When photographing high school senior portraits and sports, photographers often need external lighting. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury of having assistants to carry equipment. Like me, a lot of photographers do everything themselves—you carry your equipment, take the photos, edit, process, and deliver. That means I need kits that I can carry to a location, set up fast, and still create stunning and well-lit images.

[Read: High School Senior Portraits: The Male Client Approach]

Lighting equipment has progressively become lighter, more powerful, and more versatile. I can now carry a high powered off-camera strobe in the palm of my hand. That includes light, battery, and receiver. Gone are the days of heavy strobe heads, backbreaking battery packs, a tangle of cables, and complete lack of mobility.

I use the Flashpoint/Godox lighting system. After trying different platforms, I found that Flashpoint/Godox has a nice selection that is very cost effective, durable, interchangeable, and lightweight. This platform has allowed me to build a complete system by adding strobes/modifiers/accessories as my needs have changed. (Scroll to end for my kit breakdowns.)

Senior Portraits

High School Senior Photography has changed over the years. Seniors want a lot of images, at a lot of locations, with a lot of variety. They are not necessarily concerned with the “perfect” image (posing, lighting, composition), but want to capture their personality and free spirit. By using a friend to take the images, their session can be relaxed and informal. If they get subpar images, they chalk it up to, “Well, they aren’t a professional anyway.“ We, as professionals, do not have that luxury.

[Read: Foolproof Lighting in Three Simple Steps]

I am finding seniors want that ease and quantity of images from me. By no means am I saying that I have to sacrifice quality of imagery or lighting. This imparts a lot of pressure to meet both the client’s needs, as well as maintaining my professional standards.

For Seniors, one of my favorite kits is the AD200Pro, with V1 on-camera flash. The V1 allows a highlight in the eye, while the AD200Pro providing adequate off-camera light for illumination and dimension. If I need more light, I can always add in another AD200Pro, or switch to the AD400Pro for very bright situations.

High School & Youth Sports

For my high school and youth sports teams, my area has always done photos before practice or immediately before a game. This gives me a very finite amount of time and location to shoot. I may get a sun baked baseball field, a windy soccer field, gymnasium with mixed lighting, or a dreary wrestling room AND only 30-45 minutes before practice/game time. No pressure, right?

[Read: The Legalities of Photographing School Sports]

I can now walk onto a baseball field or into a gymnasium with my camera, light stand(s) and all of my lighting in my camera bag. Because of the compact nature of my kit, I can set up fast and get out of quickly. Thus, I have to quickly mitigate poor ambient lighting, dingy backgrounds, windy conditions and chaotic kids, while still ensuring that photos look great. I have tried to educate our coaches/Athletic Directors to allow for a more efficient process, with limited success.

My favorite sports setup is a single AD400Pro (or two AD200s and AD-B2 twin head adapter) with a 32-inch octobox or reflector. For outdoor locations, I use my 10-foot Savage Universal MultiFlex Light Stand. This allows my base to be widened to minimize tipping in windy conditions. For gymnasiums, I like two AD200Pros with umbrellas. I have also experimented with using the round fresnel heads, with diffusion domes on, and pointed slightly upward and toward the subject, which further minimizes my equipment load. This unique light setup diffuses beautifully, with very little shadowing. For separation, I can always add an additional AD100Pro or AD200Pro as a kicker/rim light.

Think Fast & Light

If you are a solo photographer who has to haul your equipment and work fast, consider investing into a system similar to mine. I am perfectly satisfied with my Flashpoint/Godox system and find that it does everything I need it to do. By all means, select the lighting system that works best for you, that is compatible with your equipment, and within your budget. Just remember, by being able to shoot fast and light, you create a niche that allows you to stand out from your competition.

My Favorite Senior Portraits and Sports Kits:

David Hakamaki, Cr.Photog., runs Cutting Edge Photography, a highly successful, full-time, home-based studio in Iron Mountain, MI. He specializes in senior portraits and sports photography, and has spoken at photography conferences and workshops around the U.S., Canada and the UK, including WPPI. He’s also a brand ambassador for many of the photography industry’s largest companies.

The post Seniors & Sports: One Photographer’s Fave Lighting Kits appeared first on Rangefinder.

Audrey Woulard realized early in her career that in order for her business to be successful, it needed to mirror her family life. A mother of four boys, Woulard, who is based in Chicago, didn’t want to travel a lot or work long hours. Instead, she chose to focus on photographing families and babies. As her children grew—her sons are all now in their late teens and early twenties—Woulard began to focus primarily on senior and teenager photography and on building a unique senior portrait experience for her clientele.

Her secret to success? She listens to her gut and stays true to herself. She knows where her strengths lie, and she utilizes them.

Read: Profits from Passion Projects—Photographer Richard Tuschman Explains [Free Webinar]

In her recent RF + WPPI webinar, Cultivating an In-Demand Senior Portrait Experience, held in conjunction with Rangefinder’s Reset series, Woulard, a Nikon ambassador and Profoto Legend of Light, shares some of the secrets to her success and offers fail-proof tips on gaining (and keeping) clients, as well as marketing to find new ones.

Defining Your In-Demand Senior Portrait Experience

“An in-demand experience is one where you can convince your target market that you can deliver [a product] that no one else can,” Woulard said. “It’s your blueprint.”

In an image-saturated world, it’s harder than ever to convince people (and especially teenagers) that they need professional portraits taken, especially when it’s so easy to do it yourself with a smartphone, Woulard noted. “Today’s seniors are very discerning.”

Read: Transition From Window Light to Flash with John Gress [Free Webinar]

According to her, there are several ways that photographers can set themselves apart in offering a senior portrait experience. For example, they can offer hair and makeup to their high school senior clients, or they can have a style closet on hand to allow teens to wear the latest fashions during their shoots. Some photographers even fly their portrait subjects to remote or exciting locations such as Las Vegas or Amsterdam.

