Being a photographer is about more than just taking great pictures. It’s a profession that also requires good people skills and the ability to help your subjects feel at ease when you capture them—a task that isn’t always simple. An authentic smile is a beautiful thing, but it can often be elusive. Not everyone is comfortable in front of the camera, and many people feel shy or awkward when a stranger takes their photo. Knowing how to bring natural, joyous smiles out of your clients can be a tough task in certain situations, but it’s certainly not impossible.
With a few simple tricks, you can help people relax while being photographed and elicit genuine, authentic smiles every time.
The Importance Of Authentic Joy In Photos
When you’re capturing a group of people at a wedding, birthday party, or family gathering, getting everyone to smile at the same time can be a challenge in itself—let alone ensuring that each smile is natural and authentic.
But taking your time to coax out those pearly whites and help bring people to a point of expressing natural happiness is well worth the effort. Not only does it help you achieve a better photo result, but it also gives your clients a more positive experience having you as their photographer.
Tips For Getting Better Smiles Out Of Your Clients
If you want to capture authentic smiles that translate well on camera, one of the smartest things you can do is surprise the group you’re photographing. If you say or do something silly and unexpected, it’s more likely to result in genuine smiles and laughter.
If entertainment doesn’t come naturally to you, it’s best to approach a group shot with some fail-safe strategies for drawing out genuine smiles from your models.
Here are some top tips:
Encourage movement
Movement loosens everyone up. If the setting is right, asking your models to run, jump, or do a funky dance move is an effective way to crack some smiles and raise people’s energy levels.
Of course, don’t ask them to do anything crazy, especially if it’s a formal event or the models are not physically equipped to move around with ease. Still, there are certainly many social gathering instances in which a bit of dynamic movement can help break the ice and stimulate some beautiful, natural smiles.
Stir the pot
If you’re struggling to garner authentic smiles from your group, it might be time to stir the pot with some lighthearted jest that gets people out of their shells.
For example, you could ask everyone to whisper a secret to the person on their left or point at the best dressed member of the group. Many groups, especially families, can respond well to this kind of playfulness, and it never fails to elicit good reactions from kin.
The only thing to remember with this method is to be mindful of the tone and atmosphere of the gathering. Not all groups are open to this kind of playfulness, so make sure you read the room correctly and adjust your technique if you sense it would land poorly.
Fake it ‘til you make it
Asking people to fake laugh might sound bizarre if authenticity is your objective, but this method is one of the best ways to elicit natural giggles and camaraderie. Fake laughter is, by nature, awkward and strange, but if the people know each other well enough, it won’t be long before they start laughing organically at the situation’s absurdity.
This is a great method for encouraging authentic smiles because it works on people of all ages and can be applied to a variety of different social gatherings.
Encourage silly facial expressions
This is another method that works on all sorts of age groups. If you want a reliable way to coax out some big smiles or laughter, tell everyone to pull their silliest face. Capturing the bright smiles that follow is a good way to help people loosen up and relax in front of the camera.
Everyone say…not cheese
Taking your models by surprise is a great way to motivate some authentic grins all around. Telling models to “say cheese” is a common way to prompt smiles from photography subjects, but it’s been used a million times since as far back as the 1940s and can be far too predictable to elicit a real smile.
Instead, tell everyone to say something completely different—preferably a silly, strange-sounding word they would never have expected. If the group is comprised of adults, words like “whiskey” tend to go down well, while more age-appropriate words like “giraffe” or “pineapple” can work for younger kids.
Tell a joke
Who doesn’t love a joke? If you can tell a good one (and it’s really best to have a second opinion here), whipping it out while you work the camera can be a brilliant way to encourage natural smiles and hopefully even some laughter if you’re lucky.
You could say any joke you like, so long as it is short, simple, and appropriate for the audience. For example:
Q: “What’s the quickest way to make money as a photographer?”
A: “Sell your camera!”
It’s a fun, tongue-in-cheek two-liner that makes you the butt of the joke in a lighthearted way, helping people see you in a more relaxed light.
Bonus tip: work on your charm
Aside from excellent camera skills, a stunning portfolio that showcases your work, and a good communication style, there’s one other attribute that will help you get the best portraits and group pictures. Charisma!
Capturing authentic smiles is much easier when people feel that they can trust you or relate to you as a human. Work on those social skills; smiles will follow you wherever you go.
Make Smiles A Sure Thing
Encouraging people to emulate joy is not always easy, but it is always worth it. When photographing a group of people, there are a variety of ways to encourage relaxation and help people embrace authentically happy moments.
Use these tips to inspire your next social gathering shoot and see how many natural smiles you can crack.