A closed-mouth smile can be just as warm and inviting as a toothy grin. Some of my favourite headshots I’ve ever taken don’t show a single tooth.

The secret is similar to something models have known for decades. They use the smize. This technique is similar, but it’s warmer. Let’s call it the ‘warm smize’.

And once you learn it, you’ll never feel awkward in front of a camera again.

This is a subject close to my heart. Before I had braces, I could eat an apple through a fence with my teeth! But not with the warm smize.

What is the warm smize?

A warm smize is a smize with a dash of warm honey. Tyra Banks coined the term smize on America’s Next Top Model. It means smiling with your eyes, with a neutral mouth. Confident and almost a little cold.

A warm smize is the same thing, just warmer. Done right it reads as warm, confident and completely natural. Done wrong it looks like a squint or a grimace. The difference is in the technique.

I tell every headshot and personal branding client the same thing: there’s three potential awkward spots in photos. The eyes, the mouth and hands. The warm smize solves two of those three in one slick move.

A lot of what I do is working around these three areas to reduce the awkwardness. Photography is a lot of smoke and mirrors really.

Step 1. Start with your mouth.

Close your lips into a relaxed, gentle smile. Not too wide, not too tight. You’re aiming for warm but not strained. Think of it as the smile you’d give someone you love. Think happy thoughts. You got it.

Step 2. Now bring in the eyes.

Gently engage the muscles above and below your eyes, as if you’re just beginning to close them. Not a squint. Not a strain. A soft, warm squeeze that creates just a little crinkle at the corners. While you do it, think of someone or something you genuinely love. That warmth will show.

The eyes and mouth need to work together. Smile with your mouth but leave your eyes flat and it looks hollow. Engage your eyes without the mouth and it reads as intensity rather than warmth. Both together is where the magic lives. That’s the warm smize.

Step 3. Practice before a photoshoot.

Stand in front of a mirror and try it. Take photos on your phone. It takes a few attempts to get right but when you get it right you’ll feel it. There’s a moment where it clicks and suddenly you look like yourself, confident and at ease.

The difference a good photographer makes.

Knowing the technique and nailing it on the day of your shoot are two different things. Part of what I do at Photoform* is coach you through exactly this in real time. I watch for the moment it lands and I shoot.

If you’re based in Melbourne and want headshots where you look genuinely confident rather than camera-shy, come and see what we do at Photoform*. No forced grins required. Just you and your warm smize. Book your Melbourne headshots session below.