All of this may very well not be enough to convince image-savvy teens (and their parents) to hire you. Instead, you need to dig deep and figure out what sets you apart. Woulard suggested writing your thoughts down as a starting point.

Capitalizing on Your Strengths

Every photographer has a strength; Woulard’s is taking a subject to a location where they are unable to envision the final image, and then taking an amazing shot in that location. She doesn’t like “pretty” locations—she likes locations that have a lot of grittiness and texture. “The key here is for them to be ‘wowed’ by the final result, not to guess what I’m doing beforehand,” she said of her clients.

She pointed to a shot she took of a teenage girl in the doorway of a run-down warehouse in Chicago. Outside of the frame, the place was dirty, covered in spilled popcorn, trash and other forms of detritus. In Woulard’s composition, however, the doorway served as a sort of stage to bring her subject into sharp focus.

Read: How Susan Stripling Creates Portraits that Pop [Free Webinar]

“My senior would never go to that spot and think it’s a good place [to take a photo],” Woulard acknowledged. “To me, that makes me stand out.” Her clients never know what she is going to do, but they trust she will deliver.

In fact, Woulard is so confident in her ability to use her gift—a strong photographic eye—that she doesn’t care if her clients are sharing their own images of the shoot on social media. “Their pictures just aren’t going to look like mine.”

What teenagers want today, Woulard said, is being photographed in a spot where no one else would go to take pictures.

Woulard’s Lens of Choice and Other Photo Equipment

Woulard has been using her 85mm f/1.4L lens for almost a decade, since her now 20-year-old son was in middle school. She photographs with a wide aperture to capture various elements that together make a crisp, focused image. “I typically like to break apart my depth-of-field,” she said, showing an image of a teenager on an empty street. In the image, the girl looks sharply focused because of various elements, including parking meters and a train, that shift the focus towards the subject. “If my client comes back here, they can’t come recreate the shot…because they don’t know what I’m thinking.”

Woulard said she often has police escorts clear a street in advance of a photo shoot, and that she would never have a subject stand in a dangerous scene.

Read: Caroline Tran’s Posing Pick Up Points for Family Portrait Photography [Free Webinar]

Generally, she relies on natural light, although she often uses a Profoto B10 kit and a 2-foot Octabox to enhance the light already present. She doesn’t overly edit in post-production; she merely clarifies the image and sharpens the color.

Woulard’s senior clients today are much different than they were 20 years ago. “Teenagers in 2021 are more socially conscious and identify with people as they are, not as they pretend to be,” she said. The most important thing you can do, she reiterated, is to figure  out what your strengths are —and uses them to your advantage. She doesn’t let other people doubt her vision. “I can’t trust my gut if someone is telling me what my gut is.”

Have questions for Woulard? Feel free to reach out to her directly.:

www.awteaches.com

www.katcteens.com

audrey@alwphotography.com

Instagram: @kidsandthecity

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AWteaches/

To learn more, and see Woulard’s images in depth, watch the webinar here.

The post Cultivating an In-Demand Senior Portrait Experience with Audrey Woulard [Free Webinar] appeared first on Rangefinder.

It’s been a few minutes (or maybe 20 years…) since I was a high school senior, and the atmosphere around inclusivity has changed a lot since then. And as a high school senior photographer in 2021, my mission has shifted away from exclusive experiences to embrace a more inclusive mindset, especially as it applies to teens who identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

There are many ways I aim to embrace inclusion in my business, but instead of telling you my own stories, I’m going to tell you about my time spent photographing Oliver (names have been changed for this article to respect subject privacy), a transgender man and rising (or soon-to-be) high school senior. My experience with Oliver changed the way I view all humans who step in front of my lens, and I’ve been trying to incorporate the lessons I learned working with him into my photography, business and personal practices ever since.

[Read: How to Build an LGBTQ+ Inclusive Photo Business]

For me, Oliver’s story began not during the photo shoot but the day before. That evening, his mother scheduled a phone call. My assumption, at that point, was that she was calling to discuss the logistics of the session. Instead, her first words were, “We need to talk about Oliver.”

This took me by surprise. I don’t just mean the words—though those were odd, too; I mean the tone in which they were spoken. From the moment I said, “Hello,” she sounded like she was ready to go into battle. There was a palpable sense of defensiveness in her tone.

[Read: High School Senior Portraits—The Male Client Approach]

Wary at this point, I asked what specifically she wanted to discuss where Oliver was concerned.

“Oliver is a transgender man,” she said flatly.
“Oh, okay,” I replied. “What pronouns does Oliver prefer I use?”
As soon as I said that, I could hear Kate’s audible sigh. “He/him, please, and thank you so much for asking… No one else does.”

The whole tone of the conversation changed immediately. I realized this woman had called me expecting to have to figuratively fight for her son. She was prepared to face fierce opposition just to get me to accept that Oliver was, in fact, Oliver, and not Olivia.

[Read: How Photographers Can Improve Working with LGBTQ+ Community]

With pronouns parsed, I asked his mom what else we had to talk about. She told me she wanted to discuss wardrobe. She said Oliver’s fashion sense was a bit “out there.” He had chosen two outfit options: one that was “very Oliver” and one that was a bit more understated. I assured her that as long as Oliver was comfortable in it I could handle whatever he decided to wear. We ended the conversation with a promise that Oliver would “bring his A-game” the next day at his senior shoot.

Heading into the shoot, I knew Oliver’s fashion sense was unique, but I had no idea what type of “out there” it was going to be. He stepped out of the car with a fabulous magenta-red dye job, a full-length black fur coat, a crop top, gold lamé pants and knee-high, black stiletto boots.

