Taking Your Own High School Senior Portraits. A Maine Photographer

A few years back a friend of mine asked me to take her sons' senior portraits.  She shared with me that when referring me to her friends she was kind of shocked and saddened to find many families were forgoing the past tradition of having senior portraits done professionally and were doing it themselves.  This friend viewed senior portraits as a right of passage, something you do with your child prior to their senior year, no matter what.

I'm grateful that some families still think this way, a little job security for me :)

But I also know, for many reasons, why some folks choose to do it themselves...so that is why I thought I would publish a few DYI tips right here on my blog.

Last month I talked about photographing your child in good light...not too much sun...avoid dark shadows and squinting, and best of all make sure you can see their eyes.

Today I want to offer a few more basic tips.
If you find a nice shady spot, be sure you don't have sun speckles all over their face.  These can be fun, but personally I believe in keeping the senior portrait a bit more sacred.  So, although this example is a nice photo of my son, he does have distracting sun spots on his face.

 
Big advice next.  Pay attention to your background.  I think this was one of the hardest things for me to learn.  When I first started taking photographs (for money) I was so focused on my subject and making sure I got that part right, I may not have noticed the tree branch going right through his head. Some backgrounds can be distracting and compete with your subject.
See what I mean?

Doesn't it look like that door hinge is about to stab him in the head?

In the next photo below I pulled him away from the background, I also centered him off the backdrop so he wasn't near the distracting hinge, and I opened up my aperture to blur out the background a bit.
I do teach all about aperture in my digital photography class starting September 16th, so please, if this is something you are interested in, sign up at this link!
http://www.westbrookcommunitycenter.org/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=29253

if you don't know how to use the aperture on your camera yet, you can use the little portrait symbol on your scene mode.

 the scene modes on your camera are there to help your camera understand what type of photo you are taking.  If you pick the portrait mode...that's the lady with the hat, then the camera knows what is most important in the photo is the person, and the settings used in the scene mode soften the face and blur the background, as much as is possible with the lens being used on the camera.

In my first example below I have moved my subject away from the background and blurred it out a bit to emphasize my subject.

in the next example there appears to be a branch traveling through his head...but because it is blurred, I think it looks kind of cool :)

A couple more notes about backgrounds.  Be careful of brick walls...unless you move your subject away and blur out the background, there can be some pretty good competition between your subjects face and the lines between the bricks.

And one last trick.  Sometimes a photo might seem completely ruined by a distracting background.  Before you toss it out...try making it black and white...you just might be surprised by the results.

Senior Portraits Chelsea. A Maine Photographer

I recently posted on my Facebook page Minor Moments Photography that I would start a blog series here about how to take your own High School Senior Portraits.  Over the next few weeks I am going to share some easy, very basic tips on how you can take a better individual outdoor portrait.  I also want to share with all of you who may be interested that I am going to teach another basic digital photography class this coming September, for 5 consecutive Wednesday evenings beginning September 16th at the Westbrook Community Center.  Lastly, I want to let you know that I would love to photograph your high school senior for you if this is a subject you have absolutely no interest in at all :)

First basic tip.  Avoid photographing in the hours the sun is the brightest.  Best time to photograph is before 10am and this time a year I would hold off until after 4pm.  Find some shade.  Watch out for sun speckles on your subjects face.  Make sure you can see your subjects eyes and that they are not hidden in a shadow.  Don't make your subject squint.  If it's overcast outside then rejoice and go out and take photos...that kind of light is the best!  No squinting and no harsh crazy shadows :)

So, today Chelsea and I had a date to do her senior photos.
We were so happy the weather was going to cooperate.
When you do this for a living you can't reschedule because the sun is too bright...that would be crazy right?
I told her to bring a variety of her favorites to wear.  We were photographing at her grandparents house.  I had been there before and I knew it was a photographers dream...

but...I was breaking so many of my own rules!
We started our session at 9am...but already the sun was so bright.  There was not a cloud in the sky, and shade was hard to come by.

We had a blast.

Chelsea, thank you for being such a good sport as I fiddled with my cameras, my flash, and my reflectors all morning long, conquering the sun and searching for the perfect shot.  I hope you love them as much as I do!

Beautiful location, beautiful Chelsea, happy happy I could do this all-day-long Joanne :)

 

Tribute to my Mom friends and their Graduating Boys

Without a doubt, the best part of my life is being a Mom. 

I didn't always feel like this. I do at this time in my life. 

I am dedicating this blog post to some of my Mom friends, who have sons graduating tomorrow. When doing Senior photos, I always try and remember to ask the Moms if they would like to take a photo with their child. Many say no, they are not prepared...and although I certainly want to respect their wishes, as each day passes and I see how life changes in an instant, I will continue to ask my Moms if they would like a photo of themselves with their child. 

It's my thing. 

It's a Minor Moment. 

Here is a special shout out to some particular Mom's, who said yes to a photo. Don't judge them. They didn't dress for the photo. That is not the point. It's a Minor Moment. It's a once in a lifetime. ..and when possible, I think every son should have a photo taken with his Mom. I can also add, that these five boys, I have watched them grow, and photographed them as the years have flown by...that is why I have two photos of each, a young photo, and a current photo. Moms change too :)     

Kelly and Parker

Andrea and Michael

Mary and James

Mark, Jackie and Chad

Trish and Patrick

Senior Portrait Time. A Maine Photographer

I interrupt this beautiful summer day to remind those of you that this applies too, that Senior Portrait season is happening now!  Most schools require the photos be turned in some time between September and October. I am happy to do that for you.  Book your session with me today and I am happy to submit your choices to the yearbook for you.  BAM another item off your plate :)
My packages are on my website here http://www.minormomentsphotography.com/Pages/HighSchoolSeniorPortraits.aspx
I am doing my best to make this as easy for the parents as possible.
Local Westbrook locations are $99 for the photoshoot and yearbook submissions.  I do that for you!
Outside Westbrook locations are $150
We get it done in under one hour.
 
I've included a little video below.  It's not just Senior portraits.  It's a little something I had put together for my friends who had kids graduation from Westbrook this 2014 season.  Photos I took this past year...BUT there are some of my sample Senior Portraits included...many many good times :)

So, call me!

http://video214.com/play/rNvDsW1DPGSy4ttoDqv33Q/s/dark