This is another area where photographers frequently make the mistake of
thinking they know best. Most photographers like serious expressions with the
lips together or glamorous expressions with the lips slightly separated. Among
the public, however, mothers are the dominant buyers of professional photog-
raphy, and they like smiles. Happy sells—and if you want to profit from your
work, you had better produce what sells.
Mirroring.Many photographers have a problem getting their subjects to
achieve pleasant expressions. Most of the time, the problem comes from the
photographer not realizing an important concept called “mirroring.” When
you smile at a person, they smile back; when you frown at a person, they im-
mediately frown back. People will mirror the expression that you, as the pho-
tographer, have on your face.
Our attitudes and outlooks on life set our expressions, and sometimes this
gets in the way of making our clients look their best. We had one photographer
with us a few years back who smiled all the time. He was great at getting clients
to smile, but he would frustrate clients when it came to creating nonsmilingPOSING 73When you want a smile on the subject’s
face, you should smile and speak in an up-
beat voice (left). When you want a more se-
rious expression, use a more subdued
voice and don’t smile (right).