Why do people always smile when Photographed?

You are asked to. You remember it is a photograph: to be used again and again, so you want to leave a good record.Though it may be possible to "see" through that the smile is not all that natural, you dont want to leave a bad after taste.That is why there is this "prompt" by phtographers to "Say Cheese"!

You are asked to. We remeber it is a photograph to be used again and again, so you want to leave a god record.

Yes. It is easy for me to smile for a photograph as I am usually smilimg all the time. I am a very happy person. In the early days of photography the sitters usually had an unsmiling face because the exposures were so long that anyone would have found it difficult to keep a steady smile for minutes at a time without moving!

A good and happy event is really worth remembering. As for me, a smile must always come from the heart, when we smile or laugh it should come from the When you smile you smile with all your heart, faking a smile is very obvious. I think when we smile it must be from ear to ear, it really reflects our disposition as an individual.

I think, we all should ask this question to professional photographers. They will give us a technically correct answer. But we can think by our own minds too.. I think every person looks cute and smart whenever he/she smiles. So, people will be happy whenever they got their smiley pic. No one wants their bad memories to keep and show them to all others. As our photographs are our memories of these moments, We should feel happy when we see these pictures in the future. So, smile please....

I do not think it's true that people are ALWAYS asked to smile for a picture. Sure, for professionally shot family portraits, wedding pictures and pictures shot to commemorate a specific event are usually "staged" and the participants are asked to smile. However, I have had a couple of occasions where I was told specifically NOT to smile. The first instance that I can think of was while obtaining a passport. I was told that it must be at a black and white photo of just my head shot and that I could not smile. To make matters worse in that particular picture I also wore at tank top which was similar to the color of my skin. The result, because the picture is not in color, I look as if I have no shirt on. Yikes! The second instance where I was not allowed to smile was when I applied for a card for an exemption due to disability. (I am from Canada, and the specifics are too complicated to get into here.) In both cases they were the ugliest pictures I have ever taken. Another instance, which for the record has not happened to me, would be a "mug shot". I have seen and heard that they do not allow them to smile in those either. I do not remember where, but, I seem to recall the suggestion that the reason they do not allow smiling is because that under normal circumstances most people are not smiling and therefore their natural look is without a smile. I don't know? I for one, am always smiling. Life is too short not to smile. So stand on your head and turn that frown upside down! wheel416