Senior Portraits

A few posts ago, I wrote about senior portraits. I want to re-visit that topic and add a few more tips.

Tip #1 Let their be action. Have your subject move around for more realistic images. Let’s take a look at the first image of the girl jumping. She really wanted to have her shoot have the look and feel of a model shoot. So…we talked a bit and showed her where and how to jump(holding her hands a certain way, etc.)I think the photo speaks for itself. She looks like a teen model at her latest model shoot. Yah for me! Her ease also spills over into her portrait in the next image.

Tip #2 Let them live out a fantasy. Our next set of images shows a subject that wanted to be a bit rock star/fashionista. We went to go look for a location that said cool/urban/fashion and found it in a place that had a wall that looked pretty dirty and smelled even worse. But, it was the perfect location for our subject and she slipped into character very easily. The place or setting you choose to shoot in will allow your subject to start feeling like whatever their fantasy is. She wanted to look cool and the urban feel really achieved that.

Tip #3 Props are good! This subject has a personality that can light up a room, but she needed some inspiration. Just like our subject in the previous tip, our subject in this tip needed some help. It came in the form of a playground. She was able to climb and spin around on the swings and her personality really came out during this portion of the shoot.

Tip #4 Help them to focus on doing something. Our last set of pics shows a male subject. They can be a lot more hesitant to pose and be real. But, after writing his name in the sand and having him play around a bit, our subject became a lot more at ease. Look at his portrait. I feel that his ability to not pose or mug for the camera left and he was able to let his guard down and actually reveal a real look at who he is.

To sum it all up…Senior portraits are a process of utilizing whatever you have at your disposal to help your subject relax and start to show a slice of who they really are. Keep shooting and enjoy!