High School Senior photos--- Yearbook question

Hey gang!

I was contracted to photograph a client for his son in a fantastic location in Michigan. I have done very few senior photos but did one yearbook photo for my son last year and could not believe the huge amount of restrictions that are put on the yearbook photo. I don't recall the specifics but his head had to be so large and so much space in between the head and background-- and background color had to be a certain color etc. It was a pain-- for the most part it was hard for me to find a printer that would print the size they wanted--- then when I did they almost did not accept the photo because the head was a tiny bit different then their requirements.

So can everyone school me on the "official" standard on yearbook photos. It would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

They let you make your own photo for the yearbook? I'm an editor in chief for mine, and we don't allow any such thing: you have to be photographed on school photo day, so everything's perfectly consistent. If you're shooting senior portraits, it'll probably be for a senior page, and then it doesn't matter what they're like. If they want it for the formal headshot, then it's probably gonna need to be done in a tux against a mottled gray background, or something similar. But that's really something that should be done en masse by one photographer...

stathunter wrote in post #5486341
So can everyone school me on the "official" standard on yearbook photos. It would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

It depends on the school. My high school and now the one I work at had NO restrictions. They recommended that you have a "headshot" but it wasn't required. Nor was portrait orientation. Neither had an "official" photographer and I don't think it's common in my area either. I actually never heard of such a thing before joining POTN. So, the official standard is whatever the yearbook person tells you.

Yeah. I should mention that the only real "standard" in yearbook photography is the format of the CD you put all the images on. Other than that, it's up to the photographer...

stathunter wrote in post #5486341
Hey gang!

I was contracted to photograph a client for his son in a fantastic location in Michigan. I have done very few senior photos but did one yearbook photo for my son last year and could not believe the huge amount of restrictions that are put on the yearbook photo. I don't recall the specifics but his head had to be so large and so much space in between the head and background-- and background color had to be a certain color etc. It was a pain-- for the most part it was hard for me to find a printer that would print the size they wanted--- then when I did they almost did not accept the photo because the head was a tiny bit different then their requirements.

So can everyone school me on the "official" standard on yearbook photos. It would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

CONSULT the school, instead of a bunch of people online.

TYPICALLY, schools want a 2"x3" or 2.5"x3.5" 300ppi print or digital version (some schools only do digital, others only want prints). It's not hard to find a printer that does that size, because it's a WALLET sized photo. Again typically, most schools want between 1-1.5" between the forehead and the chin, but quite a few schools don't have a major problem with this. Most schools do not want b&w or soft focus images, and most of them don't really care what color the background is.

Again, this is based around the Colorado school region, and even then a lot of schools around here have lots of different requirements. It's best to consult the school, it makes the most sense.

My son's HS requires that students provide their own photos, and this was new to me. (We had moved to this district prior to his Junior year) Where we moved from they were always coordinated by the school.

Anyway, his school dealt only in digital shots. They had requirements, but they were pretty minimal and very reasonable. Whereas in my HS yearbook everybody looked the same, it was quite interesting and fun to see his HS yearbook and the variety of the shots.

Interesting. After doing a little research I found that my sons school seems to be one of the tightest restrictions in the area. I have never done senior pictures but come to find out that each school has restrictions of their own.

Our high school's yearbook requires that your picture be the formal picture taken by Lifetouch on senior picture day. In edition, it has to be a "straight" picture - not one where you aren't looking straight at the camera or where they have applied a light soften to the image.

That really sucked because I remember liking my softer picture MUCH better.