High school senior pictures...Help!!!!

[A4Effort]

My friend saw some of my work and asked if I could do her senior picture. I said that I would gladly do it but have never done it before. Can anyone give me any tips and advice on how to take a good senior picture? Also what type of paper should I print the picture on?

All I have available for the shoot is whats in my sig.
Any help is appreciated.

-----I also googled and didn't find anything useful because many sites talked about the studio lighting which I do not have.

 

[chrisburke]

wow, another person who has gotten in over there head... all i can say is, your foolish for taking the job if you don't know how to do it... i wish you the best of luck... at least its just senior shots, which you can redo if you mess up.

advice for lighting is to go to strobist.com and check out the lighting 101.. its a very good resource for people who want to learn lighting

 

[A4Effort]

You are right about what I got myself into. But its not a big deal because I explained to her how I never have done it and she was okey with it.

 

[chrisburke]

You are right about what I got myself into. But its not a big deal because I explained to her how I never have done it and she was okey with it.

awesome, thats why i said its a good thing its something you can re do... as i said, i strongly recommend checking out strobist... everything you need to learn is there..

theres also this little site which might help you with light positioning http://www.lowel.com/edu/foundations_of_lighting.html

i also recommend hitting up flickr and checking out other grad photos (i assume thats what senior photos are) and glean ideas from what you find there.

 

[A4Effort]

Thanks Chris,
I went on strobist.com and started browsing. Thanks for the other suggestions too.

 

[Big Mike]

i strongly recommend checking out strobist... everything you need to learn is there..

I do agree that it's a very good site with a lot of good information...but 90-100% of it is geared to 'off camera flash'. Which certainly isn't everything you need to learn.

Since your friend saw some of your work and liked it...then just do what you know and do your best.

 

[DRoberts]

My friend saw some of my work and asked if I could do her senior picture. I said that I would gladly do it but have never done it before. Can anyone give me any tips and advice on how to take a good senior picture? Also what type of paper should I print the picture on?

All I have available for the shoot is whats in my sig.
Any help is appreciated.

-----I also googled and didn't find anything useful because many sites talked about the studio lighting which I do not have.

As mentioned Strobist is a decent site to get some of the basics of lighting, but it is by far not the site to learn all there is to know, as suggested.

There is nothing wrong with the equipment you have for this informal request. I might suggest getting a reflector or two and taking advantage of natural light.

Another suggestion would be to look up points of posing. angles, camera heights, how to place arms, hands, etc...so as not to make them look unatural or massively large or long.
Speaking of "natural" try to get your subject to position herself naturally, just point her in the best direction for the lighting. Watch for nasty shadows!

Colors...try to coordinate what she will be wearing with the colors of your settings. You don't want a clash between your subject and the background.

Practice...if you have someone who will do it, or if she will do a few practice sessions to figure a few things out, do that first.

Focus...don't get to involved with all the rest that you forget to focus in the eyes.

And last but not least...I wouldn't print the photos for her...just give her a CD with all the shots on them and let her print the ones she wants. And don't charge her anything other than your cost. This could be a good learning opportunity, and as you are not a "pro" you should look at this as a learning step rather than a "gig".