I was delighted that he had so successfully risen to the challenge! It was one of my favorite shoots ever.

But you know what? The outfit didn’t really matter. What mattered was that throughout the entire shoot, Oliver was laughing, smiling, striking fabulous poses and simply overjoyed to be there.

[Read: How to Work with and Photograph Neurodiverse High School Seniors]

For many transgender teens, their senior photos would be the first time they’d have pictures that were specifically about them and how they identify. It doesn’t matter if someone’s gender matches their birth sex, or who and how you love. What matters is that each of these humans’ stories are worthy of being told. What matters is that this milestone moment in their lives, the transition into adulthood, is captured in a way that is true to them.

Here are my takeaways from working with Oliver and others who came after him:

1. Maintain a growth mindset when it comes to inclusivity. There will be times that you mess up. That’s okay. Keep making the effort to correct yourself and be more accepting. If all else fails? Take a page out of the southern dictionary and use the universally inclusive y’all.
2. Ask for someone’s pronouns if you aren’t sure. This is an easy way to practice inclusivity, and it’s becoming more common in workplaces and on social media. This immediately lets someone know you’re willing to accommodate them, regardless of identity.
3. Remember that everyone is more comfortable when they aren’t being relegated to a stereotype. Let the senior establish who they are. If they, like Oliver, have an “out there,” sense of fashion, let them express themselves through their outfit. If they couldn’t care less what they wear and would rather discuss their favorite video game, don’t steamroll them in favor of talking about what you think they should find interesting.

[Read: 3 Ways Senior Portrait Photographers Can Connect with Clients Post-Pandemic]

I’d like to leave you with one last conclusion—this one not from Oliver but discovered while I was writing this article:

I like to think that I’m pretty good about accepting and including LGBTQ+ humans in person, but an internal audit has pointed out places where I have the opportunity to do better—my website, for example. When I first built my portfolios in 2015, senior photographers were advertising themselves as only taking clients of a particular gender. Girls- or boys-only was a common differentiator. Back then, I wanted everyone to know that I was happy to take both types of clients, thus, I divided my portfolio into “guys” and “gals” sections.

Now, however, I realize that my attempts to be inclusive may not have been as universally welcoming as I’d hoped. Writing this article has showed me that, as hard as I try, I still have a ways to go toward having the fully inclusive environment I want for my community. I’ve also learned that I can’t be afraid to pause, (re-)evaluate where I am, and make changes where I find myself lacking.

I know that moving forward, I’ll be working hard to bring myself up to inclusivity par, both for my own sake and for the Olivers of the world. I’d love to hear how you make your seniors feel included in your own businesses, too!

Mary Vance is a lifestyle senior photographer and educator based in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. When not photographing seniors, she consults with creative small businesses to help them integrate their systems, workflows, and standard operating procedures.

The post LGBTQ+ Senior Portrait Clients: A Case for Inclusivity appeared first on Rangefinder.

As a 15-year veteran of portrait photography, I am here to tell you that high school senior portraits are not just for girls, but there are differences in how I approach booking, photographing and planning for male clients. The most important thing, regardless of gender, is that I make sure that the senior portrait experience is, well, an experience. I want my senior portraits to be fun and memorable; not stuffy or boring. And I want the senior to feel like they can bring and be themselves, whatever that looks and feels like. When I hear from male seniors after the session that “this was more fun than I thought it would be!” I know I’ve done my job well.  

Senior Portraits: Booking + Planning

When it comes to photographing high school senior boys, the mom tends to be the one more vested in the photos so I always start with her. But once she is on board with the session, I want to involve the senior so that he can feel included and like he has a say. We discuss clothing, location, sports and other interests like music or the arts, and how to incorporate that into the session. Clothing tend not to be a priority for the senior guys I see (unless they are super fashion-forward, which does happen). When they don’t have a clear vision of what to wear, I find myself offering a bit more advice and guidance for how to plan. I typically suggest one casual look, one more formal suit and tie look, and one that is what I call “very him,” meaning what he feels like he is most comfortable in, what he would call his “style,” because often what mom wants and what the senior guy feels comfortable in are not the same thing! I also suggest they text me when they have the three outfits (I always suggest three but sometimes the guys don’t take me up on all three) so we can discuss options ahead of time.

Prop-Driven Senior Portrait Shoots

Photographing senior portraits for guys can be very prop-driven, and I often see musical instruments, sports equipment, sports-related clothing (like varsity letter jackets) and special-interest items show up (for instance, recently a client brought their Bible to the session). I encourage anything that is their passion or hobby and, as such, I recently photographed a high school senior boy wearing a Link costume (from the video game Zelda) while holding his black cat (above). Yes, really.

Powerful Poses

With many of the senior guys I have photographed I have used more “powerful” poses—arms crossed, wide feet stances, hands in pockets, crouched down (a sort of squat position) and seated poses where I ask him to clasp his hands and lean forward between his legs from a seated position. For my style, I don’t usually ask guys to lay on the ground, lay on their stomach, or put their hands on their face, but there is no right or wrong, and certainly no specific pose to associate with any gender.

[Read: How to Work with and Photograph Neurodiverse High School Seniors]

When it comes to posing, the most important thing is that you ask your client ahead what they want, what they like, what they are comfortable with, give confident and clear direction, and leave them room to opt out of any pose even as you’re doing it. Conversations before, and during, the session is key. Sometimes it’s hard for the senior guy to verbalize what they like (or don’t) so I almost always ask for reference photos that they have seen that they would like to emulate. This helps me visually see what they want (even though I don’t copy poses exactly, it’s very helpful to know what their vision is).

