The Power of Facial Expression Is Real

What does a train station ad have to do with my photos?

Look at the eyebrows and you’ll get it :)

Being the city kid that I am, I was on the train the other day heading into Manhattan.

And, as I do when I’m in a train car, I looked around at all the advertising - I like to look at the pictures…go figure, right?

On this particular day, I came across an interesting ad (seen in the photo above).

Now, this particular ad only has 4 words: Don’t be that person.

But, the sentiments of the expressions of the people surrounding the non-masked person in the middle spoke much louder and longer than that one, short phrase. 

Fear. Quizzical. Anger. Shock. Bewilderment. Anger. 

Anyone that stares at that ad can pick up those emotional sentiments simply based on the shape of each person’s eyebrows. 

That’s it!

Imagine how much easier it would be to discern the meaning of their expressions if we took into account what their mouths look like underneath their masks.

And these are basic illustrations, not even a real face - those eyebrows are simply squiggly lines. 

Despite how simple those lines are, if those eyebrows on all those bystanders represented joy, laughter and happiness, their expressions wouldn’t have visually punctuated the overall message of the ad. 

Aside from the overall message of imploring all New Yorkers to wear their masks while using public transportation, staring at this ad reinforces the power of facial expressions. 

Even the slightest of changes to your eyes, eyebrows and mouth completely changes the sentiment of the photo.

That’s why during every session I conduct with clients, our goal is to create an image content portfolio with portraits that have a variety of facial expressions that span the emotional spectrum, from vulnerable to victorious.

So when you want to share stories of anger, bewilderment, shock, quizzical, and fear, you’ll have photos that compliment those specific sentiments. 

Remember this during your next portrait session, and that will go a long way to helping you tell better visual stories. 

All you need to do is wiggle your eyebrows a bit and you’re good :)

PS - If you found value in this article and would like to receive more information related to creating compelling visual stories to promote your business and brand directly in your inbox, sign up for my newsletter and it’ll save you the commute to my blog. You can sign up here.