What’s the origin of the phrase “say cheese”?

Wikipedia offers this reference: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msaycheese.html

Photographers ask their subjects to "say cheese" because by pronouncing the word, the subjects mouths form into a smile as long as they hold the "ee".

You'll find criticism of this explanation here: http://www.lukeswartz.com/writing/cheese.html

I looked high and low and the concensus of every reference I checked is that nobody knows the origin of "say cheese."

Forget the cheese--I've gotten the best smiles out of people by giving the photographer bunny ears when he says "Say cheese!" It's unexpected so they laugh naturally, and that looks better than a fake smile.

Whoever it was, was probably a photographer who discovered that saying, "cheese" was a way of creating a fake smile, back in the days when it was considered that being photographed required posing stiffly, looking directly at the camera and smiling......back in the days?? Ummm...actually most people are still doing it today.

uuuu that i dont kno but im guessing becuz saying cheese makes you smile lol

Cheese makes you smile big and perdy!


*And fart too. Which is also hilarious...

it's really difficult to track the origin of it, but in my language - georgian, we also use this, though cheese in our language sounds absolutely differently "kveli"