What Perfectly Symmetrical Faces Look Like

Symmetrical facial features are considered one of the main criteria for beauty in both women and men. But how true is this theory?

1. Fashion photographer Alex John Beck set out to test the importance of "facial symmetry" in terms of attractiveness with photographs of ordinary people. He divided the photo of each participant in the experiment into 2 parts - right and left, and then "mirrored" each part of the face in such a way that the result was a photo with perfect symmetry.

Photo: Alex John Beck

2. The result of his work looks a bit contradictory. In people with natural, natural symmetry, "experimental" pictures are not much different from ordinary ones.

3. The photographer immediately showed symmetrical options to the participants in the photo shoot.

4. For obvious reasons, these "ideal" options were more pleasing to those participants who have natural symmetry.

5. Alex John Beck says that looking at the resulting images, one gets the impression that they depict a distant relative of the model rather than the model herself.

6. But the owners of the "wrong" faces, receiving their "improved" photos, reacted to them quite reservedly, even if their new version looked very nice and attractive.

7. Some participants in the experiment were puzzled and even upset by the end result.

8. Some physical features appear in each portrait in a very curious way: for example, the face and neck of this man look thinner in the left photo, and much more massive in the right one.

9. The photographer tried to maintain the structural integrity of the processed photos so that the resulting image looked as natural as possible.

10. It would be logical to show the viewer the original portrait of the model, but Alex Beck did not do this in order to avoid trying to compare the model with its symmetrical version. The author of the project, on the contrary, tried to force the viewer to focus on the resulting "experimental" photographs.