Facial Expressions In Portraits Could Convey the Wrong Message
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“Oh my gosh, check out that look on your face!”, says your friend on the comments section of your newest facebook photo (you know the one where you didn’t realize was being taken while you were acting dorky). I’m sure you’ve seen something similar to this before, if not directly. It’s true, though; a simple facial expression can MAKE or BREAK a photo. It can convey the RIGHT message, or possibly even the WRONG message.
Oh yeah, she definitely looks like she did it.
Check out little miss right here in this funny “motivational” style poster. Usually these are pretty hilarious, and get passed all around on the internet. Was this shot intentional? Maybe the little girl was just trying to smile for her mommy or daddy while they took a snapshot of the neighborhood house fire. But no – she has that evil, devious look on her face. Almost a sort of a smirk like she’s thinking, “See? I told you not to mess with me…”
Okay so now that we’ve all had a little chuckle, what is my point? It’s that facial expressions are important! I’ll admit – when I’m shooting portraits, sometimes I’ll catch someone at the wrong moment, or maybe it was their fault altogether. Some people just smile weird, or in their own unique sort of way. Later when I’m culling and editing, sometimes I can make an image work that I might have initially thought was a total mistake. Here are some examples.
The infamous blink shot, converted to an “I’m dreaming of a Caribbean vacation!” concept:
Or the “model blinked by accident but it looks just like shes laughing really hard” shot:
We all have a few like this in our portfolios. You just really need to make sure that you can make it work. Obviously it would be foolish to take an image of a guy smiling and say he’s sad or depressed. I’ve had models try and pretend to be sad (who really just couldn’t nail the acting) and instead it come out like they were giggling. Maybe it was me making them feel uncomfortable, or acting goofy like I normally do during shoots. Hey, I like to have fun.
…and don’t forget about those Girl Scouts slinging those cookie boxes… they remember who doesn’t buy!
