It's all about the smile

The smile is one of the most impactful expressions people have for their headshots – the smile can convey warmth, happiness, energy, approachability, and also confidence, experience, etc.. How large or small a smile, whether you smile with/without teeth, how symmetrical it is, how relaxed/tense your lips are all play a role in the impression created.

Yet some images feel more genuine than others when people are smiling in a headshot – one of the many reasons people never liked their high school yearbook pictures are a result of the smile looking fake – primarily because it is!

So what makes a more natural looking smile? One of the key elements is smiling with your eyes – when most people smile genuinely, their eyes also smile. The lower eyelid muscle actually contract a bit, causing a bit of a squint – when they eyes are smiling along with the mouth, the smile generally looks more genuine. And while the amount of actual muscle movement is very small, the impact can be significant.

The other element is the smile itself – often, if it is “half-baked” (that high school yearbook picture), it looks fake, like you’re smiling for the camera vs. how you genuinely smile when speaking with someone. The energy is flat, the eyes are more or less blank – you look like you just ate something that wasn’t very good yet you don’t want to make the chef feel bad….

Energy level, positioning of the head, eyebrows, etc. also play a role in the overall impression created. As the expression is one of the most important elements in a great headshot, I spend a fair amount of time during a session coaching and working with my clients to achieve the best look for their branding and impression they want to create – including finding the right smile.

Here’s an example from a recent session with Matt, who needed updated headshots for a new job he was starting, as well as for his LinkedIn profile. If you look closely, each of these images is slightly different in terms of the smile.  There’s no right or wrong look here (and yes, he is wearing a tie in one of the images, which also contributes to that particular look).  And while the first impressions are generally similar, the subtle differences do play a role in the overall impression created.