Life during the school year can be crazy. But the summertime? Now that’s the time to get everything done. With the kids out of school, and no longer out of the house for most of the day, scheduling items to cross off their to-do list should be much easier. More time, more opportunity, right? No after-school activities, no early morning practices; just a full day to get stuff done!
The one exception to this logic is one to-do item that typically does occur during Summer, but actually, it might make more sense for it not to: Senior picture sessions. Typically the most gorgeous season in Colorado (debateable), it’s seemingly straightforward that Summer would be the best time to schedule your senior’s portrait session. Waiting until after the longest day of the year, however, could mean hard-to-find time slots and rushed production. Ensure your Senior picture sessions produce the absolute best results, with these five simple tips!
Avoid the bottleneck
Senior portraits take place the Summer between Junior and Senior year. Many wait until right before the start of school which creates a bottleneck, meaning you may not actually get a booking date at all and may be forced to go with the “friend with the good camera” (definitely NOT what you want to do for your senior portraits). The longer you wait to do your session, the longer you will wait to get through the process from start to finish (because of the increase in the number of students).
Waiting until Fall interferes with school activities
Once school begins, schedules go crazy….sports and other activities begin taking a great deal of time, and adding the senior portrait session in the mix really adds to the chaos. Also, many yearbook deadlines are VERY SOON into the school year, so if you wait, you may be not only hard pressed to even GET a session date, you will be pushing your yearbook deadline date and won’t have much time to review and select the images.
Preparation of the yearbook image takes time
Clients need at least 2-3 weeks after the senior session to allow ample time for the studio to have the images ready for viewing. After the images are viewed and chosen, at least 1 week is needed to retouch the chosen images, prepare the order and size the yearbook according to the school’s specifications. Most high schools have very specific needs when it comes to the size and quality of the yearbook image.
Late Spring/Early Summer makes for much better conditions
Late May and early June are PRIME for cooler temps, riper, richer foliage and ideal light. As the Summer progresses, heat rises (making for “sweaty teens”), foliage browns and we must shoot much EARLIER in the day to avoid BRIGHT Sun (not ideal for portraits). And no teen wants to get to their session earlier than 8:00 a.m. when July/Aug. conditions generally are best. We can also get much more VARIETY of backgrounds in the early months.*
Your Senior session will be much less rushed
We generally can spend a bit more time with the Senior EARLIER in the year than we can later when the demand is higher and more students are booked back to back. When more time is spent, the seniors feel more relaxed and we can generally get much BETTER looking portraits with natural smiles.
*Note: In July/Aug., the tall wild grass is no taller than ankle high and other foliage, as seen is either non-existant or brown