While I may do a few things differently when it comes to senior portraits for guys, there is a list of things I do no matter the client:

1. I always incorporate off-camera lighting into the session.

I find being able to use both natural light and light off-camera allows me to give the client a mix of that soft, natural vibe and that dramatic, edgier, magazine-cover vibe. And since I have some epic scenery to back me up in the desert, the dramatic lighting really helps illustrate the scene and also helps my photographs stand out. My go-to lighting system is Profoto.

2. When it comes to posing, guy or girl, there is one thing I do know…

Moms love close up photos of their senior, so I am always sure to get those for her.

3. When it comes to pricing, I have a flat session fee and then the client purchases product on top of that.

My session includes three clothing changes and a consultation on how to prepare and that is the same regardless of guy or girl. I leave hair and makeup up to the client, so that is not included in the cost though I do have a list of pros I recommend if they are looking.

4. Whether the senior is a guy or a girl, the product purchased really depends on the parents and their budget.

I offer a range of products from prints and albums to wall art and digital downloads, and packages that combine all of those. I let the client know the pricing ahead of time and we discuss what they think they want but they ultimately don’t make the final decision until they see the images during my In Person Sales review session, which is now about 80 percent on Zoom (though I am starting to build studio reviews back into my routine). One thing I do notice is that senior girls are way more interested in having a digital version of their images for sharing on social media and I find that senior guys don’t really request access to those as often.

[Read: 3 Ways Senior Portrait Photographers Can Connect with Clients Post Pandemic]

So the take home message is that, yes, senior pictures are for girls, but senior pictures for guys are totally a thing, too, and marketing to them (and their moms) will help diversify your portfolio. Because girl or guy, the senior is still graduating, and that’s worth celebrating, and remembering, with photos.

Jacquelynn Buck is an accomplished portrait and wedding photographer serving Phoenix, Tucson, Scottsdale, Mesa, San Diego, Southern California, Orange County and destinations across the country and world.

The post High School Senior Portraits: The Male Client Approach appeared first on Rangefinder.

Most days, my job is fairly routine. Emails, photo shoots, editing; emails, photo shoots, editing… But after nearly a decade of photographing high school senior portraits, I now know that not all of my clients fit into the “business as usual” mold. I’ve had the privilege of working with some amazing humans who have shared insight into their daily lives and stretched my skill set to the max. Photographing neurodiverse high school seniors (or those with a variation in cognitive abilities) has taught me that the best way to learn is through experience. And to that effect, I’d like to share with you two of my experiences with neurodiverse teens and my takeaways from working with them.

[Read: 3 Ways Senior Portrait Photographers Can Connect with Clients Post-Pandemic]

John is a 17-year-old high school senior whom I had been told “would need encouragement to smile for a camera.” (To respect the privacy of these seniors, I’ve changed their names and only included photos from other sessions.) When we first started our portrait session, he made very little eye contact with me but as we chatted, he became more comfortable in front of the camera. He mentioned that he didn’t want to smile because he felt insecure about his braces, and I told him that he never had to smile for me if he didn’t want to.

The session continued, with John having become much more relaxed, as we headed over to a cute little bridge I love to use for its consistent lighting. As we walked, I mentioned the haunted house events that went on in that park in October, which got us talking about fear—both what frightens us and how we respond to it. I shared one of my personal fears. John asked plenty of questions, but once I was finished, he became rather quiet.

Until we got to the bridge, that is. Out of the blue, he asked me, “Do you know what OCD is?” At that point, I nodded and replied with, “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.” He continued on to tell me he had OCD, then asked whether or not I knew what it was like. Being neurotypical myself, I responded with an honest “No.” To this day, I still remember how John described it.

“I have a very good explanation,” he said. “It’s like seeing the color green but you can’t touch it because there will be a blood-curdling scream if you do. And then you brush your hand on something green by accident and spend the next long while trying to make the screaming stop.”

[Read: Preparing Your Senior Portrait Clients Before Their Photo Shoot in Three Easy Steps]

John went on to describe how his mother moves him past his fear by helping to “mentally fatigue” him. Only then could his mind shut down enough to rest. Can you even imagine continuously trying to exhaust your child mentally so that he can finally rest?

He was quiet for a moment after all that speaking. The next thing he said was, “I’m sorry if I took our time together to a dark place. Sometimes I have trouble in social situations.”

Y’all… my heart broke at his apology… at his slight dip of the head when he confessed his struggle… I was speechless for a few moments, but when I finally gathered up my thoughts, I said: “Well, John, I have to tell you, of all the things I’m afraid of, darkness isn’t one of them…”

He nodded and gave a tight-lipped smile. We moved on with the shoot.

Hours, weeks, and now even years after this session, I’m still learning from my time with John.

Here are my takeaways from this session with John:

1. Direct eye contact can be very hard for some neurodiverse high school seniors. Don’t push for the “look right here and smile!” shots.
2. Be patient. Take the time to listen. Allow your seniors the space to tell you who they are and what they are passionate about.
3. Be aware of your environment. Is your client afraid of bees? Don’t take them into a field of flowers. Are they easily overstimulated? Find a quiet park instead of a busy urban setting.

[Read: 3 Ways to Set Yourself Apart as a Senior Portrait Photographer]

Now, let me introduce you to Caitlyn. She has severe anxiety and wears anti-nausea bands on her wrists. She had dreamt of her senior portraits and wanted to be able to be free of her wrist bands during her session. I wanted to support her through this, but at the same time I knew the idea of going without the bands would cause her to get even more anxious about the actual shoot. I could practically hear the “what if’s” circling around in her mind.

So, I made it my goal to take her mind off the bands and put it on things she loves.

First up was her dog. The most genuine smiles and giggles that I saw that day happened when the dog was in her arms. She was visibly more relaxed when the dog was nearby.

