Quick portrait tips for today, if you want real memories instead of mug shots:

Don't ask your loved ones to tidy up and sit straight. Tense postures like this look uncomfortable and don’t say a thing about your normally kinetic kid or gregarious grandfather. A little leaning or slouching can reveal attitude and personality. And you may find that NOT smiling for the camera puts some folks at ease — which will allow you to capture a more meaningful, reflective moment.

Do provide time for people to be themselves. Whether they are alone or, the case of more than one person in a portrait, interacting with one another, give your subjects a bit of time to feel comfortable in their own skin. As you snap a few pictures, even if they are goofing around, they will start to loosen up. Keep shooting as they release their own stereotypes of what a portrait "pose" should be. I predict you will find a lovely moment worth preserving.

Do include a telling item in your portraits. Here’s another strategy for "posing" portraits: Ask a child to pick out a favorite toy or an adult to choose an item related to a hobby or business to include in the picture. Once they are situated where you want to take the picture, watch them as they interact with the object… you may very well capture a lovely candid moment in your carefully composed portrait.

Do watch the light! Lighting is crucial. Look at light streaming through a window. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? As long as you’re setting up a pose, look for nice window light. If that’s not possible, and you have an external flash that tilts up, or a camera with a pop-up flash and a Lightscoop, try bouncing your flash off a nearby wall to create soft, natural-looking light from the side. The light will look as if it is coming through a window... and there you have one of the secrets of portrait photographers.

Below is a VERY unplanned portrait I took of visiting friends when we caught up at a favorite Chinese restaurant... not an ideal place for portraits, I know. I was really just showing them how the Lightscoop works. I shot the first picture to show how UGLY direct flash is... even on attractive people! But bouncing the light off the wall, and the moment when Kathy leaned over to kiss Laurence, produced a pretty nice portrait.