Photographing Seniors is by far my favourite factor to do. I like their power, willingness to attempt new and loopy issues, enjoyable personalities, and their hope for the longer term and what’s to return after Excessive Faculty. Their Senior 12 months is such an thrilling time of their lives, and I like to be part of it.
Most Seniors exude a self-worth that basically shines by means of of their images. Some don’t, and it’s my job to assist them look their greatest, really feel snug throughout the shoot, and to understand by means of thoughts blowing photos of themselves, that they’re lovely or good-looking. I’ve seen a disturbing development these days amongst photographers. It’s a development that’s destroying the self-confidence of younger ladies and men alike. I do know that we wish our topics to look flawless, and that we will do this in put up processing. Photoshop is a tremendous device, however everyone knows it may be taken too far.
The Backstory
Lately, I had a younger girl name me in tears. She had her Senior Pictures taken by a properly know native photographer. You already know, the photographer all of us need to be once we develop up with the arsenal of kit, shiny studio, and hundres of hundreds of {dollars} in yearly gross sales income. The lady was upset as a result of she didn’t need to sit for images once more as a result of she thought she was fats, and her mom was making her name me and schedule a session. Behind my thoughts, I used to be considering, “So she’s a bit of heavy. I can disguise that with a little bit of artistic posing and good lighting.” I assured her that I’d make her look lovely in her images, and scheduled a free session along with her and her mom the subsequent week to get an concept of what she needed from her Senior Session.
After I arrived on the session, I used to be shocked. The lady was BEAUTIFUL! I’m not saying that not each lady is attractive at no matter dimension they’re, however this lady is 5’8”, and she or he couldn’t have weighed over 115lbs. She was tall, skinny, athletic, and lovely. It didn’t take me lengthy to determine why she was so apprehensive and insecure. She confirmed me the images from her earlier Senior Session with the aforementioned photographer. I used to be shocked. The photographs regarded like her, however they have been a very good Stepford Wives model of her. Not a hair was misplaced. Her pores and skin regarded so good that it regarded plastic, and he had thinned her face, narrowed her hips, diminished the scale of her nostril, and elevated the scale of her breasts. I’m positive he thought he was merely enhancing her pure magnificence. Nevertheless, what he actually did was take each little bit of self-confidence she had, and turned it to insecurity. Was she not ok simply the best way she was?
Examples of what to not do.
Right here is an instance of over processing a picture to the purpose of destroying a woman’s self worth. The primary picture is straight out of digital camera. The second is similar picture. I thinned her face and arm, diminished the scale of her nostril, whitened her tooth, liquified her eyes to make them greater, and smoothed her pores and skin to an ideal plastic look. Not horrible, however actually, it seems to be nothing like her in any respect.
Straight out of Digicam
Insanely Over Processed: Don’t do that!
Right here is an instance of processing the right manner. I left the whole lot about her alone. I simply barely smoothed her pores and skin, sharpened her eyes, and enhanced the colours a bit. That’s it. Nothing extra, nothing much less. Had she had a small blemish on her brow that may very well be cloned out, however her skink was fairly flawless. My primary rule of thumb is that I appropriate something that can go away within the subsequent 6 weeks (blemishes, scabs, scrapes, and so forth.) and I very barely soften these which are everlasting (scars and delivery marks are normally simply lightened a tiny bit if they’re purple. If not, I simply clean them the tiniest bit.)
Actual Perfection- Magnificence is enhanced, not created!
The purpose of this section is that this: DO NOT TAKE POST PROCESSING TOO FAR! You could suppose that you’re serving to your consumer out by perfecting them. And belief me, there’s nothing fallacious with blemish elimination, slight pores and skin smoothing, and a bit of liquefying right here and there if there’s a bulge in clothes or on an arm. Nevertheless, your consumer needs images of themselves or their household, not some insanely good model of themselves. Actual folks, particularly Excessive Faculty Seniors, are wonderful simply the best way they’re. It’s our job to reinforce their pure magnificence and assist them see themselves as lovely, irrespective of their dimension or form.
Atina is the proprietor of Atina King Pictures positioned in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She likes to deal with photographing Excessive Faculty Seniors in city environments all through Arkansas. She resides in Fayetteville along with her husband Jonathan and their two babies. Her work may be seen on her web site at Atina King Pictures.
Seeking to pose senior guys and women extra naturally? Take a look at our senior posing guides, stuffed with numerous ideas and methods for working with highschool seniors:
