photo of face look flat under flash ?

why does my photo of myself look strange when it was shot with compact camera?

My real face doesn't look that bad in the mirror.
Could the compact flash cause the face to look flat without depth ?

is it normal for a person face to look flat under exposure of a flash ?

On camera flash is very flat light - all the shadows fall behind the head and under the chin. The way to get dimension to the face it to move the flash off the camera.

No shadow = no illusion of shape and contour......and direct flash will not yield much in the way of shadows on your face to give the feeling of depth.

For an example of what flash light looks like, put a light in front of someone and see how their face looks. Very flat and unreal.

Now bounce the light of a surface (wall, ceiling, white card etc) and see the difference.

neilwood32 wrote in post #9813691
For an example of what flash light looks like, put a light in front of someone and see how their face looks. Very flat and unreal.

Now bounce the light of a surface (wall, ceiling, white card etc) and see the difference.

Bouncing has little to do with this topic - it has more to do with the size of the light source. This is about the direction.

Also, nothing to do with compact cameras. You can achieve the same flat look with professional DSLRs.

toxic wrote in post #9815905
Bouncing has little to do with this topic - it has more to do with the size of the light source. This is about the direction.

So, direction has nothing to do with it? Then how come if I shine a flashlight straight on into someone's face from a foot away and then shine it under their chin from a foot away, the light is different. This has everything to do w/ direction. That is why broad lighting and short lighting w/ the same size light source will look different. However, yes, the size of the light does come into play.