Summary: Looking to smile naturally and perfectly for a nice snapshot? You can find solutions in this blog. We’ll introduce 17 tips to help you smile for pictures. Optionally, you can use an online smile filter to add a virtual smile to your daily photo.
Each day we smile due to a funny joke, a joyful conversation, a family picnic, or just seeing sunny weather. But when we face a camera, it’s hard not to smile awkwardly and unnaturally.
How to fix this problem since a natural and perfect smile is so crucial to a great shot? Don’t worry, where there is a question, there is a solution. Here we list 17 tips on how to smile for pictures to help you effortlessly get an authentic and captivating smile. Let’s see together!
17 Tips on How to Smile Better in Pictures
1. Smile With Your Eyes
As the old saying goes, eyes are the window of your heart. So when you smile at the camera, tilt up the corners of your eyes. This can make your smile look more sincere and happy.
2. Think Things that Make You Happy
You perhaps smile unnaturally when your mind is empty. So think of the happy moments, it can be a summer camp with friends, a spring picnic with family, and even the crucial moments in life like a wedding, a graduation ceremony, etc. These happy things can help you smile from the heart.
3. Relax Your Face and Jaw Muscles
A nice shot cannot be taken within just one second, it may last a little longer. But our facial muscles are easy to be stiff when we keep smiling for a long time. So remember to relax your face and jaw muscles for a natural facial expression.
4. Show Your Teeth
Showing your teeth is a bonus trick for a nice smile picture. White and neat teeth can leave a great first impression on others. But if your teeth are yellow and you think showing teeth can help you get a perfect smile, it’s recommended to use photo retouching tools to whiten your teeth with just one click.
5. Wear Bright-Colored Lipstick
Let’s ask for the help of makeup. A red or bright-colored lipstick can help to light up your complexion, and make your smile more attractive and charming. But if you don’t have lipstick on handy, you can effortlessly add lipstick to your photo at the later editing stage.
6. Place Your Tongue Behind Your Teeth
When opening your tongue, you can place the tips of your tongue behind your teeth. This can help to avoid grinning too much, which makes you look silly in the picture.
7. Don’t Say “Cheese”
Probably all of us have heard the classic advice of saying cheese before taking a picture. Although this old trick can bring quick smiles, it often lets others feel that we’re forced to smile or leads to unnatural smiling. So next time when you take pictures, stop saying “Cheese”.
8. Find Your Best Angle
It’s important to get a right angle whether for a selfie or a photograph. Tilt your chin slightly downward can make you look slimmer and more elegant. You can also keep the camera lens above eye level. This can get rid of the annoying double chin and distorting facial features, meanwhile making your smile look brighter.
9. Practice Makes Perfect
A perfect smile cannot be made without long-term training. In your spare time, you can search for some tutorial videos on how to smile better and practice these tips in a mirror. Adjust your smile over and over again to perfection.
10. Enhance Confidence With a Good Outfit
Choosing the right outfit can significantly boost your confidence in front of the camera, which in turn affects how naturally and brightly you smile. Dress in clothes that make you feel comfortable and confident. When you feel good about yourself on the inside, it radiates through your smile and is captured in the photograph.
11. Keep Smiling
Sometimes, you can make a quick snapshot after briefly saying “Cheese” or taking a posture, but keeping a smile for a longer time can help the photographer capture more nice shots with changing states and degrees of smiles.
12. Smile at the Camera, not the Photographer
In many instances, people tend to smile directly at the person holding the camera instead of focusing on the lens itself. This can lead to an unnatural gaze in the final image. To ensure your smile appears genuine and engaging, concentrate on looking into the camera lens as if you’re smiling at someone across from you. By doing so, your smile will appear more direct and personal, resonating better with anyone viewing the photograph.
13. Mind Your Posture
A wrong posture tends to bring an imperfect smile picture. Imagine you keep the chin down and show your double chin in the photograph, it’s awful, right? So when you take a picture, it’s better to tilt up your chin slightly and put the tongue behind your teeth. This can help to control your facial and jaw muscles.
14. Use Lip Balm to Perfect the Overall Look
Wetting your lips will make your smile look flawless. Whether it’s a bright lipstick or a lip balm. It’s important that your mouth doesn’t look cracked or dry. To prepare for the photography, you can use a facial scrub on your lips the night before to remove dead or peeling skin.
15. Close Your Eyes Before a Photo
It’s not always effective to smile with your eyes open in an image. If the sunlight during the daytime is too dazzling, you can smile with your eyes closed. In this case, the key to taking a good smile picture is your mouth. Remember to smile brightly with your mouth open and showing your white teeth.
16. Let Others Tell a Joke
If you think it's hard to smile naturally only relying on yourself, try to ask others for help. This can be your friend or the photographer, ask him or her to tell a joke, and let the photographer capture your happy reaction when hearing the joke.