bodies small in selfies.
Why celebrity heights cause arguments
Photos from red carpets and stages are taken from low angles, at different distances, with different shoes and often with one person leaning. That is why listed heights and "how tall they look" so often disagree. A scale drawing from a measured height is the only fair comparison.