Smiling at the camera, Classica/Traditional, and Relationships/Contemporary

Smiling at the camera with eyes and slightly smiling lips. Today many people expect that for a good family portrait everyone has to be looking at the camera and smiling. Smiling in family portraits started in America during the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. At that time Kodak was making it even easier and less expensive for amateurs to take their own photographs. Families liked these images with smiles because it was a way of displaying everything was “all right.” It is a very good message, which remains the most popular style of family photography today.

While it remains a personal choice of each client, many clients and most photographer recommend the smiling faces looking at the camera are best for small gifts prints (less than 11×14) and albums. Wall art is more timeless without “teethe” smiles. Eyes and a smile without teeth are the most emotional appealing in wall art. Contemporary portraits where eyes are not looking at the camera work well with those who enjoy smiling subjects.

Relationship/Contemporary. In contemporary/relationship portraits, family members are looking at and engaged with each other, not at the camera, and most often smiling. The interactions are as simple as holding hands, looking at each other and walking towards or away from the camera! Or, a parent and child looking into each other’s eyes! Or, a family sitting on the ground with everyone looking at each other smiling! Not looking at the camera (a candid image) allows the viewer to view the subject without intruding and allows the viewer to gaze longer and deeper.

Classical/Traditional. In classical portrait paintings, people are rarely smiling and often not looking at the viewer. The lack of a smile enables the observer to get a better understanding of who the person is. Many of today’s most successful portraiture studios lean heavily towards non-grinning character studies. Hugging with eyes and a slight curl of the lips can display a huge amount of emotion!

If you are not sure which style is best for you & want to explore the possibilities, we can do that with you. Just tell us and we will provide you a variety of options!