perspective

Everybody has a different idea of what they want to get out of their senior photos, but in the end we all have the same goal; to create great images. To help make that easier I thought I would give you a few tips to think about before coming in.

1. Plan on spending some time here. Our standard package is a 2 hour session, and if you want to look your best you should plan on using most of it. The more photos we take the better the chance that we will get a few that you really fall in love with. Even if you only want one photo to use as your yearbook photo, you should still plan on taking some time and trying some different things.
2. Bring a couple of different outfits, but don’t expect to be photographed in all of them. This is and important one. The more clothes you bring the more variety you can have in your proofs, and variety is good. Even if you think you do not want or need variety you should still bring more than one outfit. Why? Because sometimes an outfit just doesn’t photograph well. Some fabrics look weird in photos and some colors that look great in person become distracting in a photograph.
3. Take a few minutes to think about what you want your photos to look like before you arrive. Do you want your photos to be edgy or relaxed? Dark and dramatic, or bright and beautiful? We can work with you to get exactly what you want, and we will always get there in the end, but if you have an idea of what that is before you arrive it just gives us more time to refine the photos instead of hunting around until we bump into it. You don’t have to have the whole thing planned out, and we might end up changing direction while we are shooting, but if you come in and say that you want your photos to look like the cover of GQ or Vogue, or that your really don’t want to have a big grin in every photo, or that you only want smiling photos, at least we have a defined place to start. Again, we will probably try lots of different things in the name of variety, but it is always best to have that starting point.
4. Try to have an open mind. I know it kinda sounds like the opposite of the one above, but it isn’t. Sometimes it is hard to relax when I am telling you to tilt you head back at some strange angle, but every time I ask you to tilt you head or exaggerate an expression you have to remember that it is to make the photograph better. My goal isn’t to make you look silly, actually quite the opposite. Sometimes we take photos at angles that people don’t usually look at you from, so we have to compensate by making you hold your head in a way you usually would not… but in the final result it will look natural even if it didn’t feel natural. And if it doesn’t look natural… we just wont use it! So, keep an open mind.
5. Ok… this one might be too much for some people, so it isn’t mandatory, but I think it could help some: try looking at yourself in the mirror. Models do it constantly. Just look in the mirror and make a few faces. Look at your simile, can you make it look relaxed? Or does it look forced? Can you do it another way (maybe with closed mouth) that does look relaxed? What do you look like not smiling? Can you make yourself look intense without a smile or do you just look bored? I am not saying you need to practice anything here, just take a look and get an idea. If nothing else this should get you in the mood to have some pictures taken and will hopefully help you relax.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm and is filed under c.m.h. imaging news.