This is probably the number one direction that comes out of my mouth when I am shooting photos for Covington’s Nursery. I have probably said this hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

Or rather, more accurately, I say a variation of this, I say, “Keep smiling at that plant!”

My direction is often followed by a response like, “Ryan my face is starting to hurt!” or, “how much longer do I have to smile at this plant?!”

To which I might reply, “Never stop smiling at that plant!”

Unless you’ve ever tried to shoot “stock photo” style photography then you might not know this, but in a promotional photo, anything other than a full-on smile reads as the exact opposite. A nondescript, resting face translates into an angry or unhappy face.

There are, of course, different types of smiles, and it sometimes takes a bit of trial and error before we find the right one for a particular person. I don’t usually want it to look like they are crazy or delusional— like they’ve been talking to the plant, maybe sharing a joke with it— but then on the other end of the spectrum, I also don’t want a sexy, knowing smile— as if they are flirting with the plant. I want the viewer to get the impression that the person in the photo would like to take the plant home with them, but certainly not in that way.

If you want to test this hypothesis, it’s certainly a fun experiment. Tell someone to hold something in their hand, and look at it like they are contemplating purchasing it. And then go back and look closely at your photos. Unless they are smiling, that photo will invariably be imbued with all sorts of unintended emotions and weird undertones that you never expected or wanted.

A photo of someone looking at a product with a “contemplative” but unsmiling face can read as all sorts of (usually undesirable) things, but I’ve found that most commonly it will look like that person is either judging it, skeptical of it, or (worst case scenario) downright disapproving of it.

“Why is she not smiling? The others are… does she not like the plant? She hates that plant! What’s wrong with it? I don’t want that plant either! It makes people unhappy!”

By the time I’m done with the photoshoot, my models probably do hate that plant (they’ve been forced to unnaturally smile at it longer than they ever thought it was possible to smile at an inanimate object), and I’m fine with that. Just so long as in the photos, it looks like that plant (or fertilizer, or bag of dirt, etc…) is bringing untold joy to the lives of the people who are looking at it.

Smirks are very dangerous territory as well, as it often looks as if the person is scoffing, like they figuratively aren’t buying what the product is selling. And if you what you are trying to accomplish is quite literally to get people to, in fact, buy what you are selling then…. well…

I’M GONNA NEED EVERYONE TO KEEP SMILING AT THAT PLANT, DAMMIT!