When I was a teen, I was infamous in my family for flashing fake, forced smiles in my school pictures. Dead eyes, flat brows and an awkward mouth are the result of not knowing how to correctly fake a smile. There are a few ways to improve your spur-of-the-moment grin: raise your eye brows, squint your eyes ever so slightly and try to think about something funny. It’s a good idea to practice in the mirror. Teaching a person to smile isn’t always an option, however. It’s often better to trick the person into producing a real smile. A good photographer can always squeeze a genuine grin out of the least enthusiastic subject with a few tricks up his or her sleeve.
The first line of defense is to have a sense of humor yourself. Your goal is to amuse your subject enough to make them smile, but not so much that they laugh too hard. Laughter can make for a great photo sometimes, but other times it can make the smile too harsh and not everyone likes how they look when they are laughing. With children, it can be as simple as wiggling your eyebrows or waving a toy above the camera. For adults, it requires a little more sophisticated humor. Flattery can also bring out a sweet smile. Tell a corny joke, mention how great they look in the pictures you’ve taken, or make fun of yourself a little bit. Try to get a sense of what makes them laugh and work with that. Teens require special treatment because they are so self conscious. Avoid talking about their appearance altogether and instead focus on things they enjoy. Ask them about their friends, their school or their new car. Take a little extra time so they will relax. Keep family members out of sight to minimize embarrassment.
The second “secret weapon” is your camera’s continuous shooting mode. Use it. Half a second after the shutter clicks, most people will still be smiling but their face will relax slightly. Often this is the smile you really want. To catch it, you need snap three or four continuous shots in a row.
