6 Types Of Faces People Make When Getting Their Picture Taken

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Everyone has a go-to expression they make when getting their picture taken. For me, it’s closing my eyes and sticking my tongue out. No, I’m serious. There is an embarrassing amount of pictures of me doing just that.

Okay, I’ll stop. You get the point, right? My go-to camera face is freakish, to say the least. I’m not even sure why this is the one that I chose—it makes my mother cringe and is perhaps the reason why my OKCupid profile never took off—but it looks like it’s here to stay. At this point, it’s become like a nervous tic. “Must look like a wIlD PaRtY gURl when the camera is put in front of me because it’s funny?”

While making yourself look like a devilish monster in all of your Facebook defaults is a questionable choice, there are many other expressions that are just as strange and/or annoying. The following faces are the ones I see popping up the most these days:

Face # 1: I’m giving an overenthusiastic thumbs up because of reasons x, y, and z!

This expression is distant cousins with my tongue out/eyes closed face because the effect is sort of the same: Exaggerate your happiness for comedic effect. The overenthusiastic thumbs up could be used in the following scenarios: “OMG, I’m at a restaurant and have a delicious plate of food/dessert in front of me. I’m so excited in a 12-year-old kind of way!”. “I’m traveling and in front of a super important monument so I’m going to behave like a cheesy American tourist in an ironic way!” and, “I’m at a party and there is a ton of alcohol in front of me. Cool bro!”

Face # 2: I’m giving sass so I can tell the world that I’m a bitch (AKA: Gayface)

This vapid facial technique is usually employed by gay men but it can occasionally be executed by the right female. In order to give some serious sass to the cam, you have to pout your lips and then emulate straight-up demon eyes. This picture is usually taken in da club with your friends or taken by yourself in the car or your bathroom. It’s very Myspace of you to use this kind of face and chances are, you’ll look like a tool, but who am I to judge?! I stick my tongue out, remember?

Face # 3: I have a BF/GF and you don’t BYE

Okay so this isn’t so much a facial expression as it is a type of person. Everyone has that friend on Facebook whose photo albums only consist of them and their significant other doing various activities together. You can’t find a single picture of them alone and their facial expressions always seem to say, “I’M HAVING A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF SEX AND I LOVE RIVER RAFTING!” I mean, these people are cheesy and seem to have lost their own sense of self but I’m not going to lie: Those photos of them vacationing in Aruba made me feel jealous.

Face # 4: I have dead eyes and will eat your soul

This face is really popular amongst the elite socialite crowd. The perfect setting is in some nightlife hotspot/hotel you can’t get into and the photos are always taken by some nightlife photographer. These types of pictures are best done with a friend because “Double the dead party eyes, double the chicness” or something. The people who take these types of pictures scare me. They never smile. They just stare right in the camera and look like they’re going to kill you and/or steal your coke. You will never see photos of them during the daytime because they’re asleep, but they might wake up and give their “Dead Eyes” if they’re partying on a yacht somewhere.

Face # 5: I went to a liberal arts college

The liberal arts college face is usually serious, melancholy, and introspective and taken in some kind of nature. It really thrives in the following locations: The mountains, the beach, someone’s bedroom, “in polaroids”, on a yoga retreat or at a cafe. You’ll want to dislike the person who’s making the “I went to a liberal arts college” face for being a pretentious nightmare but they’re usually soooo hot.

Face # 6: I’m a genuinely good, simple person and I didn’t know people had pre-planned camera faces!

The type of person who isn’t aware of their image in photographs is someone we envy but ultimately never want to be. They don’t “get” the internet/their face, which must be liberating, but, ew, look at that picture of them smiling with their girlfriends at Applebee’s! Or holding those red cups at a depressing house party. Or in someone’s SUV on the way to play mini-golf. WHAT?

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