Jokes.....anyone?

[josh_gilreath]

OK, so today i was photographing a small child and i found myself trying to

come up with different things to say to get the kid to laugh and give me

a "real" smile. so i was just curious if anyone else had any funny sayings or

tricks to get kids to laugh and smile?

Thanks for your input,

Josh

[rffffffff]

I smack myself in the face. Hard. It works almost every time. And the parents laugh too!

[musubi1000]

or use a squeaky hammer. the kind that makes noise. The kids love it when you hit yourself with it.

[emeryfoto]

Instead of saying, "Say Cheese!", if it's little boys, I say "Say.. Diarrhea!" This gets HUGE laughs! Also, poo-poo, etc. I don't know if the parents appreciate it, but I get great results! For little girls, this MIGHT work, but as the mother of two boys, I can't say.

[emeryfoto]

Here's my latest result from the "Say Diarrhea" gambit:

[lesroll]

I've had success with this: "Hey X, y'know what? I bet you can't say 'booger' without laughing! Try it!" Usually, if the person (and it's worked on adults for me, too) doesn't laugh, they're at least smiling from trying not to laugh.

[beauh44]

Oddly, asking them to *spell* "diarrhea" doesn't seem to have the same effect! Maybe I need to work on my timing...

[helen_horsley1]

Josh, Talk to the parents beforehand. Find out if the little girl loves princesses (in which

case I am usually asking which one is her favorite and carrying on about ball gowns and

pretending to have Tinkerbell fly by my head. Then again, I have 3 daughters, so I am well

versed in this!). Who is their best friend? What's their favorite sport? Football? Talk about

the Super Bowl. Make them the quarter back who scores the winning touchdown. What

would they do if they were head of their school for a day? Pets are a good thing to talk

about. Talk about cuddling with your dog (or maybe the smell the dog makes if your

subject is a boy!) If you are shooting teens, give them a dream scenario...your parents are

away and you have the house to yourself the whole weekend. You can make your little

sister mop the floor and give you breakfast in bed. You have just been given your own

credit card and it has no limit. What kind of sports car would you buy? What concert

would you want front row tickets to? You get the jist...get on their level and connect. Put

them at ease and shoot a bunch. Get the little hands and feet, the big eyes and the curl of

hair on the back of the neck...the things that change so quickly. Oh, I also have a Big Bird

that laughs a lot and a couple of toys that light up. Happy Shooting! Kids are awesome.

[Brad_]

<a href= "http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CSnG">Click

here...</a>

[david j.lee]

what Brad said. i was going to suggest a search for those here in pn.

[jennifer_short]

I ask them what their favorite food is, then I say silly stuff like: "Oh, I like that too. But I really love peanut butter and kitty cat sandwiches". Or I say "Make a silly face at me.." They will then they usually give you a very very genuine smile. I also have a pezz dispencer fitted to my camera. I tell them (after asking mom or dad) that if they are good, they can have some candy! It works. But the day must be well lit. You have to fit it to the area that your flash slides into. But the kids think it is soo neat! Finally, I like to bring dressup clothes. I tell them that if I can take lots of good pictures, they can dress up and I can take lots of fun pictures. So far the parents have been very happy with the results of both the dressy photos and the dress up photos. Jennifer