Everyone has at some point had the same problem: no matter how much you try to be consistent with your camera face, some pictures look great and others look awful.
Photographer Stephen Eastwood has finally solved the mystery - showing that the difference between a good photo and instantly deleted disaster can be down to the camera lens.
To prove his point, he took a series of portraits, using the same model's facial expression and the same lighting - but each time changing the lens.
Depending on the lens' focal length, the image will deform and affect how the image looks in photos.
The shorter the focal length, the more field of view you can capture.
But Mr Eastwood's experiment showed that the distortion continued up the focal range, albeit more subtly.
And the killer is that some of these subtle distortions can make the face prettier, while others make the face - to put it bluntly - uglier.
A larger lens (say 350mm) will flatten and widen the face of the subject.
Mr Eastwood said this could sometimes make the ears look further back - or make the nose look bigger.
Experts say a 135mm lens would produce the best, most consistently accurate results. But even then there's an element of risk.
