Glasses, Braces or a Fringe? Poses That Work With Them

Glasses: Killing the Glare

Lens glare happens when a light source reflects off the glass straight into the camera. The fix is to change the reflection angle, and the standard move is to tip the arms of the frames down slightly - push the earpieces up a few millimetres where they sit behind your ears, which tilts the lenses down and sends the reflection below the lens.

Two or three degrees is usually enough and is invisible in the photo. If glare persists, turn your head a few degrees or lower your chin fractionally.

The other option is to look slightly off-axis rather than straight down the barrel - see where to look. What you should not do is remove your glasses if you wear them daily; the photo stops looking like you.

Braces: Shoot Both, Choose Later

The instinct is to avoid showing teeth entirely, which produces a session of closed-mouth smiles that read as guarded.

A better approach is to shoot a mix: some closed-mouth soft smiles, some genuine open ones. Braces are far less prominent in photographs than they feel, particularly at portrait distance where they occupy a very small part of the frame.

If you would rather minimise them, a soft closed-mouth smile with engaged eyes is the most flattering option and works for professional contexts too - the triggers are in expression range. Softer, wrapping light also reduces how much the metal catches highlights, which is where hard vs soft light is useful.

Fringe: Watch the Shadow

A fringe is not a problem in itself - the problem is the shadow it casts. Studio lights usually come from above and in front, so a fringe drops a band of shadow across the brows and sometimes the eyes, which is the one place you need light.

Fixes, in order of ease: lift your chin very slightly, which brings your eyes out from under the fringe; turn toward the main light so it reaches under the hair; or part the fringe slightly to one side.

Check the preview screen specifically for whether your eyes have catchlights - if they do not, the fringe is blocking the light. That diagnosis is covered in the catchlights post.

The General Principle

All three problems share a cause: something between the light and your eyes, or between your eyes and the camera. And all three share a fix: a small change of angle rather than a change to yourself.

Take one test frame at the start of a session specifically to check for these. Ten seconds spent looking for glare, shadow or an unnatural mouth saves you finding it in all sixty frames afterwards.

Frequently asked questions