Rules/guidelines for senior shoots?

fiveoboy01

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I have a senior shoot this coming weekend... First one... Parents are very good friends of mine, and I have agreed to do these free of charge, they will pay for any prints and buy me dinner... And I will have experience under my belt. Just mulling things over, and trying to get myself in order as for things to keep in mind..

Level horizons, watch the backgrounds for clutter/distraction, focus on the eyes, mix up the composition, 3 or 4 outfits, have fun, keep her loose and relaxed(this should be easy as I know her fairly well), keep the focus on what she wants, as in the end these will be her photos... I've been keeping my eyes open the past two weeks for spots to shoot and I have a nice list in my Blackberry of places we can visit.

Any other "rules" or tips, specific to senior portraits that the experienced guys would like to share?

Thanks in advance;)
 
Kinda what I figured, thanks. I'll just go with it:thumbup:
 
One rule, commonly ignored, is to frame single-person head and shoulders portraits using a vertical camera orientation. And the same rule applies to half-body compositions.

A head and shoulders portrait needs both the head, and the shoulders, to make it work. Framed vertically, the subject's shoulders should be angled in relation to the camera to lens axis,and the person's body should go across the entire bottom of the frame--which is very easy to do with a 3:2 aspect ratio camera.
The shoulders make up the base of the portrait, and give the head and neck a visible means of support; framed horizontally, what one gets is a head and a bit of a neck, floating in space, with two big patches of background to the left and right of the floating head.

A subject that is taller than it is wide will best be framed with the camera in portrait orientation. Failure to understand this one,single rule is the probably the single biggest difference between the studied, trained portrait shooters and the untrained.
 
Search "senior" in flickr.com yield a lot of result. I am sure you get some idea from others.

Sorry, I am just a beginner and not able to offer solid advice like others on this subject.
 
Seems like you have a great list of general guidelines going.

Start with simple shots at first so both you and the model can get warmed up. Then as the day goes on, start getting more creative and interesting.

If shooting from down to up, watch to not get nostrils in the shot. I see way too many low down shots with way too much nostralidge going on.

Take some breaks, bring some water for both you and her. This is a good time to review some of the images with her and see what is working and what isn't. If you are new (like me) and not used to doing photoshoots, any input is good input.

Charge your camera and flash batteries the night before

Make sure you review your camera settings before you shoot! Last thing you want is to be using the same odd settings you had the night before.

Communicate with the model as to what you want her to do, how to move, and if only to say that "Thats perfect" or "that looks great, dont move an inch".
 
If shooting from down to up, watch to not get nostrils in the shot. I see way too many low down shots with way too much nostralidge going on.

I'm assuming this means that I should make sure her head is tilted down and looking at the camera right(or even if looking to the side)?

Thanks guys for all your tips.

I'm looking forward to this, and I think it will be fun. I have lots of "ideas"....

I will post up some pictures when I'm done so you all can rip them apart;)
 

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