I searched the forum quickly and didn't see any related threads.

Just wondering what kind of tricks people used to get families and groups to give you genuine smiles before a picture. I am shooting a large family this weekend and thought maybe people here would have some old faithful, silly, or cliche stuff they used that seemed to work on a regular basis in getting great smiles.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Bad jokes all the way. The worse the joke, the better the grin.. To be honest, it's usually something that works best if you are comfortable and they are comfortable with you. Take the time to chat before the shoot, get to know a little about them and their sense of humour and then play up to that.


If all else fails use a remote cable release, leave the camera on a tripod and then jump up and down like an idiot pulling stupid faces behind the camera..

i like to tell them to start laughing gently, then raise the volume of the laugh. then i demonstrate until i am YELLING the laugh.

....sucks when that one bombs but its wonderful when it works

Tough in a group...so many different personalities that no one thing seems to work on all of them. Sometimes getting them to make faces (suprised, sad, attitude...that kind of thing, a bunch of them right in a row), or you do goofy things with the camera that will get a reaction...then also shoot AFTER that when they feel relieved to be done making faces. Take a LOT of shots, easy to delete and your chances increase you can get one keeper.

If you spend a little time working out the personalities of the group, you can use that. There's usually a couple people in the group that you can joke with and tease. I'll get them joking back & forth and the rest of the group typically laughs.

I also tell stories of past shoots (somewhat exaggerated) or about shooting my kids and that can get some good laughs out of them.

I guess that when you're shooting large groups, you become a photographer/stand-up comedian. When I finish one of these shoots, I can't get to my water bottle fast enough - turns out I talk through the ENTIRE shoot.

Good luck & have fun with it!
Kathleen

If its a family or group, there is usually one in the family that is "funnier" that the rest. I try to pick him out quickly, and focus physical comedy on him - once he can get going, the rest will follow suit. Singing, or dancing, or clapping usually will get the class clown to act up, and the rest follow, eventually getting genuine because of the fun.

Sid makes a great point. Enlist the help of the family comedienne/comedian. I did a large family group for the parents' 50th anniversary. I asked them if they'd ever taken a long car trip when they were children. That began the stories, and the laughter got more and more till the tears were literally running down Mom's face and she held her hand up wanting them to quit till she got her breath!
As mentioned, get to know the people and get them relaxed with you before you start the session. Takes time, but that's the best solution with all photography!

Phoenix, AZ Comercial Photographer Dan Coogan has a neat trick. Go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cooganphoto/1291044190/in/set-72157601800064847/

I only wish I had the guts to try it.

Thankfully things have changed a lot in the past few years, and one of those changes has been in the required "smile for the camera" routine.

Historically most all of the top portrait photographers have tried to obtain frank, open & and honest expressions over canned laughs or forced grins. Basically trying to capture their subjects personality. And now that process is trickling down to the everyday studio and wedding photographer.

We're photographers, not comedians .. and usually our attempts to create laughter make a photo look dated and a bit corney.

Far better to establish an honest rapport with your subject(s) and you will find the smiles come naturally .. I make zero attempt to make people smile or laugh, but do engage them in conversation. And if you look at a typical conversation between friends there are many, many smiles.

I've had to walk away from groups as we were laughing too hard, and once had the mother of a bride ask me to tell the group to take the photo session more serious. Which I did, and of course that just made everyone fall down laughing.

Just be yourself .. there are already too many unemployed comedians.

Small room + nitrous oxide works well. JK