Dental photography: taking professional portraits is no sorcery!

Professional and effective portrait pictures are an essential part of dental photography. A few tricks will help you to accomplish great, authentic shots. Read on to find out more.

Portrait pictures - essential for dental photography

As dental professional, you work with and for people every day. People are at the centre of your work. It is your declared goal to help patients to a beautiful smile and improve their quality of life.

Great portrait photographs give your work a human face. Dental photography that wants to raise inspiration and enthusiasm cannot do without depicting human beings and human emotions. Any documentation of a clinical case only comes to life if it is associated with a real human face.

Show the impact that your work can make

Demonstrate how your restorations blend in with the overall picture - the human face. Only if you present and highlight the full face of your patients, can you show other people the impact that your work can have. Do not only record the technical details of your restorations. Focus on the human aspect: document the effect that your work can have on your patients.

3 important points to obtain great portrait pictures:

1. Before-and-after images:

Take a picture of your patient before and after the treatment to complete your case documentation. Full-face shots do not need to show the dental situation in detail, as this will be done by intraoral pictures. What is much more important is to show the effect that the restoration has on the face of the patient – the overall effect.

2. Background:

Select a background that does not distract from the face. The background should look plain and smooth. A bright background looks friendlier than a dark one.

3. Patient:

The patient should wear a natural smile that is not too forced to reflect the overall appearance and allow a good view of the teeth. When taking the final picture at the end of the treatment, the patient should be well rested, relaxed and refreshed. To ensure that this is the case, the final shooting sessions should not be carried out immediately after a taxing treatment. Give your patients the opportunity to come prepared and look their best on the final picture.

Checklist of essential information

Do you want to get additional and more detailed tips and hints about dental photography? We have prepared a detailed checklist for you. It contains essential information to help you accomplish great dental photography.

Get our up-to-date checklist on portrait, lab-work and intraoral photography.