Whenever somebody is about to take a photo of someone the person with the Camera says “Smile”. Following this request the person being photographed voluntarily pulls hes face in to a cheesy looking smile that looks fake and not to mention dumb in every possible way. Take a minute and have a look at some magazines or one of the newspapers lying around. Virtually every Face you find in there will be sporting one of these extremely stupid and cheesy looking grimaces that are considered to be smiles. Frankly I cant stand the site of it. Fake smiles are anatomically incorrect and once you understand the biomechanics involved in a true and a fake smile you will suddenly realise just how pathetic it al looks.

Besides, what is wrong with looking serious. It makes me happy every time, as seldom as it may be that I encounter a serious face. It just looks so much more natural and honest than then those fake smiles that on top of everything else are such a cliché which is neither honest nor original. Instead it is like a ghastly and grotesque mask being worn by somebody that has never really given it any thought as to what thy truly want to portray.

If you want to photograph a person smiling. The best way to do it, is to point the camera at them and then tell them to very seriously stare you in the eye, and dare them not to smile. Then when that person is staring you in the eye pull a face and the person will most likely be unable not to smile except that this time the smile is involuntary and therefore real. Real smiles are much more pleasant to look at.
Smiles should only be used when they happen involuntarily or if you need them to get you out of a dangerous situation. There are many emotions in live and many of them are just as worthy of being expressed in your photos.

This BBC link will put you to the test as to how well you can spot fake smiles from real smiles. And it will help you develop a special eye for it. Suddenly you will realise just how often people around you are smiling when there is really nothing to smile about. The skill of being able to tell real from fake smiles will make you see like never before just how weird and how pathetic it al is.

Kaiser knows best that is why I wrote it here