At first glance, everyday portrait photography is the simplest photographic job. But this is only at first glance. I had a chance to shoot at schools and kindergartens for several years. It may take more than one month for a beginner with a good theoretical background and practice, say, reportage shooting, to establish a more or less correct technological cycle. Only after that, the number of photos not redeemed by parents will be set at about six percent.

It will take about two years to win back your own piece of space in the world of children's institutions, where you can sustainably earn your daily bread and at the same time hope that the director of "your school" will not give himself up to another, more successful, more skilled or more generous photographer.

Work does not begin with shooting, but with finding a job. The photographer has to scour residential areas, getting refusal after refusal, until he persuades some director of the children's institution to let him go to the "trough" - and then you have to be in full combat readiness.
Manufacturing process requires careful organization. The fact is that you can spend only one lesson on a photo shoot of one class. And not every teacher agrees to disrupt his lesson. The photo shooting schedule is usually drawn up for more than one day, and if something suddenly breaks in the mechanism in the course of work, it is not easy to return the process to the established course. That is why the observance of the rhythm is one of the most important components of the technology of work at school. There are twenty-five to forty-five students in a class. The lesson lasts forty-five minutes. Therefore, the photographer has only one minute for each portrait. Sometimes more than four hundred people have to be photographed in a day.
Portable studio in a miniature version consists of two studio flashes with leading halogen lamps, two photo umbrellas, a reflector screen (light disk), a background and five support stands.
The studio is usually installed right in the school corridor. A fabric background is hung on racks near the wall. A chair with a low back is attached to the floor in any way possible for you.
If this is not done, then exactly half of the time allotted for filming the class will be spent on a senseless struggle with the desire of each child to find a new, more suitable place for the chair.
And in no case should this be allowed, since this will change the distance from the chair to the background and from the source of the key light to the student's face.
The minimum flash output is 150 joules. Well, if there is the possibility of dividing the power in half. The flash should be ready to fire almost immediately after firing. The ten seconds it takes to charge some flashes is too long. The change house does not tolerate such pauses.
A stand with a flash and a photo umbrella, which should provide key light, must be installed once and for all at a certain distance from the head of the person being portrayed. To do this, you can start a measuring tape, and draw a sector of a circle on the floor with chalk. If necessary, along this line it will be possible to move the flash stand during operation, without wasting precious seconds on repeated exposure measurements. I put the key light on my left. The counter also needs to be kept in a strictly defined place. In this scheme, he not only highlights the hair and shoulders, but also the background. That is why it makes sense for him to adapt a small photo umbrella.
It is very important to keep the once calculated positions of the flashes, the chair and the background unchanged. It is known that the illumination of an object decreases in inverse proportion to the square of the distance to the light source. It is enough to move the flash away from the child's face by thirty centimeters or lean forward, and the distance from the light source to the person being portrayed will change by thirty percent. In practice, this will lead to a very noticeable difference in the densities of neighboring frames. No printer will bother with each frame separately. At good photographer all files are the same in density and contrast. The bad one has everything mixed up, both underexposed and overexposed. Operators are forced to fiddle with the correction of each portrait, losing time. Good printers-operators with bad photographers does not work. For the right to work with them, the photographer must fight, compete.
Through trial and error, I came to the conclusion that it is best to use an aluminized photo umbrella at school (white fabric scatters light too much and devours a lot of energy, while the aperture drops to 5.6). An aluminized umbrella with a diameter of 100 cm reflects a lot of light and gives a distinct black and white pattern with soft transitions from light to shadow. A flash turned on at a power of 150 joules at a distance from the umbrella to the child's eyes of 130 cm gives aperture 8 (film-matrix sensitivity 100 ASA). To move such an umbrella more than thirty meters from the eyes of the person being portrayed is bad. At the same time, it ceases to give a soft light and shade pattern, and it is not worth using an umbrella of a larger diameter, since it takes up too much space, blocking off half of the recreational corridor. Children at recess break loose, rush like meteors, now and then knocking down the fence of chairs built around the studio. It costs them nothing to fill up any of the flashes on the floor. Therefore, at breaks, shooting stops, the photographer retrains as a security guard.
Ideally, the key light should be placed so that it does not have to be moved too often during the shooting. The height of the middle of the umbrella should be about 20 cm above the head of the person being portrayed, and the angle should be 45 degrees to the axis of the lens. Naturally, the flash will have to be raised when shooting graduates and lowered when shooting first-graders.
The light reflector (light disc) should be placed to the right of the photographer, 40 cm from the child's shoulder. You should not push it further - there will be gaps in the shadows. The exposure difference in highlights and shadows on the face should ideally be 0.7 f-stops.
The light must be set so that the aperture is clamped to 8. At the same time, the depth of field of the portrait lens becomes optimal: the eyes are sharp, and the ears are floating. Opening a hole is even more bad, because there is no margin of depth of field, and in the event of the slightest mistake, you can get a marriage. Given the pace of shooting, it's best not to risk it.
