Conversation Matters

The range of expressions that people go through when they talk is remarkable (although Nicole is a lot more expressive than some people). But even for a shy person, getting them to talk will take their mind off the camera. If the camera is sitting on a tripod and the person can look at your face instead of the cold eye of the camera, the model will be more likely to give you warm and natural expressions. If you need the model to look right into the camera, you might want to either hide behind it, while keeping up the conversation, or simply ask them to look into the camera, but keep up the conversation to keep them feeling connected to you.

Bottom Line: Consider talking with the person you are photographing.

105mm, f8, studio softbox on right, reflector on left

Left

Right

This is your basic non-expression — Nicole was waiting for me to stop fooling around with my camera and pay attention to her. After this we started talking.

The real laugh. Not a great portrait, as the eyes are closed as part of the laugh, but clearly she is not pretending to laugh.

The genuine smile you get when you don't ask for it.

Thinking. I asked her a question and did the common "look up to the sky" for answers. Makes her eyes jump right out.

Something about that head tilt combined with a smile makes it feel more sincere.

The infamous head tilt — hard to believe that Nicole did not perfect this look by watching Bell, her dog. But think how profound is head tilting as a way to indicate caring — it works for other species! Admittedly, cats don't use this look, but many dogs use it effectively.

Looking off in the distance — the other place people look for answers. You can tell by the way she holds her mouth that she is about to speak.

Tilting the head the other way but without the raised eyebrows. Now it means something entirely different, and not all that positive.