First Senior Portrait Session

[Rob Larsen]

Yesterday I did my first commissioned portrait session. All was done with natural light (including reflectors and gobos) with a 1DMII and 70-200 f2.8S IS. Being my first formal venture into "people photography" I was a bit nervous about blowing it.

IMHO, the camera and lens combination produced beautiful results.

http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/main/_040812-0115_std.jpg

Here are some links to other images from that session. Note: these are proofs and image processing (sharpening, tone, etc) has only been performed on the 3 file names preceded with an underscore (which includes the one above).

http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/_040812-0100.htm
http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/040812-0214.htm
http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/040812-0153.htm

This one (http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/_040812-0071.htm) I had fun with trying to create a gritty, "Rolling Stones," or "street" kind of look.

Cheers,

[minatophase3]

Rob,

I think you did an excellent job. Congratulations on your first paying job! Hopefully this will be the first of many for you.

Regards,

Tim

[WestFalcon]

These are excellent portraits.....I've been in photography for 30 years and have done many portraits. These are first class efforts and you are to be commended on your work. If you can do this consistently, you can make a lot of money in photography if you choose to do so.

[RichardtheSane]

IMHO, the camera and lens combination produced beautiful results.


The photographer didn't do bad either.

Nice job.

[DaveG]

Yesterday I did my first commissioned portrait session. All was done with natural light (including reflectors and gobos) with a 1DMII and 70-200 f2.8S IS. Being my first formal venture into "people photography" I was a bit nervous about blowing it.

IMHO, the camera and lens combination produced beautiful results.

http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/main/_040812-0115_std.jpg

Here are some links to other images from that session. Note: these are proofs and image processing (sharpening, tone, etc) has only been performed on the 3 file names preceded with an underscore (which includes the one above).

http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/_040812-0100.htm
http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/040812-0214.htm
http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/040812-0153.htm

This one (http://www.roblarsen.com/butcher/_040812-0071.htm) I had fun with trying to create a gritty, "Rolling Stones," or "street" kind of look.

Cheers,

Although the images are obviously important in school and senior portraiture, your systems for getting the money from the kids/parents, keeping track of it, and then getting the right order back into the kid's hands is going to be the real test. It's fine to be cheerfully disorganized when you have a half dozen clients, but when you have 200 then it can be very difficult indeed. So make sure that you have this part of your act together or it'll turn into a nightmare that you will never forget.

[scubafly]

Dave,
Are there any computer programs you can recommend to help stay organized? What do most people use for a one person operation?
Thanks,
Tom

[defordphoto]

Great shot, Rob. The clarity of the eyes is incredible.

[DaveG]

Dave,
Are there any computer programs you can recommend to help stay organized? What do most people use for a one person operation?
Thanks,
Tom

I don't think that there is any particular computer program available. You are just going to think all of this through. Here's some suggestions and of course there's going to be a million other ways to do it.

Karen walks through your door. Will she have an order form at this point? Maybe not. Perhaps you'll just record her name. Then you shoot all of the school - kind of Karen X 200. You get the proofs made and along with that you make up an order form. Ask for a copy of last year's form. The school will have one and there's no reason to re-invent the wheel. Besides your competitor stole their's too!

The form should have all of the options listed and prices including taxes. I cannot overstate how important it is to have a price of $10.00 rather than $9.99 or the change making will cause the school administrators to want to kill you! So make sure that your prices include taxes and come out in even amounts. Either staple a proof to the outside or have a window in the envelope so the proofs can be distributed. As long as the teachers can see the kids face distribution should be easy, even without names.

Another choice regarding proofs would be to use a proof progam like Film Factory that came with my Epson C84. Hell I'd buy another C84 JUST for this program. You could print out the proofs on a strip with the file name below the image and just have the kid circle the one they wanted. Anyway that's somethig else for you to figure out.

Of course there should be a place for the kid's name on the order form, along with all of the instructions and options. For your sanity's sake keep the options to a minimum this year!

The next step would be for the kid to return the form, with the money and the proof that they've selected.

Can your lab put the file number on the back of the proofs? I change the names of my files after I do any work to them at all and my system is to call them X1234, with the 1234 being the last (and only important numbers) of the file created by the camera. This way I know that I've worked on the file and I can return to the original very quickly if I have to.

My lab can only print the first five digits and since the beginning Canon 10D file numbers never (well almost never) change there's no point in having two hundred "236_1" on the backs of the proofs!

Now the work begins! You go through the form envelopes and record the amount of money and start to process the order. If the proof does have the file number on the back it should be easy enough to match up proof X1234 to file 1234 and to set up the reprints needed. This is where the vast number of options will kill you since each different proportion may require a different crop and file.