Next came Broadway songs and Harry Potter books. We belted out “Defying Gravity” from Wicked and “Alexander Hamilton” from Hamilton while walking through our own “Forbidden Forest” location.

Afterwards, I received this email from Caitlyn’s mom:

“Thank you! Caitlyn was super nervous on the drive to meet you tonight. She doesn’t like being the center of attention and doesn’t like having her picture taken. She didn’t want to wear her nausea bands, but never goes without them. When we left the park tonight, she was so happy! I haven’t seen her like this in a very long time. She said she had so much fun. She loved that you sang and made all the Harry Potter references. She also said that your compliments about her smile and her eyes made her feel more confident and good about herself. I can’t thank you enough for making a hard situation for her fun and seamless!”

What I learned from my time with Caitlyn:

1. Don’t be afraid to interrupt a pattern when your senior is getting a little too “in their head.” A simple change in environment or posing strategy can go a long way.
2. Embrace their interests, even if you know nothing about them. Don’t know a Broadway song? Ask them which one is their favorite and to quote their favorite lyrics back to you. Aren’t familiar with Harry Potter and have no clue if you’re a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw? Ask for their “House” and why they think it fits or doesn’t fit. Then have them predict yours!
3. Allow them to bring a pet. I’ve never met a person who wasn’t more comfortable with their pet around, whether it is a fully functioning support animal or not. There is a reason we turn to our four-legged friends for comfort and embracing that will put your seniors more at ease.

At first, the idea of dealing with neurodiverse high school seniors can seem daunting. Regular teens are hard enough—now you want me to add an extra dimension of complexity? Yet in my experience, I’ve found that neurodiverse high school seniors have the same needs as neurotypical seniors. At their core, they want to feel comfortable and connected, seen and appreciated, for who they are right now.

I’d love to hear about your own experiences with neurodiverse seniors. DM
me @maryvancephotography or send an email. I can’t wait to connect with you!

Mary Vance is a lifestyle senior photographer and educator based in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. When not photographing seniors, she consults with creative small businesses to help them integrate their systems, workflows, and standard operating procedures.

The post How to Work with and Photograph Neurodiverse High School Seniors appeared first on Rangefinder.

When the whole world turned upside down, I remember feeling so grateful for the brands whose CEOs reached out with a personal email or letter. That connection point—even if it was just to say that they couldn’t deliver what was previously promised—invited me to engage with their brand. It let me know that they were doing everything they could to get business back to normal, even when I couldn’t see the behind the scenes of their daily struggle. For all you senior portrait photographers out there, it’s time to do the same for your clients as school years come to a close. Here are three ways that I have decided to connect with seniors as we lead up to the end of their year.

[Read: 2021 RF + WPPI Portrait Photography Tips and Trends]

1. Senior Videos

These slide-show type videos became a huge hit in 2020 when the world was shut down and we couldn’t have shoots. Instead of sitting around waiting for things to open back up, I revisited work I had at the ready. The response was so overwhelmingly positive that I decided to repeat the process again this year. These videos were the perfect addition to virtual graduation parties and announcements, and I know other senior portrait photographers would be able to do this for clients.

The Process

I have each senior fill out a short questionnaire to give me their own words and thoughts, and then I create the short video for them to share with their friends and family. I use photos from their senior session that are already delivered so that I can be maximally efficient.

I use Animoto to create my videos, but there are many other slide-show creation softwares that you can try. Just beware that with some you have to pay to license the music separately. Having to pay individually for each music license may become cost-prohibitive if you are producing videos on a large scale or offering them to your entire client list. And remember, downloading a song from the internet does not give you permission to use it in a video!

[Read: Are You Properly Using Music for Films and Highlight Reels?]

Since I am all-inclusive (and already have an Animoto plan worked into my cost of doing business), I give these videos away for free to any senior who has booked with me. It would be very easy, however, to monetize them as a part of a spring graduation package or solo offering for senior portrait photographers who aren’t all-inclusive. Videos take me about 15 minutes to create using Animoto’s drag-and-drop templates, and then I upload them to Vimeo and send the videos out into the world. You could even choose three or four standard templates and just rotate through those as new video requests come in.

Here are some examples of the senior videos I’ve done.

2. Next Steps Mini Sessions

Several years ago, it became very clear that one single senior portrait photography shoot was never going to be enough for me. I want to walk with these emerging adults through their entire senior year, beyond just that one meeting the summer before school even begins.

But rather than take on the hassle of complicated model or rep programs, I decided to offer my bonus opportunities to all of my seniors. I pride myself on making the senior experience completely inclusive. I don’t want anyone to feel excluded because they don’t look or act or think a certain way, or because they don’t “match” my brand. My goal is to be one of the senior portrait photographers who always makes more room at the table rather than the one who says, “You can’t sit with us!”

[Read: The Right Way To Do Mini Sessions—Special for Them, Profitable for You]

Enter my Next Steps Mini Sessions. Why “Next Steps” and not “college T-shirt”? Because honestly, while many may show up in their spirit wear, that path is not what lies ahead for everyone. Not all of these kids are going to go to college. Some may join the military, or take a gap year, work at a coffee shop or even backpack through a foreign country. And all of those are perfectly valid life choices. When I market these bonus mini sessions, I always make sure to send the message that no matter what their life is going to look like after high school, I’m here to celebrate them every step of the way.

Details

In late spring of their senior year, I schedule two days of mini sessions. Minis are stacked back-to-back and each senior gets a 10-minute time slot. We take a few new photos that they can use on graduation announcements, in senior albums, or to send to friends and family and then call it a day. Turnaround on these images is fast because I can batch-edit everyone and then I simply add the final images to their gallery. I also reopen their gallery at this point in the year for parents to buy from, which peripherally increases print and product sales.

