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Are you wondering when you should schedule your senior portraits? Don't worry many Seniors and parents aren’t really sure when to take their Senior Portraits, so here are a few suggestions.
June
June is one of the best times of the year for senior portraits for many reasons. The first being that since school is out for the summer which gives you more availability for daytime appointments! Another reason is the nice weather, the outdoor setting is beautiful with lots of green grass, blossoming flowers and trees full of leaves. FALL ATHLETES-Once school starts there is usually no time to schedule senior portraits and the athletic fields are typically not being used in June making a great background for your session. Most coaches will allow you to borrow your jersey for the shoots if you don't own your own, so make sure to ask! This is also true for marching band.
July/August
July and August are also great months for Senior Portraits. Although the afternoons can be quite hot, the outdoor backgrounds are full of summer colors and beautiful settings. The month before has given some students the suntans they desire! Unfortunately, the seniors are getting ready to head back to school, sports, and other activities which makes it much more difficult to schedule an appointment, especially in August.
September
September is a popular month and typically the hardest to schedule especially for the Fall athletes. School is back in session, sports and activities are in full swing. For seniors who don’t like the heat of Summer or cold of Winter September is a typically a good choice. Although due to less daylight hours, we are forced to schedule all outside appointments earlier than in the Summer. At this point in the year appointment spaces for afternoons and weekends fill very quickly. This time of the year would be great for those students that get out of school early in the day.
October/November
October is our busiest month of the year; we try to schedule sessions as many days a week that we are able to get all the senior portraits and family portraits in before the leaves fall off. Most Senior Portraits are due for the yearbook during November so make sure that you have your senior portrait session schedule no less than 4 weeks before your senior portraits are due. During October the outdoor colors change as the cooler weather comes and, in the Midwest, this also means battling rain and possibly snow. The red, yellow and brown colors of the fall leaves make nice outdoor backgrounds, especially for family portraits that could be printed in time for the upcoming holidays. Less daylight hours make it hard to find an appointment time unless you schedule during off peak times.
December/January/February
December through February most of the fall colors are gone and there are no longer leaves on the trees. This time of year is ideal for portraits indoors or outside in the snow. Outdoor sessions in the cooler temperatures have to be done quickly to avoid frost bite, red noses and cheeks. This is not ideal for seniors unless they want some with their snowmobiles or other outdoor winter activites!
March
By the time March rolls around time is running out to get portraits back in time to be in graduation announcements. The outdoors still are still usually brown in color making it not the best backdrop and avoiding rain becomes a huge challenge.
April and May
April and May bring green outdoor backgrounds once more. Seniors get really busy with end of the year activities. By this time the portraits may not be printed in time to put in the graduation announcements, unless extra rush charges are added. With our digital photography system what used to take 6 weeks or more, can now take only a week once the photos are ordered. This a great time for family portraits to be taken outside before the seniors go off to college.
Yearbook photo deadlines vary from school to school. So, make sure to look when your photo is due so that you can schedule it ahead of the deadline!