Everything you need to know before you book a senior photography session

What’s included with your senior session? The first thing is all the preparation we do making sure that you’re ready to look and feel your best. You also get a senior photo shoot that lasts up to 2 hours with 4-5 different outfits, and multiple location looks.

Keep in mind, we shoot all our sessions with hair & makeup, but that’s not included in the session fee. You’ll pay our stylist directly on the day of your shoot.

Prints are not included with the session fee, but we do include a one and a half hour reveal & ordering consultation where we’re going to guide you through the process of placing your print order. So once you see all your senior pictures, you can decide how you want to use them! We show you how your pictures will look on a wall as well as custom-design your very own senior album.

We do all the work so you don’t have to!

If you’re a planner like me, you want to know everything that’s happening! So let me give you a quick rundown.

When should I book my senior photo session?

If you want the best dates and times for your session, you’ll want to book your senior pictures at least four or five months in advance. So if you’re thinking of doing that June session, I’d be looking to book in January or February. Usually our summer calendar is fully booked in May, and our fall calendar starts to fill up around that time too.

What do I do after I book my session?

Once you’ve booked your session, leave it up to us to keep you on track! We send out our digital style guide magazine to help you prep about four months before your session. We start custom-designing your session about a month prior to the photoshoot. About two weeks before, we finalize all the details. And if you have questions, we’re in constant communication throughout the entire process to make sure you’re fully prepared.

As for the day of the photo shoot, you’ll start hair and makeup at the studio of one of our amazing hair & makeup stylists. This usually takes an hour to an hour and 15 minutes long. Then you’ll head to your first location and we’ll start shooting!

Once your shoot is done, you’ll schedule a time to come in to the studio for your senior picture reveal, where you’ll pick and order your pictures. This usually happens about two weeks after your shoot date.

At the ordering consultation, we’ll go through all of your amazing pictures and narrow it down to your favorites and select what pictures you’ll be printing for family members, what you’ll hang on your own walls, and even custom design your own senior album.

How much do senior pictures cost?

We don’t have a minimum order you have to hit, so it can really vary from client to client. I work with a wide variety of budgets.

Once you see your senior pictures, you can decide what you want printed that best fits your budget. I also offer payment plans, because I never want budget to be a reason a senior can’t work with me.

If you’re interested or have more questions, I would love to hear from you! We can talk about everything you’re wanting out of a senior photo session and I can talk you through all the details to make it happen.

There’s a lot that goes into preparing for your senior pictures. And not only do you want to know, but we want you to be fully prepared as well. Why? The better prepared you are the smoother your session will go and the more fun we’re all gonna have. We are known for the amount of communication we give to our seniors and parents. The last thing we want is for you to show up for your session feeling unprepared and not knowing what’s going on.

So, to start, we send out our seniors a 100-page digital Style Guide magazine. This magazine has everything from what colors to wear that best complement your skin tone to stylizing your outfits that work best for your body type. We even talk about the smaller things like teeth whitening, nails, eyebrows, moisturizer, the list goes on! 

Then about a month prior to your session we send out a questionnaire for us to get to know you even better. This helps us custom design a session around you and what you are wanting out of your senior pictures. We know that you have a vision of what you want, and we want to make sure that your vision becomes a reality. 

A couple weeks prior to your session we’ll be in touch with all the session details to know exactly what we’re planning. This is obviously a collaboration between all of us, and we want to make sure that we’re all on the same page throughout the entire process.

We basically hold your hand and are in continuous contact with you to make sure that you’re fully prepared and all of your questions have been answered.

Hair & makeup is crucial to getting the best senior pictures. That’s why we work with the best stylists in the area. Our stylists are professional and educated on what they need to do to make sure that you look your best in front of the camera.

Will I still look like me?

One concern we probably hear most about hair and makeup is that our seniors want to make sure that they look natural. They still want to look like themselves! You may have had a bad experience in the past when it comes to prom or some other event and hated how your makeup looked; that will not be the case here! Our stylists work closely with our seniors to make sure that they are 100% happy before they even leave the chair.

What if I don’t normally wear makeup? Or what if I have a specific makeup style?