The lens should allow you to shoot a half-length portrait from an arm's length. This is important, because now and then children have to straighten shirt collars, ties, and bangs. Portrait lenses are distinguished by their soft pattern, shallow depth of field, and usually large aperture. The latter is very important: if the lens is dark, the eye will not last long. Focus on the eyes four hundred times a day, and so on for several days in a row ... It won’t seem enough. When shooting a class, turn off autofocus and frame the frame so that the head of the person being portrayed occupies three-quarters of the frame, there is not too much of the body, and there is a small space of a blurry background above the head. Now focus on the child's eyes and seal the focusing ring with tape. The main thing is that the scale of the image of the heads does not change in the process of work. When they all come together on one cool vignette, heads of different sizes will look ugly. You will have to focus by changing the position of your own head: either approaching the client’s eyes, or moving away from them. Not very convenient, but the product is guaranteed standard at the output. Another one important little thing. At the moment of shooting, the camera mirror is raised, and you lose sight of the person for a brief moment. And it is at this moment that he strives to blink. If, after shooting, you find two or three “blinkers” in each class, you can assume that you will no longer work in this school or kindergarten. There is only one way to avoid this during the shooting: you need to look with one eye into the lens, and with the other - directly at the child and in double if necessary. To insure against mistakes, now and then looking at the digital display, is not an option - the pace of work gets lost.
I photographed the kids sitting on a chair. This saved energy, since the height of the lens during the shooting turned out to be optimal: just above the level of the child's eyes. The chair was turned in the direction of the drawing light so that the child, sitting down, directed his knees directly to the umbrella, and turned his head towards me. The pose turned out a little more dynamic than when shooting for a passport.
On the eve of shooting, children usually receive a lot of “useful” advice from their parents.
A trained child, sitting on a chair in front of the photographer, inflates like a bubble, begins to straighten her hair, collar, chew her own lips, or gives out such a wry smile that it is just right to burst out laughing. A lot in this case depends on the behavior of the photographer. You can't let a child recover. As soon as you sit him down and straighten his hair and clothes yourself, immediately ask him some stupid question that has nothing to do with shooting, but requires a switch of attention. For example: “How much will kvazhda kva?”, “What is your cat’s name?”, “Turn your nose a little to the left?” and so on.
You should have quite a lot of such blanks in stock so that for each next child the question is unexpected. Children usually stand in line near the studio and watch everything that happens like a small performance in which the photographer is both the director and the actor at the same time. And because of whether the children are interested in the performance, their behavior during the shooting depends. At the moment when the child hears the question, he willy-nilly shifts his attention from the desire to be beautiful and control the muscles of the face to thinking about an unexpected question. His physiognomy at this time acquires a natural expression. This is the moment of truth, catch it, press the trigger. After a moment, the child will think about the question and respond: he will begin to speak, smile and begin to play “handsome” again.
If you failed to catch this wonderful moment, it does not matter - try again. You should not shoot talking children, squeeze smiles out of them if they themselves do not smile at you with full confidence. Uneven teeth or all sorts of glands in the mouth are very ugly. It's better for these guys not to open their mouths at all. Pictures of calm, smart kids are well bought up by parents. Any extremes in the manifestation of emotions are fraught with an increased percentage of the return of images.
Children should not be allowed to stand directly behind you. They begin to make faces, show horns, in a word, entertain the one who is already filming. This knocks down the rhythm of shooting, interferes with the creation of the optimal mood of the whole class. Confidence, benevolence, calmness, mild tolerance for children's pranks and at the same time firmness in organizational requirements are absolutely necessary. If you manage to persuade the teacher to tidy up her tomboys, and you do not waste time combing recalcitrant tufts and putting collars and ties in order, you will be able to remove the entire class in forty-five minutes and not "produce" marriage.
Senior classes are more difficult to shoot. The girls are all fashion models. They may sit in a chair with their back to the light because that side of their face seems better to them. Asking to move is useless. It is necessary to prepare in advance for the rearrangement of the light from left to right and mark with an indelible felt-tip pen on the floor the place of installation of the stand with an umbrella. Large guys will have to shoot while standing. Conversations with them and distractions should be more sophisticated and humorous. Commands in an orderly tone do not pass. In a confrontational environment, filming goes badly. For many guys, teenage pimples are potential "returners". They are removed, but do not redeem their portraits. Therefore, stock up on good covering powder and masking pencils. Under the friendly laughter of the guys, they will have to paint their cheeks and foreheads at a fast pace, not listening to objections.
The result is quite decent portraits without pimples and freckles. The alternative is computer retouching.
A special case is the shooting of teachers. They are sometimes not young, but they want to look their best. Prepare a soft filter or black stocking. Do not shoot teachers' faces close. The scale of their heads is better to reduce in comparison with the childish ones. Move the umbrella a little closer to the machine. The light will become flatter, but there will also be less shadows on the faces. Wrinkles and other skin imperfections will be less visible. How much the teacher likes his own portrait depends on how the pictures will be sold.
You should not go to classes yourself and collect money for photographs. It is better to agree with a specific person at school and hand over the entire shooting to him straightaway. Twenty percent of the money raised will go to pay for the consent of the director to work with you. Another expense item free photos for educators, teachers and their children or grandchildren. Sometimes these children attend the same school, sometimes toddlers are brought from home. It breaks the rhythm of shooting. Therefore, it is better to shoot such clients after lessons or in a pause between the first and second shifts.
The most amazing thing is that the experience of working in a school smoothly, without much effort, adapts to the shooting of armchair portraits of large leaders. It turned out that technically it is exactly the same job. The equipment does not need to be changed. You just need to take into account the physiological characteristics of people. If the client is very bald, you should not shine a light on his head, you can use the ceiling as a huge softbox. A tripod with an umbrella often has to be placed directly on the client's workbench. Although time is limited - big people have big worries, but you can still play with the light. Psychologically, it is much easier to work with adults - they themselves are interested in the result of shooting and, unlike children, they know how to control their emotions.
Cherish your customers. Try to meet them halfway, and then they will not cheat on you with other photographers.

