It’s okay to smile in a portrait, but it’s certainly not required. You’re not making a toothpaste commercial. Most of my favorite portraits don’t have any smiles. Not because I prefer sad kids, but because this is how we usually look. Most of us don’t walk around smiling all the time. We have a natural and neutral facial expression – this is how people know us. Smiling in a portrait can look very pretended and it makes us squeeze the face together, squint, give us dimples and creates shadows everywhere on the face. All of these can be both charming and cute, but they don’t suit every child. In my opinion the neutral face can give the portrait a more emotional and pensive dimension. It can be difficult as a photographer to judge what appearance the child and the parents think suits their child best – and most of them don’t actually know if you ask them. At least make some photos without smiles, so they have an option.
