Photography is one of the most interesting fields you could pursue, and this gets better when your subjects emotionally reciprocate to your advances. One of the most common challenges photographers face is getting their subjects to smile for a photo, naturally. As a professional photographer, you want to produce the most stunning images, and smiling is one way to enhance your images.
As a photographer who has worked in this field for years, D. Scott Carruthers has mastered some of the ways one could produce amazing photos. Apart from working professionally as a photographer, he has also been helping upcoming photographers to understand the technicalities of the career. Today he helps by sharing tips to help you get a genuine smile in photography.
Complement
Everyone loves complements and the chances are after you have complemented someone they will put on a smile in appreciation. This logic can be applied when taking photos and you need a genuine smile out of your subjects. Complements improve one’s confidence and it’s highly likely they will smile.
Smile yourself
If you decide to smile, those around you are more likely to smile. Even when they don’t have an idea what your smile is all about, they will as well put on a smile and wait patiently to learn about what you could be happy about. While their smile lasts, you should take several shots.
Ask a question that triggers happiness
The worst you could do as a photographer is to go silent on your subjects. You should engage them as this gives them the confidence and you are likely to do highly professional photos when those you are working with have the confidence. Asking a happy question will definitely get them smiling, which is better than asking them to put on a smile. You will gain by getting a genuine smile that will give your photos the flavor you so desire.
Look stone serious
You could as well exploit facial expressions to get your subjects to smile. While they will have seen you neutral most of the time, you should put on an extremely serious face that will make you look like you have never smiled in your life, and this will definitely crack them up as most people are held by the suspense and the realization that you have definitely shifted your facial expression will trigger them to see the funny side of it.
Make them look at each other
Instructing your subjects to stare at each other will be one of the easiest ways to get them to smile. The reason this will work is because it’s not something they are used to and definitely it’s vague, and most importantly, you should not alert them when to stop so the continued contact between their eyes will get them to stop as they burst into laughter and eventually sweet genuine smiles.
Tell a joke
If you find the other tricks difficult, you could memorize some few jokes that fit into your work to unleash them while taking photos. Don’t even try to make it sophisticated as you could tire them trying to digest the content.
Raspberry on the cheek
Another idea you could embrace is unexpectedly blowing raspberry on the cheek. To most adults, this looks silly and most probably they will find it funny to do during a photo session, and just like that you will get a genuine smile from them.
Couples: ask him to give her a peck
Most couples will find themselves in this unexpectedly and you know when it comes to matters love many people are triggered emotionally, which could be a perfect way to draw genuine smiles. Just this simple request and you will manage to do a photo that tells a beautiful story that even the subjects will adore.
Sticking tongue out
If you are dealing with kids, you could get them to offer genuine smiles by making them to stick their tongues out. It looks funny and the realization that they will be doing it as a group will add on to the fun, so you will reap the most from this simple action. Definitely, there are many ways you could get your subject to smile, and you have no excuse to keep doing boring photos.
Guest article written by: Dennis Carruthers from carruthersphoto.com