Why does my photo booth picture look reversed?

Use readable lettering as a test

Hold a short word towards the camera and make a photograph. Compare the preview with the saved file opened outside the app. Note which one reverses the word. When the result is intended for an invitation, logo or caption, the orientation of that lettering is more objective than which version of a face feels familiar.

Apple’s Photo Booth controls

Apple documents Edit > Flip Photo for a selected Mac photograph and Edit > Auto Flip New Items for future items. Those controls belong to Apple’s app. Check its guide for your installed version if the menu differs; another booth app may use a separate mirror setting.

Evidence: Official software guide

Flip the image, not the whole layout by accident

In a strip editor, select the photograph inside its slot if only that frame needs reversing. Flipping the finished canvas can also reverse captions, change frame order or move a border to the wrong side. Export one test and read every word before continuing.

For a set of four exposures, apply the same orientation intentionally unless the change is part of the design. Keep an unchanged original so the decision remains reversible.

Check group gestures and direction

A person looking left in one image may look right after a flip. That matters when paired portraits are meant to face each other or a hand points towards a caption. Recheck the sequence as a whole after changing orientation.

A horizontal flip is an editing choice for a souvenir. For identification photographs, follow the receiving authority’s requirements and avoid using a decorated or altered strip as a substitute for an approved document photograph.