Farewell film, farewell!
Four years ago, right after the very first shooting with a five-megapixel digital camera, I said these words. But a few more times I don’t want to take the trouble-free Nikon F-5 for reportage shooting. I didn't have a perfect replacement for it. Now she is. Portraits of a schoolboy for an article about shooting a change house were taken by Nikon D2X, a portrait of Viktor Vekselberg - Nikon F-5 on a Fujichrome Astia 100 ACA slide. This is a very good fine-grain professional film. In both the first and second cases, the camera was equipped with a Nikkor 80-200 / 2.8 zoom, aperture 8. In the process of preparing the files for printing, I looked at both pictures at 200 percent magnification. And again he said to himself: - Farewell, film! - and added - goodbye forever!

P.S. A few words about the profitability of change houses:
The cost of the camera and mini-studio is approximately $2,500. A good everyday photographer in Moscow earns more than a thousand dollars a month. At the same time, the profitability of his work is approximately fifty percent, that is, of the collected money, he keeps about half for himself. Today, schools demand shooting only the graduating classes and the third (it is also like a graduation). Parental love for children sharply decreases after the child reaches school age.

Photographing your your children at school professionally, school photography

school photographer, school photographer

Everyone probably knows who the school bombers are photographers, they go to schools take pictures of children(most likely they have an agreement with the school administration) and then parents buy out or don’t buy out photos of children, I don’t work like that. I will come to take pictures at your school only if and when you invite me. I school photographer- I love and know how to do my job well.

School photographer, school photographer will take any photo shoot in your school.

School, school, beautiful time ah, the time when we make new friends, maybe the first time we fall in love. how to keep these memories of school?

School this is of course a special genre, it may seem that photographing children at school is very easy and simple, in fact, everything is certainly not easy, starting from the conditions of photography, which are always far from ideal and desirable, and ending or starting with the fact that most often children are very squeezed, therefore, one of the main tasks of the photographer is to somehow establish contact and try to let the tension go, and this can be very difficult ...

Therefore, good can only do school photographer.

But most often I succeed in all this, in the end the children smile and look like living and happy children.

Therefore, I suggest that you do not experiment, but immediately to me, professional photographer and set a day for photography, call me, I'm waiting for your call +7 905 275-28-09 Tikhonov Danil, if you have already decided on the day of shooting, then I will put this day in the shooting calendar.

I would like to say right away that I can conduct any, that is, absolutely any photography at your school, it can be studio-quality portraits, classroom or street photography.

Prices and prices for photographs by a school photographer

The most popular option, portrait and group photo

You can order photos from a school photographer both with photo printing and without photo printing, as well as other options for decorating your photos. You can find out how much it costs to take a picture of a school class from the tables, but other options are also possible, according to your desire.

Portrait photography at school, portrait and general photography.

General photo at school cost for 2 photos one 20x30cm and one 30x20cm - 400 rubles.

Included in the price photographing children for a group photo and printing two shared photos, the first photo 20x30 cm is a large photo on matte or glossy paper, and the photo 30x20 cm is a smaller photo on matte or glossy paper.

The price is valid when ordering at least 20 sets general photos, when ordering a smaller number, the cost may increase.

• Printed general photo 30x20 cm, matte or glossy photo paper
• Printed photo 30x20 cm matte or glossy photo paper
• Processed originals of photos from the photo shoot of a group photo
• You can print as many photos as you like.
• Payment for the order after shooting
• Photos are delivered to the specified address by courier at a convenient time for you.

A full-fledged photo session at school, almost the same as for , we remove portraits of children, the order both with the press of photos and without the press of photos is possible.

The cost is valid when ordering at least 20 sets of photos, with a smaller number the cost may increase.

• Photographing without printing photos - 500 rubles per person
• Portrait photography in kindergarten with photo printing 700 rubles
• The price includes photography, photo editing
• Processed photos in full resolution are given to the customer.

Holiday photography

Price school photographer on children's holiday listed for one hour , every subsequent hour photographer will cost 3,000 rubles.

Reportage photography at any school event, processing of all photos is included in the cost of work, payment for work occurs after shooting, finished photos are sent with a download link within a week.

• Reportage photography at a children's party
• Photo processing, all photos from your photo shoot will be processed.
• Photos will be ready within a week or even earlier, depending on the workload, but, in any case, you will not have to wait for ready photos for months, one week is the maximum time for photos to be ready.
• Ready-made photos are sent with a download link, using the link sent, everyone who has this link will be able to quickly download photos to their computer or save them to the cloud.

In contact with

Classmates

Questions and Answers for a School Photographer

1 How is the photography of a school photographer at school.

On the day of the photo shoot, which of course we agree in advance, the photographer arrives at the school, with all the necessary equipment and spare smiles for the children. in the classroom, the photographer sets and adjusts the light, as well as the background (there is a very beautiful brown background and a background with stains) and starts shooting, I always start with personal portraits of schoolchildren, then we shoot small group and group portraits of schoolchildren, for example, a teacher and two students, three comrade and other combinations of portraits. And we will end with a general photo.

2 How do you prepare for a photo shoot with kids?

Sleep and rest, Clean and tidy clothes, Clean hair, face and hands, a spare smile, optimism and a positive attitude, that's all you need for a successful photo shoot at school.

3 How much does one shared photo cost?

One general photo costs 400 rubles per person, the photo will be printed on photo paper, matte or glossy according to your desire, 30x20 cm, the photo can be printed without inscriptions or with decoration.

4 Can I order photography without printing photos?

Well, of course, you can order any kind of photography at school with or without printing photos, in any case, I give you all the photos in digital form and in full resolution, you can print as many photos as you need, in any formats and quantities, grandparents, aunts uncles, a reserve.

5 When is the payment for school photography due?

Payment for school photography is made immediately after the photography, in full, if you order printing of photos, then the finished photo products will be delivered to you by a courier at the specified address and at a convenient time for you.

