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Digital Portrait Photography
Want Bigger Smiles? Take Photos When Teeth Should be Whitest
SUMMARY: If you want people to have the confidence to show their teeth when smiling, take simple steps to ensure peoples' teeth will be their whitest.
When shooting digital portraits, one of the trickiest tasks you may have as a photographer is to encourage everyone to smile. Very few people have perfect teeth, and most of us are conscious about our looks.
While a dentist and professional tooth-whitening system could help improve peoples' overall smiles, the following common-sense suggestions may help you get better reactions when you yell "CHEESE!":
1. Take photographs before lunch when possible, and before breakfast if at all possible. This lessens the chances of crumbs and other particles in peoples' teeth. If a person's teeth feel cleaner, they may be more likely to smile.
2. Ask participants to avoid coffee before the photo shoot if possible. Note that this may mean tip #1 and tip #2 are mutually exclusive (!), but coffee is infamous for staining teeth.
3. Provide a time for your photo shoot and stick to it. Allow participants time to brush their teeth as well as other grooming activities before the picture is taken.
4. For really important photographs, such as those to be used in commercial situations, you may want to offer samples of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and toothpicks to slightly encourage participants to "freshen up" first (without directly saying anything).
Of course, after the photo is taken, you could always touch-up someone's teeth with photo manipulation software to make them sparkle...
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