Is the test shoot required?
No. Some people are comfortable in front of camera and take direction easily. Others, not so much. You’ll know this better than I will. Some kids are familiar with me—they know my kids or they’ve seen me shooting at high school sporting events, musicals, and graduations.
But for others this is a first meeting. You’ve seen my website but that’s it.
The test shoot can be a good time to get together informally and practice a bit. It also gives me an opportunity to look at photos of you. Sometimes we see things in the screen that we overlook while shooting. It’s a good opportunity for me to consider other angles and approaches.
Maybe most important, it gives a chance to talk about what you want without the pressure of creating a final product in that moment.
Two hours seems kind of long.
It can be. That’s one of the reasons why I like to split the shoot up over two days. I have definitely have had shoots where a natural stopping point arrives and we agree to get together another day to complete the work
Should parents accompany the senior on the shoot?
Probably not. I have found that a friend or sibling along can make things go a little more easily; they can help break the ice if necessary. I have never had a subject’s friend or sibling bicker with them during photos shoots…..
If a parent or senior has strong feelings about parental accompaniment then we should definitely schedule a test shoot.
Can parents or siblings jump in for a few photos?
Sure, but see the ‘plus one’ section of my rate sheet. My goal on the shooting dates is to get good photos of the senior. It’s their yearbook after all.
What sort of photos will we be shooting?
Senior photos can be used for a lot of different purposes so you should expect a variety of shots. The traditional senior photo—a close up of head and shoulders—-still has its place in the yearbook. Year books photos tend to end up printed fairly small so we want to make sure you are recognizable. it is not something I want to neglect to get a fabulous backdrop. The full body shots in a field or by the shore are great. Just keep in mind you may prefer one for social media, one to print, and one for the yearbook.
Payment.
I would like $100 to secure your spot and the balance by the first shooting date. Check, cash or Venmo.
Scheduling.
By far, the best way for me to schedule a time and a location for your seniors photos is directly with them via text. Weather forecasts and work/afterschool schedules change suddenly. Adding a layer of communication just makes for missed opportunities. Giving the seniors ownership of this task makes them much more responsive.
What type of gear do you use?
Cameras and lenses:: The two camera bodies I use are Nikons: a Z6iii and a D750. Both are full-frame cameras. Full-frame refers to the size of the sensor that records the data. The Z6iii is Nikon’s newest entry in its mirrorless line up and was introduced in 2024. The D750 is a DSLR and I bought this one way back in 2020.
The two lenses I am most likely to use in portrait sessions are a Nikon “AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8” and an “AF-S 28-70mm f/2.8” The relevant piece of data here is the f/2.8 aperture. The smaller this number is the more light the lens allows in. This allows for shooting in less well lit sutuations. It also allows for a shallow depth of field. In other words, the subject is in focus but the background may be blurry. Some people refer to this as “nice bokeh.”
Three other lenses I use with these cameras include a wide-angle Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED (landscape, architecture, interiors e.g. real estate, full field views of athletics. For portraits this lens is most useful for large group portraits: team photos, an entire chorus, or a large family group. I also use Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8 G (portraits or lowlight interiors, e.g., classrooms, stages), and a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED (long range zoom, primarily daylight uses such as birding, athletics at a distance, outdoor activities)
Lighting: I have several Nikon Speedlight SB-700s which can be used on camera, on stands, or together. I have remote firing capabilities for flashes and the camera, portable flash stands, umbrella reflectors for the flashes, as well as smaller hand held reflectors for redirecting natural light. I also have portable backdrops for portraits.
What type of editing do you do?
I subscribe to the full Adobe Creative Cloud; the application most relevant app is Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop. I run the Adobe programs on a MacBook Pro.
Most editing for portraits is done with a light touch and includes the typical adjustments for lighter and darker areas of photos. In the darkroom back in the film day this was called “dodging and burning,” for deep shadows or excessively bright spots. In addition a may do light spot removal for facial blemishes that are, by their nature, temporary.
Because I shoot all photos in RAW format rather than shooting in jpeg, I maximize the data I work from. Once editing is completed the images will be exported from Lightoom as jpegs.
Do you use AI?
Without getting into the weeds regarding the distinctions between machine learning and generative AI, about the only time I would consider using the generative AI tool available in Lightroom for a senior photo would be to remove an unwanted background object. Below are three examples of photos where I have used the generative AI tool.
This a senior photo taken back in 2017. I liked the composition, the lighting was generally good, and the model looked great. However, the bright spot near her right eye was just too bright. It was “blown out” so no amount of dodging and burning would bring any detail back to that area. The traditional Lightroom tools related to manipulating bright areas left the spot looking muddy, and possibly even worse than had I just left it alone. Older photoshop tools like the healing or cloning tools—-basically copying and pasting by borrowing other segments of the ph0to and rebuilding them in the white spot—often leaves a residual haziness the edges of the patch. Like the shadow of a shadow.
But the generative AI tool removed the empty white spot and replaced it with an appropriate collection of greenery. It even added a few lighter highlight spots just to the model’s right that are consistent with the overall pattern of the background.
In this series of a single tumbling pass the gator in the background distracted from the tumbler’s form. But even here we see the limits of the generative AI. In those photos where the gator appeared in two or three places in relation to the tumbler’s body, Lightroom would render the edges of the tumbler’s body in an unnatural or unappealing manner. Only when there was a clean line where the tumbler was nearly vertical to the AI render decent likeness so I only preserved those renditions.
In this sequence, I removed the lip of the orchestra pit. It distracted from the triangle made by the central characters of this photo, the ballerina and the man in black.. On careful inspection of the two photos you’ll notice that AI distorted the bottom of Morticia Addams’s dress (the actress in black crouching at the left side). It also distorted her finger tips somewhat. AI is notorious for doing a poor job with hands and feet. No surprise really as hands and feet have been difficult to render throughout the history of art.
Will you use the photos for other purposes?
I generally use some versions of you senior photo for my advertising and promotion of the business.
How will we get our photos?
I will share a google drive with the student and with their parent or parents if need be. I always share photos that carry my watermark in the initial batch. The is because I know they tend to get shared frequently and my logo on those versions helps build business. Once we have had some back and forth about additional edits I will add a second set with no logo. I suggest that you download and save the photos in another format. Eventually I will remove shared drives.