[Read: A Simple Sales Approach for Photographers Who Don’t Like In-Person Sales]

3. Letters of Encouragement

One of the hardest parts of parenting teenagers is feeling like you’re alone in the endeavor. When your babies are little, there is no lack of opinions coming at you from all angles—how to feed, how to sleep, making medical decisions. Everyone seems ready to tell you exactly what you *should* do to raise that kid. And it’s overwhelming! And then, in some dystopian turn of events, your child becomes a teenager and all those voices disappear!!! Where’s the mom group for 16-year-olds?? The pep squad for preteens??

Many of my senior parents have just come through one of the most isolating times in their parenting journey, which is also the time where the stakes are higher than ever before. They are barely keeping their head above water and yet still need to be the emotional support shoulder for their kid.

Spring of senior year is the perfect time to send a heartfelt letter of encouragement for senior portrait photographers. You could even send two if you’re feeling like an overachiever: one to the parents simply acknowledging that their efforts are noticed and make a difference; and the other to the seniors themselves, encouraging them in their final semester of high school, hyping up their accomplishments and generally being the cheerleader they all want in their corner.

If you want to go the extra mile, send your letter of encouragement via good ole paper and stamp. You could even print a favorite photo from their session on a 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 and attach your note to the back. (I love to use Artifact Uprising’s Everyday Print Set for these.)

These letters of encouragement will also serve a bonus purpose: low-cost marketing! You will be front of mind when junior friends start asking who to get their photos with, plus parents will likely remember that they meant to order just a few more prints…

I first sent my letter only to my email list for the senior class. The response was so overwhelmingly positive, however, that I included it on my blog to be available to a wider audience:

To our lovely MVP family and community –

I’ve been reading a lot on social media lately. Some days I feel all the joy and others not so much. I want to editorialize here for a minute though, and address a subject that has popped up in my feeds more than one.

You are absolutely allowed to grieve the loss of so many senior milestones due to this crazy pandemic.

We know that you are resilient. We know that you are going to change the world for the better. We KNOW (and feel it right beside you!) that this just plain sucks right now…

You can continue to read more here.

As high school senior portrait photographers, we are in a unique position to cheer these young adults on and help them feel seen, heard and celebrated. I’d love to hear what you’re trying with your seniors this year. DM me @maryvancephotography or send an email. I can’t wait to connect with you!

Mary Vance is a lifestyle senior photographer and educator based in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. When not photographing seniors, she consults with creative small businesses to help them integrate their systems, workflows, and standard operating procedures.

The post How to Connect With Your Senior Portrait Clients Post-Pandemic appeared first on Rangefinder.

When I began my senior photography business, I remember feeling so overwhelmed. There were so many experienced, established photographers in my area. It seemed they had already saturated the market for senior portraits. How in the world was I going to stand out and book my own clients?

I recognized very early on that I was going to need to be intentional and strategic about ensuring that my business was set apart from the other photographers in my area. Especially because I was only 17 years old at the time! But that’s a story for a different post.

I experimented with different ways to set myself apart and came to the conclusion that there are three strategies that truly helped me to build a business that was unique from competitors in my market. I want to break those three things down for you today. If you are struggling to build a business in a saturated market, here’s ensure your business will stand out from the crowd.

1. MARKET THE EXPERIENCE

As photographers, the obvious and easiest way to market our businesses is to highlight the images that we capture. But this isn’t the only thing that you should be sharing. Only sharing the work you create will make it hard for potential clients to set you apart. Instead, try mixing in marketing strategies that highlight the experience that you provide for your clients, not just the images that result from each shoot.

For example, before I share a professional sneak peek from each of my shoots, I will share tons of behind-the-scenes pictures and videos on my Instagram Stories. This allows your followers to peek into the fun that goes on during the shoot and the experience that seniors receive, which is so much more valuable than just the images.

Next time you are at a senior session, consider passing your phone off to your client’s mom to capture some peeks into the shoot, or capture some behind-the-scenes shots yourself. Try to highlight how much fun your unique senior experience is and the things that set you apart. I’ve even shared photos taken on my iPhone of me eating Chick-Fil-A between locations with my girls in an open field on the side of the road.

2. SHARE MORE ABOUT WHO YOU ARE

In addition to marketing your experience, you are going to want to market who you are as a part of your brand. If your clients are only seeing you post about business, they can’t connect with you. They aren’t viewing you as a person; they are just seeing you as a business owner. This creates a gap in how personable your brand is online.

I incorporate my personality into branding and marketing, so all of my clients are immediately more comfortable around me at their sessions because they feel like we’re already close friends simply from following my Instagram account. The fun, quirky things that make you you are what will also make your followers and potential clients fall in love with you. Plus, there is only one of you, so it automatically separates you from any other photographer around you!

3. BUILD THE RELATIONSHIP

Now, ideally, your client has found you online and fallen in love with your client experience and with you. So, when someone is ready to book, I have to be intentional about continuing that personal relationship. If someone feels like they already know me just from following me online, I want to feed into that mindset. I want all of my clients to feel like they are friends and that we have a personal connection outside of just them paying for a service. This doesn’t just improve their client experience—it increases their likelihood of sharing about me online and referring their friends to my business.

One of the best ways to build this relationship is to incorporate a questionnaire into your client experience.

I use a program called HoneyBook for my booking process with all of my clients (including payments, contracts, etc.). After a senior client books me, they receive a senior questionnaire that contains questions about who they are and what they expect from their session. It allows me to help prepare and execute a personalized experience – as well as get conversation starters to build our relationship during the shoot!

To help you incorporate this concept into your sessions, I am giving away my very own senior questionnaire for free! This is the exact questionnaire that I send all of my clients upon booking, and I hope that it is so helpful to you.

You can also try my favorite client workflow system, Honeybook, for 50% off your first year!

