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How to Take Someone's Senior Portraits

Senior portraits are fun and creative way to remember your last year of high school. While these are offered and shot by many professional photographers, you can easily take someone's senior portrait with a little bit of planning. A successful senior portrait is not only a good portrait, but it also portrays the subject in a way he was associated with during high school. Whether he was class president, on the football team, or part of the school band, use props to communicate this in your portrait.

Things You'll Need

School based props

Instructions

- 1
  Meet with the individual you will be photographing and ask him what his expectations are and what he was involved in during high school. You will also need to decide on a location for your session. If outdoors, pick a location where you can include a section of the school or property that is visually pleasing and will contribute to the picture.
- 2
  Arrange for clothing or props specific to the subjects involvement in school. If he was part of the football team, ask the school if you borrow a football helmet or jersey to be used in the picture. Other items you can include would be musical instruments, banners, school letters, jackets, flags or any other item that identifies the school.
- 3
  Instruct the subject to wear clothes that he will feel confident in. Have the subject bring some additional clothing so he can make changes during the shoot.
- 4
  Position the subject so his shoulders are turned at a nearly 45-degree angle towards the camera and have the subject turn his head to look directly at the camera. This creates a good profile pose for portrait photography. Choose a time for you shoot about one to two hours before sunset. At this time, the sun is low in the sky and creates a very warm glow.
- 5
  Turn your camera on, set the exposure mode to "Aperture Priority" and use the largest aperture as possible, represented by the lowest number. A wide aperture creates a very shallow depth of field and causes the viewer to concentrate on the subject. Turn the cameras flash on, and if there is a setting for "Fill flash", select that. This will add a small amount of light to the subject, giving the picture a professional appearance.

Photography