Autistic people, do you ever look good in photos?

[ofwarren]

A question for other autistics, and those with ADHD if you find it relevant..

When you are asked to pose for a photo, or even take a selfie, do you think you look dreadful in them?

I cannot for the life of me, pose for a photo! How the hell do you do a fake smile that looks convincing? If that's how I smile when I'm trying to mask, it's no wonder people clock there is something different about me straight away
I've tried for years to do it in a mirror and still can't make it look natural.

And what do you do with your hands and body?? I honestly look so uncomfortable in pictures.

My DH actually just takes candid shots of me now as they look far better than anything I've attempted to pose for.

This absolutely resonates with me. I know I’m going to look awful.
I don’t know what to do with my face or body (I know ‘smile’ but my smiles don’t translate like everyone else’s).
I particularly hate wedding photos. I stick out like a sore thumb 😩

Agree with you, my smile is more like a grimace. It doesn't look convincing at all!
On my own wedding photos, the posed ones look like I'm bored but the ones other people took I actually look genuinely happy.

😬😐😑
My faces in photos.

I find photographs the most awkward thing in the world, weirdly fake and awkward "say cheese" 😑, our wedding photos are awful as me and (also autistic) dh were both like omg this is awkward 😐😬😐 with all the weird fake posing and the awkwardness of the attention on you.

I'm actually laughing out loud at those emoji 🤣 😂
Do you do the eyes closed too?

Just the thought of having my photograph taken makes me feel jittery. I don't know how to arrange my face and it all feels so fake.

I've spent most of my life masking and thinking about rearranging my expression to suit a situation, something that most people (well, NT's) wouldn't even consider, so trying to rearrange my face for a photo, it's not happening and I just end up looking like this - 😬

Coincidentally, I looked at some old photos last night and ended up destroying loads as I looked desperately uncomfortable.

We sneaked off to the register office to avoid photos and the whole centre-of-attention thing And DD calls her smile in photos her 'serial killer smile', so yes, this resonates!

Looks like I’m the exception here, but I’ve been told I’m “photogenic”, which I take to mean I can look better in photos than in real life. I don’t find it a problem to fake smile though tbf. Candid shots generally look horrible for me as I have a weak (and double) chin.

My mum though almost never has a good photo, despite being neuro typical (as far as I know) and an attractive woman, she always blinks or gets caught in a weird way. It’s become a bit of a family joke.

I'm a blinker too. I have been told in the past that I blink far too much. I always get caught with my eyes shut on photos.

This made me laugh so much as my DD is ASD and ADHD and always says about her smile. She does in fact have a nice smile but never feels it looks right when she poses for photos 😀.

I hate photos of me and scrutinise my flaws. I'm better in a candid shot but if I have to have a photo I think of something b

Something that makes me happy. My dads photos were rictus grins. Dd is the same as me.

When I smile in photos I either look annoying or murderous. When I don't smile I also look murderous. I can't win.

Ageing doesn't help either - I hate my ever slackening jawline. And my features are becoming more asymmetric with age. I stay away from cameras and often tell white lies about internet cutting out to keep my camera off in work meetings.

I have ADHD. I’m not photogenic.

i struggle with the smiling thing. Especially that wait where you pose and it takes ages for them to take it. My cheeks start to shake and stuff. It always looks shit.

I always LOOK autistic in photos and I never understand why! I really stand out and look so different and young to everyone else maybe cos my arms always moving or something and odd posture
But I am not shy and quite happily get my photo taken at gym class or wherever

I look stiff and awkward, with a fake smile or not making 'eye contact' with the camera. Basically I look autistic, unless someone sneaks up on me when I'm not aware I'm having my photo taken. It's a bloody wonder I wasn't diagnosed until my 50s, it's writ large all over every school photo I ever had.

I have perfected a 'photo face' for when this comes up- every single photo that is posed has the same facial expression, making sure my eyes smile as well as my mouth etc. If I'm caught in a candid photo I tend not to like it!