Lara Flynn Boyle -- Mystery Behind Shocking New Photographs

Something seems different about Lara Flynn Boyle ... at least judging from these new pics of the actress, but people close to LFB tell TMZ that NOTHING'S WRONG, she's the victim of a few bad photo angles.

The former "The Practice" actress was out shopping at The Glen Centre in L.A. earlier this week looking noticeably different than she has in the past.

We called several people close to Lara to find out if perhaps something was wrong -- but we were assured by them the actress is perfectly fine ... and just seems to photograph poorly these days. In fact, one person said she saw Lara 2 weeks ago and she looked fantastic.

The problem, it's not that there was just one stray shot -- Lara's look is consistent in a series of photos taken that day, from multiple angles.

Yeah, we're stumped too.