Expressionless Face

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Except for the camera, my avatar photo is pretty much how I look all the time unless I put a lot of conscious effort into it.

Yep, same here. I smile when I find something amusing or funny, but my face isn't super expressive. I get the "are you OK?" question from time to time, and my sister told me that I do have something of a flattened affect.

What's interesting is that I picked up that something was different about my facial expressions when I was a kid; I just didn't fully realize it at the time. I noticed at some point that others would wrinkle their forehead at times as they spoke, whereas I didn't.

I think I tend to either have a flat affect or over-animated. I have noticed that in group photos, everyone is facing forward and I am facing to the side. Maybe I did not want to have eye contact with the camera.

Oh... some people say that I look very angry too.
And some others say that I look like I'm in deep thought.

But I think I often pull silly faces when I remember something funny or remarkable.

Flat effect is one of my most prominent symptoms. Expressing myself is difficult overall. Not to mention the lack of inflection in my voice makes me seem like I don't care about anything.

Absolutely - I get this all the time. The tone of my voice is also often mistaken for angry or dismissive. I have NO idea how to change this but it's one of the biggest problems I face with my Aspergers - it makes people completely misinterpret my personality and intentions. I find that people often assume the absolute worst of me, just because of my flat affect and tone of voice.

You're right, and that's why I chose to use expressions in different social situations, deliberately.

I like photographs if I'm well dressed and has the energy to think and know what to do on the photo. If I'm tired and can't analyze the situation, I avoid it. On photos, I try to use the "appropriate" facial expressions and body posing. Most often, if we're 5 in the photo and the other 4 are doing the same thing as each other, I just mimic them (easy). Why should I be different and how can it go wrong if we all do the same thing? Then we're all morons in that case.

I think this is very common amongst aspies. My face is often quite expressionless. Take a look at some of the picture threads on these forums; they are full of both men and women with blank aspie stares :p (me included)

edit: To answer the question - I hate being photographed. I look ridiculous when I have to smile on command; like an alien who has been put into a human body and is trying to learn how to operate the facial muscles to produce this strange "smile" thing.

Personally I have to think of Terminator 2 (the scene where John Connor tries to teach the Terminator how to smile when they visit the mexican family) and I also feel like that when I have to do so on command.

I have a very expressionless facial appearance most all the time. I just do not see the point of having to smile or show other emotions when I simply do not feel like it.

I often have people telling me to smile or cheer up, even when I'm actually perfectly happy. I've also had people tell me that I looked angry or scary. My dad, who is NT, is the same way--I think our faces are just made for a very solemn, serious expression.

I used to think that the one place NTs presumably couldn't criticise me for looking miserable would be at a funeral but in the car on the way to my Nan's funeral, when I was crying (which is what I thought was the whole idea of funerals), my uncle said "Are you ok Vanessa?". I thought "Er, I'm on the way to my Nan's funeral therefore it couldn't be MORE appropriate to be crying!"
Wow, how concerning to be crying of all things! - highly inappropriate behaviour given the circumstances!

I thought 'I give up!'

NT's just change the rules on a whim basically (oh yes and most are very stupid!)

People always think I look so serious/sad/depressed/angry, that I've been quarreling with someone or something like that.. when I actually look neutral and am definitely not in a bad mood. Sometimes it can upset me and when I ask "why do you say this?" or "why do you think so?", they always reply that it looks obvious on my face. So as a conclusion, something is really wrong with my face expressing what I really feel. Now at least I know that it's part of the syndrome, before I asked myself 10 000 questions, tried to "change" or "fit" and I was pretty tired mentally.

About the pictures, I have always hated to be forced to smile. Seriously, why should we smile on pictures ? Can't we appear just neutral ? or must we pretend ? I hate that acting thing.
Of course when I was forced to smile the result was pretty bad and I looked like everything but my real self, which was very funny for my (stupid) friends at that time, always making fun about my weird faces. I will never forget their big silence after watching a picture in which I appeared and then their "mmm we can take another one". After taking the second picture, same silence and then "mmm let's say it's fine". Really, I don't know how to act in group pictures or even with just a friend, I don't know what to do with my eyes (+ I'm quite photosensitive so I often end up with my eyes closed), where to look, smile or not, be near the person or not, hug or not... ?!?

I tried "photo-modelling" as an exercise and paradoxically it went ok. I think the fact that it was pure acting wasn't revealing my issues. Well, I don't know, I just suppose.

And finally when I take pictures myself for profiles pictures for example, people always tells me that I look sad, or that I have a weird look (like very big eyes), a strange smile if I try to smile - and I think I look ok.
When I post a picture in which I think I appear silly (with weird look, smile, attitude etc), people like it. NT's are very confusing ! =)

I've never had too hard a time naturally showing facial expressions, but they're all low key. Any attempts to affect a more "full" expression look somewhat forced and unnatural. My natural smile, for example, is little more than a smirk; anything more and I start looking like the Joker.

A lot of people tell me I look angry or unapproachable because I am often lost in my thoughts. I don't really enjoy social interactions, and the most interesting thing I've overheard someone say is that I didn't look happy or excited to see them, when it's completely the opposite I'm just really awkward and self-conscious.

You can use it to your advantage though, I've been making good money playing poker lately and have a great poker face, when I give someone the death stare they usually fold and people say I'm intimidating to play against

I have no "face" but rather a mask.