Hope Taylor is a senior portrait and wedding photographer/educator based in Fredericksburg, VA. She last wrote about nailing natural light for senior portraits.

RELATED

Preparing Your Senior Portrait Clients Before Their Photo Shoot in Three Easy Steps

3 Posing Tips That Will Instill Confidence in High School Seniors

The Best Walking, Standing and Sitting Poses for Fresh Senior Portraits

The post 3 Ways to Set Yourself Apart in Senior Portrait Photography appeared first on Rangefinder.

As photographers, we know that the right light is one of the most important parts of any image we capture. This is even truer for senior portraits.

When photographing seniors (or any portraits), my goal is to capture clear, accurate, even skin tones. And this can only be achieved by finding the perfect light. I learned quickly in my photography career that properly, evenly lit skin tones can make or break a senior portrait gallery.

If shadows are too harsh, it can create under-eye bags and unflattering skin texture. If skin color is inaccurate, it can make our clients look sickly or too pale or orange. If our client’s skin is picking up strange color hues from their surroundings (like green from a grassy field), the images can be impossible to edit later.

If we want our clients to share their images and refer future clients to us, we need them to love the way they look, so mastering lighting and creating beautiful, even skin tones is one of the best ways to ensure your clients will love their images.

For this reason, I prioritize beautiful light over almost anything else. Here are three of my tips to finding the “ideal” lighting scenario and creating gorgeous skin tones for your senior client’s images.

1. USE NATURAL REFLECTORS

No matter where you are shooting, your client’s skin tone will pick up the colors that are surrounding them. So if you are shooting in an open field of green grass, you may find that your client’s skin, hair or eyes have a green hue. The same applies when shooting near blue water, yellow sand, etc. When we realize that everything around us acts as a reflector, we can let this hurt our images—or use it to our advantage!

We need to be searching for light-colored natural reflectors: anything that will bounce clean, even light back onto our clients. Things like white pavement, light-colored walls, golden colored grass, sand and gravel will all bounce light back onto your client in a way that flatters their skin and improves your images.

In the images below, you can see that I had Lena sitting on an area with white concrete. This allowed for any shadows on her skin or face to be filled in with the light bouncing up from below her. The white concrete helped to ensure there wouldn’t be a weird blue cast on her skin from the flowers.

2. BRING YOUR OWN REFLECTOR

If you are shooting in a location that has an ugly color cast or no natural reflectors, another option is to bring your own reflector. I bring a reflector with me to every single senior session, and I use it for almost the entire shoot—anything that is cropped at waist-level or higher.

I hold the reflector by the handle in one hand, then prop it up on my client to bounce white light back onto their skin. I only use the white side (most come with gold and silver, too) because it creates the most even light. You can find the exact reflector that I use here.

3. SHOOT AT GOLDEN HOUR

“Golden hour” refers to the two hours after the sun rises or before the sun sets. It is the best time for photographers to shoot because the light is less harsh and easier to manipulate. The temps are also way lower at night in the summer, so there’s also that bonus.

When shooting portrait sessions, I only ever shoot during those one or two hours before the sun sets. During the summer, my shoots typically begin around 6:30 p.m. You can use the Weather app or Google the sunset times in your area to plan start times that coordinate with the ideal lighting.

I am looking for two specific types of light when I am shooting: open shade and backlighting. These two types of light help me to capture the best images for my clients and have a consistent, signature editing style.

Today I want to give you access to a free e-book: my three favorite lighting scenarios. It will break down all of my favorite lighting tricks to help guide you at your next shoot. DOWNLOAD THE FREE GUIDE HERE!

Hope Taylor is a senior portrait and wedding photographer/educator based in Fredericksburg, VA. She last shared posing tips that instill confidence in high school seniors.

RELATED LINKS

Preparing Your Senior Portrait Clients Before Their Photo Shoot in Three Easy Steps

The Best Walking, Standing and Sitting Poses for Fresh Senior Portraits

4 Common Misconceptions of Shooting Natural Portraits with Artificial Light

The post Nailing Natural Light for Senior Portraits appeared first on Rangefinder.

When working with high school seniors, it can be tricky to get them to look natural in front of the camera. We see so many photos floating around on Instagram of seniors who look like they are natural-born models, but the reality is that they have most likely never been in front of a camera before. I’ve learned that the way we pose our clients doesn’t just affect the way the images look; it actually affects the way that our clients feel.

If we put our clients in front of our cameras with no posing direction or poor instruction, they are going to be left feeling frustrated, insecure and anxious about their senior experience. This is the last thing that we want! If our clients are left feeling this way, it will affect everything about their experience, including the way that they view their images. Even if they look beautiful in the final product, they will always remember the way they felt when they were in front of your camera. As a result they might not:

1. share their images on social media following their shoot or share their experience with their friends
2. leave a positive testimonial about their experience with you, or
3. order prints or products/make future investments.

When you think about posing in this way, you may take it a little more seriously, and you should. If done correctly, the way you communicate posing in your business could improve your marketing and your bookings more than anything else!

Here are my three favorite tips to building confidence in your clients through your posing:

THE FIRST 5

When your client first arrives at their portrait session, their nerves and anxiety surrounding the shoot are at their peak. No matter how nervous you feel as the photographer, I can promise that they are more nervous than you are. The first 5 or 10 minutes of the senior portrait experience are crucial in how the rest of the experience will go.

Instead of diving right into shooting at the beginning of each session, build in an extra 10 or 15 minutes to chat with your senior when they arrive. Ask them about school, look through their outfits and take a slow walk to the first shooting location. You want them to feel comfortable and at ease, which is hard to do if you immediately throw them in front of your camera.

