For most parents, senior portraits are a distant memory. They have changed a lot over the last two decades, incorporating more creativity and individuality than ever before.
Seniors have a lot more options available to them, ranging from traditional sessions in a studio to trendy urban shoots. This is the perfect opportunity for them to showcase their unique talents, passions, and personality, while also creating a lasting memory.
However, with all the available options, portrait sessions can quickly become overwhelming for both parents and seniors.
Here are a few quick tips to help you prepare for your child’s upcoming senior session.
Keep Your Senior’s Schedule in Mind
As a parent of a senior, you already know how frantic their schedules can be. Before you go ahead and schedule a session, sit down with your senior to discuss a good time. They should be just as involved in the planning as you are. Even the specific time of day matters when scheduling a senior session. Ideally, you want to take photos just after sunrise and just before sunset, as this is when the lighting’s the best. However, the right photographer can make any time of the day work. Midday should be a last resort though as the lighting is far too harsh, so I try to make sure I have both weekday and weekend evening spots available on my calendar.
Compromise with Your Child
You may have a specific idea about the photos you would like to see, but this is about your child and what makes them feel confident and comfortable. Most senior sessions allow for several outfit changes, so use this as an opportunity to find a happy balance between what you want and what your senior wants. Be patient and hear them out before you brush off their ideas. Their portraits should represent who they are and what they love.
Encourage Sharing
Prior to a senior session, get your child to open up about their passions, hopes, and dreams. This information will help guide the shoot and ensure the most authentic photos. Knowing what your senior wants these photos to represent will also guide their outfit and location choices.
The better I get to know your senior before the shoot, the better I can capture them. To do that better, the short pre-shoot questionnaire I send out is intended to be answered by them, but if you want to work on it with them, it can be a good experience for you as well.
Don’t forget to include your senior in the search for a photographer – a photographer’s style needs to fit in with the images you hope to create. Sometimes, the senior already has an idea of who they want to take their senior portraits. In fact, I’ve had several parents tell me that their student told them they wanted Picture Lady to do their senior pictures.
Think Ahead
One overlooked item is where you are going to put these pictures. You will want to think about suggesting one outfit that will complement the décor where you are thinking about hanging some of these pictures. I will go into more details on that with my next blog post.
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