How to Smile for a Photograph

Our goal is to master such an effortless grin

1) Practice makes photogenic

One of the most camera pleasing persons I have the pleasure to know really pretty well has a hard drive full of self portraits.  Photos from web cams, snapshots taken at arm's length, timer-delayed shots.  Since this self-proclaimed model was an adolescent, she visually cataloged every handsome hair day or fetching ensemble with a few snappies of herself.  The results: missy knows the angles which flatter her features, how to instantly differentiate between pouting and perplexed, and photographically foremost, she has mastered her smile.

Posing amateurs like you-sies and me-sies can commence in front of the looking glass, but for robust results collect two-dimensional images of your mug on that digital camera of yours. Without the cost of film, you can pose, purge, and practice without price. 

Like a crooked Cary Grant

2) Build a smile wardrobe

One frock won't suit every occasion and neither will a single smile.  From tender closed mouth moments to raucous full grin occasions, you'll need a small wardrobe of smiles to appropriately express each exposure opportunity.  

Start by mastering your natural smile.  Your lips should unveil your upper teeth while cloaking most of the lower pearls.  Extending to around the incisors, aim for about twenty percent more expression than you might expect.

To call upon your expression apparel, let us summarize the philosophy of Mr. P. Pan: keep a happy thought in your pocket.  Then pull it out before the photographer flashes.  You can also warm up your smiler with a quick chuckle immediately before the shutter yawns.

After you've mastered your basic beam add at least another pair of options to your portfolio.  Whether it's a quirky smirk or a coy simper, find something that exhibits your unique entity.

Someone wishes they had applied liner

3) Smile with your eyes

If you're just s-mouth-ing, you won't show happy.  Start sm-eye-ling by coordinating your eyes and mouth.  Far from  limiting you to a trite, traditional emotion, a range of possibilities are available.  While some slightly squinted rainbow eyes will shiny up many a lens capture, you can also experiment with looking up for innocence, slyly to the side for curiosity, or marginally down for a shy effect. 

And don't forget your eyebrows.  While lifting them lightly will help your smile appear natural, there are a full range of expressive possibilities available through these horizontal strips of hair.  Just keep practicing and continue to expand your smile wardrobe.

Post-script: To avoid shutting your eyes as the aperture exposes, close your peepers as the photographer counts down.  For red eye termination, focus on a bright light, thereby shrinking your pupils and the surface area available for retina reflections.

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