Senior Boys: 10 tips to making your Senior boys session a success!
PAY ATTENTION TO THE SHOES Often boys will come to sessions in old tennis shoes, crocs or slides with the assumption their feet will not be in the images! I always take full body shots as well as images of them sitting down and their feet will show! Make sure they have nice shoes that look good with their outfit! Bring several pairs, one casual and one fancier.
SOCKS Speaking of shoes...pay attention to the socks! Often boys will come in old white gym socks or something equally bad to look at. When I have boys sit on stairs, a log, the ground etc....their socks will show! I can not edit ugly socks to look nice, so make sure they look good with the shoes and are clean!
WRINKLES Most boys pick our their cloths last minute and as a result they are often wrinkled. While I can edit out a few wrinkles, if I remove too many the shirt starts to look unnatural and bumpy. PLEASE make sure your Seniors shirts and pants are as wrinkle free as possible!
PET HAIR Boys love their animals. I can remove a few stray pet hairs in photoshop, but anything more than that and it becomes time consuming and unnatural looking. Please make sure cloths are lint rolled before the session!
HAIR The current boy hair trend is long hair flipped up over the forehead. This results in not being able to fully see their eyes. Talk to your Senior before the session about making adjustments to their hair so we can see their eyes! In 10 years they might laugh at their hair, but parents will still be disappointed if they can’t see their child’s eyes!
CLOTHING Boys typically do not have a ton of opinions about the session beforehand, but often as we get into the session they become more interested. I have often heard half way through the session “Oh we should have brought that other shirt!” or “I wish I had a pair of jeans!”. Please bring more outfit options then you think you should! My job is to make your Senior comfortable and as they become more comfortable they get more interested in their clothing options!
OTHER PEOPLE I have found Senior boys do not like a crowd at their session, but will often not speak up beforehand. Please leave siblings, friends and extra parents at home! The parent your child is most comfortable with should be the only one attending.
TEETH OR NO TEETH Most boys do not want to smile with their teeth showing. Talk to your Senior beforehand and discuss what kind of smiles he will be doing. Encourage a mix of both. The session is not the time to be having this talk and the session will start off on a sour note. Please have this discussion before the session. Almost all parents want their kids portraits with a big teeth showing smile so make your expectations clear beforehand!
ATTITUDE This is the most important tip I have to offer. Most boys do Senior pictures for their parents and sometimes arrive to the session with a poor attitude. I do my best to make my clients comfortable. However, as I am typically meeting your Senior for the first time at the session, I cannot turn a bad attitude into a good one. Talk beforehand with your Senior about how this is important to you, to get some beautiful portraits to mark the end of their childhood. Point out that it is a short 2 hours and all they have to do is show up with a good attitude and smile! That takes very little effort!
QUESTIONNAIRE To really ensure a successful Senior session, please fill out the questionnaire I send at the time of booking. It is important for me to get to know your Senior and decide what locations work best!