We’ve worked with seniors that say I don’t wear any makeup at all, seniors that just started wearing mascara for the first time this year, all the way to seniors that wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without their false lashes. No matter which level you’re at when it comes to hair and makeup, our stylists make sure that you look your best while also looking natural.

You may not know this, but there is a difference between everyday makeup and “camera ready” makeup. The makeup might feel a little bit heavier than what you’re normally used to, but the lights, the camera, reflectors, they can all wash you out. Our stylists are trying to contour your face in ways that highlight your best features and make sure that you don’t look flat. The same thing goes with hair; they know all the tricks. We want to make sure whatever hairstyle you choose to have for your senior pictures is going to last throughout your entire session.

I believe in professional hair and makeup so much, that I don’t shoot sessions without it! Our stylists’ talent and techniques are unparalleled, and having them on our team makes your experience less stressful.

One thing to note that we do not include our stylist fees in our session fees, so when it comes to your shoot date you’re going to pay them directly for their services. If you have any concerns when it comes to hair and makeup please reach out. We guarantee you’re gonna love it!

I get a lot of seniors that worry about posing. I completely understand the fear here! Having your pictures taken professionally can be daunting, and you want to make sure that you look your best, but this is one of the main reasons you hire a professional photographer that specializes in seniors. It’s my job to make sure that your body, hands, head, are all positioned in a way to make you look your best.

With that said, I also want to make sure that you’re comfortable, so I run my sessions and more of a collaboration with my seniors. I like to get a feel of your comfort level in front of the camera, and let you fall into those natural poses that make you feel comfortable, but I’ll also make adjustments when I need to so I can still get the best angles.

Each year I go to workshops to better my skills as a photographer, and at every workshop posing is always a major discussion. So I work hard in getting that education to be able to pose all sorts of body types.

One tip that I always suggest to my seniors is to practice! I know it sounds really stupid, but just like everything practice makes perfect. I tell them to look at different images that catch their eye, and study the pose. How is the body positioned? How is the head tilted? Where are the hands? Then try to replicate that in the mirror. This will give you an idea on how the pose looks and feels so when you’re on set you have a better idea of what poses you like and how those poses will feel. This goes the same for facial expressions; practice them in the mirror. What kind of smile do you like? Maybe a smirk, maybe you want that intense serious face. Whatever it is, take the time to visually see the expressions you want to capture.

Just remember, I’m here to guide you through the process of posing and facial expression. That’s my job!

How many outfits and locations do I get?

We always get asked, “How many outfits and locations do we get?” On average we usually shoot four to five different outfits with different multiple location looks.

What’s a location look?

Let’s say that we’re downtown and we’re shooting in an alley in an outfit. That would be one location look. Now we could change outfits go around the corner and do a completely different location look, and that would be your second location. My goal is to create a variety of different looks in nearby locations, so we can spend more of your time shooting and taking pictures versus driving to different spots. Not saying we never drive to different locations, sometimes we need to do that depending on what the senior wants. For example, maybe they want basketball pictures in their school gym. We just take that location and drive time into consideration when planning the rest of the shoot.

When it comes to finalizing outfits, I have all my seniors text me pictures of them wearing their outfits. This gives me a visual idea of the look of the outfits and styling, The reason I do this is because I like to coordinate your outfits and locations. I want to make sure that the overall image is pleasing to the eye and completely stylized. Seeing the trends or style of your outfits as well as the colors will determine the locations that will best complement you.

Overall, your shoot is up to two hours and I’ve found that usually we get in four to five different outfits and location looks in that time. If you feel that you have more, and you want more, I say bring the outfits! If we can do more we certainly will do our best.

Can I get digital files?

Most of our clients come to us because they want professionally, quality printed products, and want us to take the load off their plate and do all the designing and printing for their senior pictures. But we also know that some of you want the option to have the digital files just in case you want to do some of your own printing, or just to share on your social media with friends and family. So yes, we do offer the option to purchase the digital files on top of some of our print packages. This gives you the best of both worlds. Professional quality prints and flexibility. Our digital files are delivered via download link so that you can download them directly to your computer. We also send you a personal print release to do additional printing that fits your needs.