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Senior Portrait Photographers


12 years 1 month ago - 12 years 1 month ago #220222 by silvereagle135
So I know a lot of senior portraits end up looking a little cheesy, especially ones done by some big company (the one that my daughter was required to go to for the yearbook had bright blue and pink boas, it was terrible). Are there high end people in this line of work that do beautiful artistic things, or is that a bit too much to ask for the subject matter?

Just curious if there is some upper crust of this industry like there is with so many others that I'm not aware of. B)

(Opps, didn't mean to put this in the Lounge...)
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12 years 1 month ago - 12 years 1 month ago #220246 by NikaTraveler
Well... I worked at a senior portrait studio in California that tried to market itself as such. I think we did pretty good work and our customers were really happy. It's been years since I worked there and I can't seem to find a website for them now but I shot a model on one of the senior portrait sets so you can see what I'm talking about:






So that one was a bamboo backdrop with a matching bench. We had the same background in red and that looked really nice. We also had a roller with some nice background options that were really classy looking. And of course nice lights. There were other sets that I personally found cheesy (looking out a window with fake trees, clear glass blocks with light behind them and a white whicker chair) but you know, I was an employee so I didn't say anything. :whistle:
changetheverb.com ~Learning to Live Differently
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12 years 4 weeks ago #220919 by BethanyAnn12
The companies that shoot for yearbooks are generally horrible.
Actual senior pictures done by private photographers tend to turn out 100 times better.
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12 years 3 weeks ago #222633 by silvereagle135
Lovely shot Nika. I can see what you're talking about. It really does help to have settings that are a step above the rest huh?

Bethany, agreed. It's a shame but I guess that's what happens when schools get overcrowded. Not only could the kids not afford a great photographer, the great photographer wouldn't have time to BE great with all those students coming in.
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12 years 3 weeks ago #223401 by NikaTraveler

silvereagle135 wrote: Lovely shot Nika. I can see what you're talking about. It really does help to have settings that are a step above the rest huh?

Bethany, agreed. It's a shame but I guess that's what happens when schools get overcrowded. Not only could the kids not afford a great photographer, the great photographer wouldn't have time to BE great with all those students coming in.


Well actually the studio I worked at was the official photographer for the yearbook of the school nearby. The students that came in for just the yearbook photo had a cheap deal for that and were in and out. We tried to get them to take more photos but they usually said no if they knew they couldn't afford to buy more. It was kind of a bummer when you could tell they wanted more but just kept saying no...
changetheverb.com ~Learning to Live Differently
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12 years 3 weeks ago #223420 by icepics
Having been a teacher, school pictures were usually an assembly line! - had a schedule to get your class in and out and then the next class... But it seems like school pictures were always like that, sometimes you get the school pictures and other times you go to a portrait studio. There just isn't much time for school photographers to do a variiety of poses and get great photos of everyone with the usual time constraits.
Sharon
Photo Comments
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12 years 2 weeks ago #224102 by NikaTraveler

icepics wrote: Having been a teacher, school pictures were usually an assembly line! - had a schedule to get your class in and out and then the next class... But it seems like school pictures were always like that, sometimes you get the school pictures and other times you go to a portrait studio. There just isn't much time for school photographers to do a variiety of poses and get great photos of everyone with the usual time constraits.


Sure but senior portraits are usually a little more special. I know I waited til the last possible day for my own and was in a pretty big line and thought the pictures were terrible. But that was my fault. I had weeks, if not months.

When I worked at the senior portrait studio we were doing the shots for months and had a pretty steady schedule of students with a little extra push at the end.
changetheverb.com ~Learning to Live Differently
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12 years 2 weeks ago - 12 years 2 weeks ago #224190 by icepics
Maybe it depends on the school or where you live, my nephew's senior picture he got done this year at school is a pretty basic pose that they use for the yearbook. Kids around here usually go to a portrait studio to get senior portraits done on their own (so they don't end up with cheezy ones w/feather boas!) I know someone at work whose husband has a portrait studio locally; his is the kind of place students go to get senior portraits done.
Sharon
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12 years 1 week ago #225690 by silvereagle135
Boas? No thanks. If someone requested that I'd tell them no. It's hard to believe a studio was doing that for all of it's clients.
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12 years 1 week ago #225699 by geoffellis
Why do you call them seniors?? When i see senior, or senior portraits my first thought is someone who is 65+ years old. Seems kinda ambiguous.
www.geoffellis.ca
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12 years 1 week ago #225716 by rmeyer7

geoffellis wrote: Why do you call them seniors?? When i see senior, or senior portraits my first thought is someone who is 65+ years old. Seems kinda ambiguous.

I think in the U.S. it's easily understood as high school students in their senior year. Probably one of those things that we simply don't realize (or should I say "realise"? lol) sounds different to people in other English speaking parts of the world. Same reason that we here in the U.S. would hear the word "mate" and initially think of a husband/wife/significant other.
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12 years 1 week ago #225740 by geoffellis

rmeyer7 wrote: I think in the U.S. it's easily understood as high school students in their senior year. Probably one of those things that we simply don't realize (or should I say "realise"? lol) sounds different to people in other English speaking parts of the world. Same reason that we here in the U.S. would hear the word "mate" and initially think of a husband/wife/significant other.

Well... im from North America... even grew up pretty close to the US border... but to me these are "Grad Pics", or "Grad Photos", or even "Grad Portraits". I see senior and i think old men and women lol... but then again ive never really figured out the whole freshman/junior/sophmore/whatever else... either lol
www.geoffellis.ca
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12 years 1 week ago #225789 by rmeyer7
Yeah, calling them grad photos would make sense to me. But could probably also be confused with shooting the graduation ceremony rather than a portrait session.
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12 years 1 week ago #225937 by NikaTraveler
LOL. I see what you're saying but I never really heard anyone use a term other than senior portraits. It's just what' they're called! It's not really ambiguous because there isn't a special brand of photography for geriatrics! :rofl:
changetheverb.com ~Learning to Live Differently
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