Smile! Look at the camera! Say cheese!
Okay — the actual word you ask your model (or child) to say does not matter very much. I have heard that it gives the best expression to have an “S” near the end of the word. (Hmmmm…the photographer for our high school year book was eager to prompt the girls with the word “boys”.)
Photographs, and a great many other things, have gotten more casual during my lifetime. Gone are the days when my mother (the photographer of the family) asked us to squint into the sun and smile at the same time. Now we hold up a digital camera or phone and can check for results before we’re gone from the picnic, visit to relatives, or zoo. (Granted, animals continue the habit of turning away at critical times.)
Has a smile ever made you nervous? Raised all your internal caution flags?
Do you trust this model’s smile?
I was glad for the clear barrier between us.