Children are hard wired to provide a forced grin and say “cheese” once they see the camera. Getting natural smiles can therefore be a challenging job when photographing school portraits. Yet, spending time and care to connect with each child will help you capture authentic expressions.
I photograph school portraits for elementary students and my number one goal is to create portraits that are true to the children’s unique personalities. I work to get them forgetting about saying cheese by having them to think of something silly.
Most kids will respond to you easily, but some older or very shy kids can be more difficult. Keep working with them and ask different questions to find out what makes them laugh. If that still doesn’t work, grab one of their friends to stand behind the camera to make goofy faces and that usually does the trick.
While older children can be more serious, younger ones tend to be very silly. Young kids have very short attention spans so it’s important to work quickly and continuously remind them to look at the camera. When they get a fit of the giggles, they completely fall apart. Don’t let them get too distracted and tell them you love their laughs as long as they stay sitting for their picture.
When photographing children with special needs, I’ve learned that the best thing to do is to just go with what they are doing. The same questions will probably not work with them so just mirror their mood and work quickly. Being perceptive to them will help you capture their attention and smiles.
Being attentive to each child will be hard work that results in effortless grins in every photo. Parents will comment how the portraits are true to their child and will cherish the memories at this unique stage in school.
These are so wonderful