My dad was in town this last week and I took the opportunity to get a few shots of him. He claimed that his smile was the worst and I had to agree with him. I tried some other expressions on him but I found it difficult to get one that captures his personality best.
Try to tell him a joke, talk to him about some unrelated thing and bam!!! a joke and leave the shutter pressed to try to capture that genuine smile.
Or try to ask him to exaggerate his smile, then make a comment about exagerated smile and when he is relaxed fire away...
My dad use to flip me off. Made me smile at least. Not certain what its called in PS, put the image into Liquify Persona in Affinity Photo and bend up that smile just fine.
Some people don't genuinely smile naturally. One of our ex politicians had to go for lessons to turn him from a dour Scot. Not sure how well it worked.
https://binged.it/2naeuCF
...hey.... whats with the dour Scot!.....;-)
My father-in-law is a prime example, and tbh, I am not far behind.
I think your Dad looks great, its a good shot shows a man with character, why the need for him to smile?.... To avoid a prolonged pose. Give him a small movement to do, look to frame left then slowly turn to just beyond the lens axis, get him to repeat a few times slow...with a few beats between, and you take shots at various points on the movement.
On a note, about smiling in portraits, look at all the great artwork, Rembrandt, Valasquez etc.....not many smiles around but great portraits.
The only slight thing I would change is to tone down and desaturate the background and lighten his shirt...then tell your dad how great he looks.
Va Va Voom Eric!
Arguably one of the better portraits of the 20thCentury, Yousuf Karsh's portrait of Churchill (Below) exemplifies this very real point.
I go for both, deliberate serious, then lighter smile, as can be seen in Platon's Putin and Clinton shots. Each captures the essential nature of the sitter.
Ian Fraser,
Your Dad looks good there. If that's NOT him, well there's your challenge, right? How DO you get the REAL him to show up?
My advice, think deeply, establish what you're looking for and lead him to that spot like Eddie suggests. And when he;s there, take the shot.
-Greg
I’m not sure if you know the story behind the shot, if not go read about it. The whole topic of smiling in a portrait is a very recent fashion given momentum by social media and the selfie, and is really in my opinion a non issue. A smile just is one arrangement of the many scores of facial muscles we have, and that particular arrangement does not define a person.
"Hey, Dad, remember that one time when I snuck out of the house while I was grounded and you had to pick me up from the police station and...."
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