I'm having trouble getting my four year old to smile for photos where she isn't grimacing or making a really weird face. If we stand in front of a mirror, she can adjust her smile so that it's attractive, but if she doesn't have a mirror, she just contorts her face into these really odd expressions that look awful. How can I help her learn to make a nice smile? I've even tried saying don't smile at all, but she feels compelled to make a face if she knows I'm taking a picture.
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Can you just make her laugh so it's genuine? Tell a funny joke or sing a funny song? With my DS (3) its getting hard, but I get the best photos if I have him chase me or if he's doing something he genuinely enjoys. Of course that doesn't always work for the 'posed' photos.
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I was going to suggest making her laugh but I see @josina: already did
This is what our photographer did with DD1 (3.5) recently with great results. When I try it with her at home she does overexaggerated silly full-body laughs but I can usually get at least 1 decent photo out of the mix.
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Thanks, ladies! It's just hard for things like group Easter photos and stuff like that. And half the time, her laugh is so silly that she looks like someone is torturing her (squinched eyes, mouth wide open, etc.).
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Yep. Laughing is the key. Sometime I can get a good smile with a little tickle, sometimes it just makes him look crazy. I find my best friend is taking a "blast" in these situations so I can pick the best out of like 100 pictures lol. But unfortunately I think it's just the age, they just haven't figured out (or care) what a good smile looks like. I try to remember that I'll treasure these pictures even if DS looks like a total nut. Heck, I'll probably treasure them more...
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No advice but it’s good to see someone else with a crazy laugher. My daughter’s laugh face looks like she’s screaming. Her non-laughing smile looks like she’s in pain. Right now I just accept it because it makes me laugh. But I know it irritates her grandmother that all photos of her look like she’s upset or in pain. If you have ever seen the show Friends where Chandler can’t smile - that’s my kid (and DH for that matter).
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I tell my son to say cheese. It's totally a weird cheese face but I love it haha. It's basically
combo
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My DD makes the worst face when you tell her to say Cheese, but then she relaxes into an actual smile. We have good luck with sayice “ice cream” or something else fun.
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@Hypatia: We went through this too. I was shocked last week when we got DD (just turned 5yo)’s preschool photos. She has a nice, natural looking smile. Hopefully it’s the start of a trend.
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@Hypatia: DD went through this phase. I would make her do silly faces til she naturally laughed or smiled.
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For my nieces and nephew, I would have them make LOTS of faces while I was taking a photo. Like, "Ok, make a sad face. Make a silly face. Make a happy face. Make an angry face. Angrier. Angrier! ANGRIER!" which would usually devolved into laughter and result in some pretty cute pictures. Plus, they LOVED looking at all of their silly faces afterwards. It's not ideal for group settings, for sure, but might be worth a shot (see what I did there
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Both my kids make an intense cheese face these days. I mostly just have to be patient and take a ton. But I also think the cheese faces are adorable and want to remember this phase too.
@Corduroy: both years at preschool the photographer has gotten such sweet, natural faces! I want to know how he does it!
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I just roll with it - I think his “smile” is hilarious and I know I’m going to love looking back at these photos.
This is what our photographer did with DD1 (3.5) recently with great results. When I try it with her at home she does overexaggerated silly full-body laughs but I can usually get at least 1 decent photo out of the mix.
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