Karen, to return to her, has picked X1234 and wants two 8x10's, four 5x7's and two dozen wallets. You'll have to figure out a way to record this so that you know what to order. Mabe you are going to place the order over the internet and can up load files this way, or you may be burning a disk but you will have to be SUPER careful to make sure that everything Karen (x 200) has ordered IS ordered.

Then you get the reprints back and you have to match up those reprints to the order envelope, so you've kept the proof WITH the order envelope so you know what Karen looks like. You carefully check to make sure Karen's prints are all there and you have larger envelopes available to put the enlargements in.

You bring everything back to the school and distribution takes place. Be prepared for a bunch of "I didn't get my wallets.", because no matter how careful you've been you will still mess up.

This is the reality of school photography and I didn't even mention the photograph! Josten's may well be held in contempt by "real" photographers, but they sure have figured out how to get the money from the kid and the pictures back to the kid's mom. And at the end of the day THAT'S more important than your Karsh like portrait abilities!

[PhotosGuy]

Have you seen this?
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39943

Why not use a service like printroom.com & eliminate most of those headaches?
I'm pretty sure I've seen a few other threads on this issue, too.

[Rob Larsen]

Tim, Richard, Jim, and WestFalcon,

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words! While I was very pleased with the results, I realize that the photographer himself is a VERY partial critic. :)

These are excellent portraits.....I've been in photography for 30 years and have done many portraits. These are first class efforts and you are to be commended on your work. If you can do this consistently, you can make a lot of money in photography if you choose to do so.

WF, your long portrait experience makes your review especially valuable. The key word to me in your response is consistency. Realizing that this is only my first formal session tempers me from feeling too smug about it's outcome. Many challenges lie ahead that I did not have to deal with in this session such as less than perfect light and model.

Being primarily a wildlife, landscape, and sports shooter, I did lot of studying prior to this session. My primary information sources were this forum and all the great external links folks posted (thank you all!) and 2 books by Amherst Media. The books are The Best of Portrait Photography and The Best of Teen and Senior Portrait Photography by Bill Hurter. Each covered base portrait topics such as lighting, posing, composition, expression, pricing, workflow, and marketing. While reading a book will not make one a good photographer, the information is valuable to stimulate your thoughts towards the many aspects that are relevant in producing a good portrait. Both are quick reads and I recommend them as good seed information for anyone just getting into portrait photography.


Although the images are obviously important in school and senior portraiture, your systems for getting the money from the kids/parents, keeping track of it, and then getting the right order back into the kid's hands is going to be the real test. It's fine to be cheerfully disorganized when you have a half dozen clients, but when you have 200 then it can be very difficult indeed. So make sure that you have this part of your act together or it'll turn into a nightmare that you will never forget.

Dave, you hit the nail on the head about where the real work is.... I'm living that now and I only have a few clients. Getting the documentation created and an efficient workflow in place is a huge job. Currently I'm in no condition to handle a high or even moderate sized clientele.

With friends and family knowing me as an avid photographer and "wannabe career changer", I've found myself thrust into many paying photo opportunities that I did not solicit. This is good in many aspects. It has forced me into learning new areas of photography such as sports, architecture, and portrait. It has got me published. And, it has also gone a long way towards helping me pay off my significant investment in camera equipment.

The downside of entering commercial photography this way is that it comes with intense learning curves and time investments which often occur unplanned. For each new unplanned "opportunity," the back-end work of developing technique, brochures, fliers, order forms, and workflow has been a significant time investment that occurs outside my normal "day job" hours. In addition to this is the general backoffice tasks that must be addressed such as creating business cards, model releases, photo releases, pricing, policy, invoices, advertisement, accounting, workflow, and web site creation (still have MUCH work to do on that one). This is in addition to doing the photography itself. (I realize that I'm preaching to the choir here! :-) )

While I have a long way to go before quitting my day job, it is very satisfying to be making baby steps in that direction. Just by avidly pursuing my passion, I now find myself now regularly doing freelance sports, real estate, and portrait photography. I've also sold several wildlife photos at very respectable rates.

From this I've learned that it is easier to make money as a freelance photographer by being diversified in your photography skills. Accepting assignments that force me into learning new photography skills has not only been profitable and educational, it has spurred my appreciation in fields of our art that I thought I had no interest in. In the end I am becoming a more well rounded and better compensated photographer.

This forum is a great resource for me. As a regular reader (and part time poster :oops: ), I have gained much knowledge and encouragement from you all. Tapping into the vast knowledge of our community is enlightening. Watching my peers break into commercial success is encouraging. Helping new folks entering photography is satisfying. And reading Bob Gross and Belmondo's humor is entertaining! Thank you!

Cheers,