Help! What do you say to make them smile???

Hi Everyone!

I just had a quick question and any input would be greaaatly appreciated.

I'm not super outgoing and loud and I feel so boring when I am getting people to smile for a picture when I say "OK! 1,2,3, smile!" It creates a lot of fake smiles..

What does everyone say to get true genuine smiles, that isn't cheesy or crude? Do you have any suggestions???

The only time I've ever had success was when I did the "1,2,3.." was.. completely by accident I was counting on my fingers too and accidently held up 4 fingers when I said "3" and everyone burst out laughing.

Thanks in advance everyone!

I have to admit I tend to fall into the goofy at times - if its groups I'll do a lot of "come on, show me the love!" followed by "not that much LOVE!" or, if I can tell there is a joker in the bunch, I'll try to bring him into a little since that can help ease people up.

If its one on one portraits and I need a smile, I typically try to tell them to think of something really happy - and ask them to tell me (or I'll say "ok think happy - think puppies, kittens, etc") and then, when I need the smile I'll say their word back, or the words I gave em. That usually can turn a fake smile into something more real.

though sometimes you learn to be careful who you ask to "show me the love"

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Depends on the age. Little bells helps to make kids laugh. At least my kids. For school age kids, having the kids say, "Fuzzy Pickles" works for some strange reason. I'll tend to cut up with older people. I will mis-count on 1,2,3 and blame it on my public school education. That'll work. Stupid little things like that.

Thanks for the responses, those are great! I'll definitely be careful who I would say 'show me the love' to! haha

i was reading joe mcnally's book " the moment it clicks" and in there he has a shot of 3 pro ball plays with great smiles and he said he got them to do it by asking two of the players to pull on the ears of the third. he said it took them out of their serious element and he got a great photo. just a thought.

I'll sometimes say "Alright, now make love to the camera" in a seedy sounding voice (or alternatively in a very dry matter of fact way), that gets the ball rolling. Another trick is say you're going to shoot on 3 but release the shutter on 1, then when they're saying "hey!" you shoot them again, then again, I find I get some really nice candid looks when people react to this, certainly more interesting than the sterile "1,2,3,cheese".

Another one is to tell your models to "look beautiful" and then say to a confident outgoing member of the group "hey Dave, I said look beautiful", this normally gets a few natural laughs from the others in the group.

These tricks all sound ridiculous writing them down, I sound like some creepy uncle who doesn't realise he's not funny but I promise they work!

For guys, it's easy,"whatever you do, do NOT imagine your parents making love, o.k?"... click.

One of my relatives is amazing. When he had all of the younger generation in a group shot last year, he started counting so we all just looked with a fake smile as you do sometimes.

So he starts counting. He gets to three and under assumption, we though that was it but he carried on counting randomly until we burst out into laughter and then snap! Moment was there.

When doing weddings and everyone wants to be so serious in the wedding party shots, I always crack a joke. Depending on how well I know the bride and groom etc.... depends on what type of joke I will tell. It's always something that gets them giddy and then they never stop smiling.

This probably isn't actually a good idea (read: it'd be "unprofessional"), but a good fart sound almost always cracks up any kid between the ages of 3 and 8.

Here's a joke that always cracks a smile...
Why did Tigger stick his head in the toilet??

He was looking for POOH!!!

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! - My kids always crack up at that one!

S E X is good - always cracks a grin

"Cheer up" has worked pretty well for me over the years, but to be totally honest, the most effective way to get people to smile is to be really smiling yourself. When photographing one person, usually I am looking directly at the subject, and smiling, they return pretty natural expressions. (My camera is on a tripod most of the time, even outdoors, and therefore you don't have to be looking through the camera. Most of the time, I'm not...)

If you are photographing more than one person, just have them look at each other. Doesn't really matter their relationship, almost always results in them laughing. I have NEVER used the 1,2,3 thing, because it always seemed so amateurish to me.

AND my final rule for children is to never speak the word, SMILE! No, you can say in a really upbeat way, Are you HAPPY? or something along those lines, but I have found that when you tell a kid to smile you get really, really fake (and sometimes AWFUL) expressions. However, happily, most all kids smile pretty easily. Being stupid and goofy and self deprecating (sometimes I just fall on purpose) usually works pretty well.

For kids, I ask, "what's you boyfriend's/girlfriend​'s name?" This always get them to laugh. For older people I get ready and behing the camera I will say, "I'm not going to take the picture until you smile." wait patiently, they will smile.