As portrait photographers, it’s our job to capture our subjects’ true emotions, but we all know that can be more easily said than done. This short and sweet video reveals a tiny secret about spotting a fake smile that could help you create better portraits:
Did you guess the “real” smiles correctly? If so, you’re one of many naturally intuitive people who can easily spot fake smiles.
This ability to identify a genuine smile has an obvious use in photography. In real life, there are way too many distractions that can help a fake smile pass as genuine—distractions such as sound, conversation, and so on. In a photo, however, the smile is frozen in time; there’s lots of time to look at it, thus the bigger the chance to spot a fake smile and therefore not capture the true essence of a person.
Can you spot the fake smile?
Which is the real smile?
For those of us who have a hard time differentiating between real and fake smiles, the secret is in the eyes.
“During a genuine smile, tiny crinkles appear around the sides of the eyes. During a fake smile, these crinkles are missing.”
You can use this technique to spot fake smiles on the go and thus help your subjects reach a genuine smile. This can help you improve your portraiture so much if used on regular basis.
Do you have any pointers for getting your subject to smile a real smile?
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