Have you ever looked through another photographer’s Instagram feed and wondered how they get their clients to look so relaxed and natural for the camera?

Do they just naturally get photogenic people that love having their picture taken? It seems like all your clients are the camera-shy ones that stiffen up like a deer in the headlights when you pull out your camera.

While some clients will be easier than others it doesn’t just depend on them. Let’s learn a little about emotional photography. What is it and how can you make it happen.

Unposed vs Posed

I’ve never been too much of a fan of overly posed photographs. You know the ones I’m talking about. Those JC Penney Studio ones with the rad backdrops.

Now don’t get me wrong, they have their place. There are plenty of those types of photos hanging on my parent’s walls. My sister and I are sitting up tall, looking straight at the camera with a big smile that’s usually missing a few teeth. My mom loves those photos and they are nice memories and milestones of how we’ve grown and changed over the years.

But I’m not a fan of the style. It wasn’t until I started getting into photography that I realized there can be something different. Not that I ever really thought that hard about it before. But I think most people think that there’s either posed photos or candid shots. And we all know that we always look terrible in candid shots.

Or do we? We’ll come back to this in a minute.

The “Ready” Face

Everybody has a “ready” face for the camera. We start teaching it to our kids before they can even talk.

“Look at the camera!” “Smile over here!” “Daddy has stinky feet!” We shout all these things trying to get little kids to look into the camera and smile. They often don’t want to and you just end up getting frustrated that you can’t get a “good” picture and give up.

But what’s a good picture?

What if you just let a little kid do their thing and quietly snap a few photos at opportune moments? You might be surprised what you can come up with.

Of course, with little kids, this is easy to do. It’s much harder to do with older kids and adults. Why? Because by then, they’ve developed their “ready” face that they whip out every time someone points a camera in their direction.

The “ready” face comes because of people wanting posed, looking at the camera photographs. But it gets enhanced by our insecurities or what we don’t like about ourselves. By the time we’re older, we’ve seen what we don’t like in photographs and try to avoid them.

I really realized this when I started photographing my baby. She doesn’t think her eyes are too big or that her gums show up too much when she smiles like I do. She doesn’t get stiff and try to angle or position herself to look her best in the photo. She’s just chill and relaxed.

And you know what? She looks way better than I do in photos!

Most people that are camera shy also seem to have a radar that detects when a camera comes out. My husband is like this. He has an adorable smile that I’ve worked hard to capture in photos, but I’ve only succeeded a few times. He always knows when I pull out a camera and plasters on his fake camera smile that actually makes him look like he’s in pain.

Emotional Photography

So how do you get around the “ready” face and get some photos with genuine emotion? How do you get those big beautiful smiles that many people are too shy to display in front of a camera? Here are a few tricks that you can put up your sleeve.

Laughter

It’s impossible to fake a smile while laughing. Laughter also reaches the eyes far more than a stiff, posed little smile. It causes the whole face and body to relax and the resulting photo will be natural and beautiful.

But how do you get people to laugh when they’re stiff and nervous? You distract them.

For couples, you can give them fun little prompts. Try telling one to describe their favorite vegetable to the other in their sexiest voice. Tell them to snuggle up close and have the guy draw a heart shape on the girl’s cheek with his nose.

Movement is also good. Try having them hold hands and walk along like they’re drunk. Or position the guy in one spot and then tell the girl to run up behind him and jump on his back without him knowing.

Reflection

Big, beautiful smiles make for great photos, but it isn’t always what you want. Sometimes you want a more serious or reflective pose.

I’ve had this come up most often in maternity photography. Expecting moms aren’t always the most comfortable in front of a camera. They don’t necessarily feel their best and often feel awkward about striking a pensive pose like those perfect photos on Pinterest.

You have to get her to stop thinking about the camera. I’ve had luck setting her up where I want her and then I start talking to her. I ask her about the baby, if it’s a boy or a girl, the name and whatever else is relevant to her.

Most of the time if you can get her to focus on her baby, her eyes light up and she gets that special little smile. It’s beautiful.

Trick Your Subject

Sometimes you simply have to trick your subject. This works well for headshots and other types of photos where you subject does need to pose.

Set your subject where you want them and pose them how you want. Dial in your settings and take a photo.

As you start to lower the camera you’ll notice your subject relax ever so slightly because they think you’re done. They’re relaxing out of their “ready face”.

Whip the camera back up and grab a shot before they can react. Sometimes you’ll get a closed eye or something weird, but 9 times out of 10 you’ll get a shot that’s 10x better than the first one.

Wait for It

Perhaps one of the most important ideas in emotional photography is to wait for it. You have to wait for the right moment to capture your shot.

Remember the candid photos in the beginning? What I said is true. Most of the time we look terrible in candid photos. That’s a lot of the reason why we think we need a “ready” face in the first place.

But it’s simply a matter of picking the right moment. That’s what separates the pros from the casual photographers.

The other day I tried to get my husband to take natural, unposed photos of me with my daughter. He kept trying to get her to look at the camera and telling me to stay “ready” so he could grab a shot when she was.

I told him I didn’t want to be looking at the camera and asked him to take photos of us interacting. He did and maybe 1 or 2 turned out okay.

I was frustrated, though. I get all sorts of great unposed shots of the two of them together, why couldn’t he get some of us? Then I realized it’s because he doesn’t know yet to wait for the right moment. I’m gonna work on that with him… 😉

Have Fun With It!

The most important thing to remember is to have fun with emotional photography! You’ll be 10x more likely to get natural, beautiful smiles (and other expressions) from your subjects if you’re relaxed and easygoing.

Is the two-year-old not having the whole sitting still and staring at the camera? Chase him around instead and get a shot of his impish grin right before he pulls his sister’s hair. Does your couple feel awkward about kissing for the camera? Put on a song and tell them to dance instead.

Get creative with emotional photography, it just might surprise you what you can come up with. Have some more fun prompts to share? Drop me a note in the comments! I’d love to hear your ideas!

Until next time…

Cara