Five Ways to Get Better Smiles | Saint Marys Child & Family Photographer

March 03, 2015 • Leave a Comment

Smile!

Say Cheese!

We've all been programmed to automatically say these things when taking someone's picture. Adults can usually pull off a decent looking smile on cue, but let's be honest, most kids can't! And even if they give a decent smile, it's usually clear that it looks forced. All we want is to capture that pure joy and genuine smile in a photograph, so how can we do this? First, let's ditch the "Smile!" and "Say Cheese!" Removing them from your picture taking vocabulary is the first step. It's hard, but you can do it!

Here are my top five tips for getting better smiles from your kids.

5 - Get them to do something silly. This one is usually one I use with older kids when other things haven't worked. Teenagers who don't feel like having a conversation with you, especially when you're holding a camera, and give you no smile or a fake smile, might just crack a real smile or laugh if you tell them not to smile and give you their angry face instead. They'll feel silly and end up laughing like these two!

4 - Act silly. This one is especially good for the little ones. Do something goofy or silly to make them laugh and snap, snap, snap! I have been known to dance around and act like a fool during a session to get kids to laugh and give me a good smile. (It gets the adults laughing at my ridiculousness too, win-win!)

3 - Tickles. You've got to be quick with this one, but if you have a ticklish child like I do, give a tickle and then step back and snap away!

2 - Talk to them (and accept that a great image of them may not be a smiling face). Get them talking about something they enjoy and you're bound to get a great expression, even if it may not be the big cheesy grin we're programmed to want. Sometimes it's nice to have a genuine expression that speaks to who they are and doesn't need to always be a smile. Ask them just to look at you and see what you get!

This is one of my favorite non-smiling images of my godson.

1 - Play with them. Little ones seem to love playing peek-a-boo and it's a great way to get them smiling. When they're too old for peek-a-boo, play around with them and interact with them to get that smile. Or just let them play and catch the smiles that come with having fun!

These images were captured after letting this three year old throw pinecones over/at my head, and I of course over-dramatized getting hit in the head with them, whether they actually hit me or not. He sure thought it was funny!