I suppose everyone is different, but most people tend to agree that photos are often misleading in one way or another. Typically though, photos tend to flatten features and as you said, accent and display flaws for people to stare at, whereas in real life, people are "alive" and dynamic and you see that "flaw" was actually just an angle or photo-artifact, and people's expressions can provide a sense of dynamic life and motion that most people find more agreeable on an aesthetic level.

But more than anything, face-to-face socializing is incredibly important because when you get to know someone, their appearance changes.

Not a deluding-yourself kind of way like some people think, but literally your sense of what you find appealing will change. This is why again, social friend groups are the best places to meet people, you don't have to feel as insecure about your appearance if you can socialize and make friends, people will associate you with positive feelings, and you them, and you will all become familiar and attractive to each other in one way or another.