Then, when it’s time to start shooting, I like to give my seniors what I call my pre-shoot pep talk: I break down exactly what they can expect and relieve any of their stress. I say something like, “Okay girl, before we get started, I just want you to know that none of my seniors are models, so you literally can’t mess this up! I am going to tell you exactly what to do the whole time, so there’s no need to be nervous! Your only job is to have fun!”

This reminds them of two things:

1. It is my job as the photographer to make them look good. They don’t need to have any modeling experience to do a “good job” at their session.
2. I will not leave them hanging with no idea of what to do next. I will always be giving some type of instruction, direction or praise, so I don’t want them to think they’ll have to know what to do.

THE “DROP AND POP”

The name of this trick sounds so silly, but it’s one of my favorites! When posing my seniors, I always put them in a pose and have them look away from the camera first. Instead of having them stare directly into my lens and wait on me to take an image, I’ll put them in a pose and say, “Okay, go ahead and laugh over your right shoulder at that tree!” or, “Drop those eyes down towards your shoulder,” or, “Laugh past me toward the car behind me!” This allows them to feel more comfortable because they aren’t staring into the camera, and it actually gives more natural expression because they typically giggle when asked to laugh at something random.

When it comes to serious images or poses with no smile, I’ll ask them to drop their eyes to their shoulder then pop them up at me to grab the shot. It makes eyes appear more open and bright, and it makes your client feel more at ease when trying to give you their best “model face.”

BE WILLING TO BE AWKWARD

I learned very quickly when photographing seniors that the best thing I can do to help them feel more comfortable is to make myself look silly. When telling my clients how to pose or what I want them to do, I don’t just tell them—I show them, even if it means that I lay in the grass, sit on the ground or strike a Tyra Banks face while I’m dripping sweat from working so hard. Two things happen:

1. There is no confusion on what the pose looks like, so my communication is clear and confident.
2. My client instantly feels less awkward getting into that pose because I made myself look awkward first! This breaks any barrier and helps my clients to laugh along with me and loosen up throughout the session.

I’ve created a freebie with some of my favorite go-to poses for senior clients to get you started if you need a little more guidance. Download it and keep it on your phone at your next session so you don’t get stuck with which pose to do next!

Hope Taylor is a senior portrait and wedding photographer/educator based in Fredericksburg, VA. She last wrote about “Preparing Your Senior Portrait Clients Before Their Photo Shoot in Three Easy Steps.”

RELATED LINKS

How Lindsay Adler Bridges the Worlds of Fashion Posing and Senior Portraiture

The Art of Posing: Body Language Basics

8 No-Fail Posing Tips for Every Shoot

The post 3 Posing Tips to Instill Confidence in High School Seniors appeared first on Rangefinder.

While the youth sports industry has a questionable legacy when it comes to great family vacations, it can result in some stellar sports photography. But successfully photographing some of the country’s largest tournaments, where hundreds of players roam across up to a dozen fields, is no small feat. For Haim Ariav, the founder of Glossy Finish, it was a challenge ripe for technological disruption.

Haim Ariav, founder of Glossy Finish.

The company, founded by Ariav over 12 years ago, teams with local photographers to cover large youth sports events and sell photo prints and posters on site to friends and family. They were purchased by Lifetouch several years ago but Ariav bought the company back when Lifetouch was sold to Shutterfly in early 2018.

“We’re not the only photographers who shoot sports and deliver images on site, but we are the only ones that do it at scale,” Ariav says. The company has partnerships with some of the largest youth sports organizations in the U.S., including USA Football and Cal Ripken Baseball. Their roster of freelance photographers include those who shoot for the NFL and Getty, Ariav says.

What Glossy Finish did was build a technology solution that enables the company’s team of freelance photographers to track hundreds of players across multiple days and playing locations. The company’s Chief Technology Officer Matt Winer likens it to a restaurant table tracking system. Photographers are assigned fields and players to shoot throughout the course of an event. Their images are organized by team and player and parents receive text message alerts when their images are ready for review.

One of the reasons Glossy Finish has built a successful model is its embrace of the “gig economy,” Ariav says. The core full-time team is small, but the company uses freelance photographers as needed to cover big events. Like Uber where drivers use their own vehicles but leverage the the Uber app to find rides, partner photographers show up with their own cameras and lenses but plug into the company’s customized software to manage game day workflow.

Output is also an essential piece of the Glossy Finish business model. The company offers customers two products on-site: an 8 x 10-inch print or a 13 x 19-inch poster, complete with graphical elements designed using Darkroom software (the only off-the-shelf software the company employs). The company custom built two, 30-foot-long mobile photo labs stocked with Epson P400s inkjet printers for the poster prints and the DNP DS820A dye sub printers for the 8 x 10-inch prints.

Inside one of Glossy Finish’s mobile photo labs on game day. Customers can view their images and order prints that are created in the lab. Photo © Glossy Finish

Customers can produce their own prints on ordering stations in the mobile photo lab, but Glossy Finish also has a sales staff on hand to assist customers in producing their desired product. “Our challenge was: how to go from client engagement to product delivery,” Ariav says. Having the mobile print labs on site at these tournaments made buying prints that much more attractive to customers because they could walk off the field with a print in hand.

“There’s something about that tactile experience [of holding a print] that you just can’t replicate on social media,” Ariav says.

Glossy Finish uses Darkroom software to quickly produce sports images and collages. Photo © Glossy Finish

While many youth sports photographers focus on staged team and individual shots, Ariav says Glossy Finish’s success proves there’s a viable market for more action-oriented youth sports images.

“We’ve proven there’s money there, you just have to go about it the right way.”

Glossy Finish photographers will follow players as they progress through tournaments, presenting families with a range of action images to choose from. Photo © Glossy Finish

The post How Glossy Finish Shoots Youth Sports at Scale appeared first on Rangefinder.