Capturing A Natural Smile - How To Photograph A Natural Smile

Now that we understand the smile and the reasons for "bad" smiles in portraits, we can capture that "perfect" smile. Its time to put everything we've learned together.

1. Put Your Subject At Ease - A nervous subject will never give you the smile you need to capture. Pay attention to their mannerisms and find the best way to put each individual at ease.

2. Don't Confuse The Subject - Even the most cooperative subject will not produce a wonderful smile if they are confused. Try to avoid telling them they are smiling "wrong" and instead work to make the subject happy. If you must tell them specifics try to ask them in a positive manner. For example, "Can you widen your eyes just a touch?" instead of "Don't squint like that."

3. Trick Them If You Need To - Sometimes the only way to get a beautiful natural smile is to trick the subject. Either snap the photo as they relax their face from a forced smile or get them to laugh. With children its easy to get them to laugh with silly props or by having them say crazy things instead of "smile." With adults a self-depreciating joke often works. Sometimes though, the best way to get a true smile from a subject is to smile yourself. Like yawns, smiles can be contagious.