Terrible smile faker!

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I don't know about you all, but I find it next to impossible to smile on cue, such as for pictures. It's not that I can't smile, it's just that if I force a smile it looks really weird and makes me look like a total crazy person! I was looking through some photos of a recent trip, and every picture where I tried to smile just looks absolutely terrible. But then again, if I don't smile for pictures I just look like I'm not enjoying myself (but that's a heck of a lot better than my current fake smiles lol). I've actually tried practicing in front of the mirror, but for whatever reason it seems like what looks fine in the mirror looks terrible on camera. Maybe the whole "backwards" thing in the mirror makes a bigger difference than you'd think, I don't know. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve? And...I promised myself when I joined this site that I would never ask a "is this because of Asperger's" question on here, but promises are made to be broken haha! So is this a common issue with others here?

Yeah, I'm the same. Cannot smile to order without feeling odd. When I look at old pictures my face looks too unnatural if I had to smile.

It's funny I smile all the time, I get complimented on my smile alot especially when at work as every one else is miserable. Cue a picture. . . It's impossible.

A couple of weeks ago I had a series of pics taken of me, I handed the camera off to my husband and tried to pose beside my Grandmother. I wasn't smiling right... so my Grandmother turns towards me and starts semi teaching me how to smile. The whole time my husband is clicking away on the camera... I got one pic I already shared here on WP and even it looked odd to me, the whole series of pics is to embarrassing for me to post...

I ruin pictures when I'm in them... That's why I'm usually the one holding the camera and I usually don't take pictures of people unless I'm forced into it.

I can't fake smile either. As a result I'm not photogenic in the least. I smile when I'm happy but not on cue.

Just wait for wedding pictures. BRUTAL!

Had to get my picture taken for an I.D. today and the guy kept telling me to smile, but then had to get rid of the pictures and try again. He must have gone through 5 shots and then given up. So I have my usual grimace.

Remembering back to my neurology lectures, there are two parts of the brain that make us smile - one for when we're smiling 'on cue' and one for when we're smiling because we're happy. I can't remember what these parts are called, just that there are some people who can only smile when they're happy (like after being told a joke), but not when being told to 'smile', and some who can ony smile 'on cue', but not after a joke (even if they find it funny).

I also used to hate (and couldn't) smile 'on cue', but I had to learn it since I studied drama. Go figure.

I'm much better at smiling spontaneously than I am "on cue", but I can do both okay.

I do notice a difference between my right and left side when looking, probably because my face was partially numb from before memory and clear communication, and I've only attained partial sensation and wider expressions during puberty. I was always able to smile, though.

I am verry merry berry smiley.

I'm another that's incapable of smiling on command. That didn't bode well for me when I still worked at Subway. I wonder how many of the numerous customer complaints I received were because I didn't have an autopilot smile.

Some people even had the audacity to basically command me to smile. I once told a person who started in on me about it that it was proven that people with higher intelligence tend to have a more serious expression on their face when they are concentrating on something. She found it quite awkward that I actually said that but I didn't care. I found it awkward that she essentially ordered me to change my physical facial appearance when it had nothing to do with what she came into Subway for.

Recently, I heard from an NT that a sweet smile that seems sincere shows neither upper gums nor lower teeth. I do get offended when people force me to smile, but I can always fake one that "shows neither upper gums nor lower teeth".

Usually at my work when my co-workers make a joke or are being silly, I force myself to smile and laugh a bit.
Most of the time my laugh comes out has a "HMPH" than a laugh... Even though I find it funny, I don't laugh about it.
In my head I just think "Oh that's really funny", but I just can't make my smile come naturally.

But when I do laugh naturally, it comes out as a silent 'chocking' >_<

I don't see what the big deal with smiling is, most of the time I certainly don't feel like smiling, so why make an effort to do it. Besides I have terrible teeth alignment so I doubt anyone wants to star at a picture of that.

This is what I look like when I pose a smile:


I will happily smile without opening my mouth, but toothy grins always look ridiculous. Even if I make myself laugh, my face tenses in a weird way.

^^That is unfortunantly what I am like when it comes to fake smiling as well.

My mum has spent years trying to get a photo of me that doesn't look rediculous. Every Christmas they try so hard and every year I just look incredibly uncomfortable. By last year, my mum realised that I would have to be genuinely thrilled to get a relatively normal picture of me...the photos were a little better of me this year. It doesn't help that my siblings are fairly photogenic (particularly my sister) so I look even stranger next to them than next to the average person. They pose and I embody Sheldon.