6 Do you make ready-made photographs?

After you select the processed photos for printing, I will correctly crop the finished portraits and I can add decoration for each printed portrait, usually this is the school number, year, city, but you can add any necessary clearance, for example, a school logo, if it exists and is beautiful, for this the logo needs to be in sufficient resolution, and it is best if it is a vector logo (you will need to send it, making sure that this logo or emblem is of sufficient quality for printing)

7 Do you burn photos to discs?

No, I never burn photos to DVDs, because this way of storing any photos is extremely unreliable, in addition, all photos will not fit on one disc, instead of this archaic method of transferring photos, I use cloud storage, I send a link to a folder with photos and these photos can be quickly downloaded immediately to everyone who has this link, you can download the photo immediately in an archive and you can also download one photo at a time, that is, only those photos that you will need.

General photo at school and portrait

700 rubles per person

For a printed photo 30x20 cm and a 30x20 cm portrait

Photographing a general photo at school, the cost is valid when ordering at least 20 class photos. photography indoors school, studio light.

• Photographing for a group photo
• Seal general photography, format 30x20 cm
• Delivery printed general photos by courier to the school or to the specified address.

We publish reviews of our work.

Reviews about our work

• 

  Before ordering albums for kindergarten graduation from Danila, it took a very long time to choose. And, nevertheless, they stopped their choice here, which they did not regret at all. The albums turned out very, very beautiful! Dense, colorful spreads, high-quality photographs, happy faces of the children ... And, most importantly, the work was completed much ahead of the promised time and we were in time for our graduation party :) All parents and children were satisfied. Thank you very much for your valuable and professional work!

  Tvtiana Vozhakina

  graduation album For kindergarten

• 

  It is definitely necessary to make a photo album for the graduation group of the kindergarten, I can say from my eldest son. This is a memory for a lifetime, and if the album is made correctly, then positive emotions for a lifetime. Adult children are happy to look at their kindergarten photos, remember their friends and, in general, life "in the garden"))). Therefore, the parent committee of the garden, where my youngest is now graduating, chose for a long time professional photographer for a photo album. We settled on FOTOKNIGIN, because, firstly, the work is done on a turnkey basis, and there is no need to puzzle over who will mount the photo album and where it will be printed, and how it all happens. Secondly, I really liked the portfolio on the site, and thirdly, the optimal price-quality ratio. We agreed to shoot. The photographer is obligatory and responsible, without any "oh, I forgot" or "sorry, this day is not working." Photos are of high quality, and there are many of them from different angles - there is plenty to choose from. A big plus is that you can add your own photos to the album. After agreeing on the layout of the album - no problem, you write what needs to be changed, the person corrects it and sends it back for approval. The deadlines are kept, we received the albums even earlier than expected. The finished albums are made with high quality, all the photos are clear, it's just nice to hold in your hands. For the price, by the way, there are also no "oh, you know, it turned out more expensive, we thought so, but it turned out not so, blah blah blah." As agreed at first, so it happened. In general, I definitely recommend. (We ordered a horizontal album for kindergarten based on the "Birds" template)

  Olga Lukina

• 

  I ordered albums for the release of the kindergarten "Zhemchuzhinka" "city of masters" All parents are delighted with the quality of performance: binding, photo printing and design. Danila is an excellent photographer and creative designer. Of all the offered albums in the city best choice! We will continue to cooperate "with the masters of their craft"! Again thanks a lot. Diana.

• 

  The photographer was very cool, the photos are unrealistically clear and high quality. Every moment is captured, you can remember absolutely everything that happened. Thank you very much)

• 

  Danil Tikhonov was invited as a photographer to graduation school number 2 with an in-depth study of individual subjects, graduation of 2016. The photos turned out to be of high quality and bright. The photographer showed interest and initiative. Graduation will be remembered by me forever, and these beautiful photos will remind me of this holiday.

• 

  We were looking forward to the finished photos from the daughter's prom, and HERE ... the photographer, as promised, notified email about the possibility of viewing and downloading photographs by indicating the "link" to electronic resource storage of personal information (password protected). The letter arrived late in the evening and was immediately distributed among the participants of the event. After we saw the first photographs, the delight knew no bounds. The dream vanished. The viewing went on until late at night. Great ..... Great ..... Now the backstory. Such a responsible event as graduation in the eleventh grade of a comprehensive school was prepared in advance (very early). It was necessary to take into account all the items of expenditure from, say, a small budget that average parents can afford to spend. However, in a small town like Lodeynoye Pole, each subsequent issue should differ from the previous one by the “splendor of creolins” and the pomposity of the event itself, this is not a written law. It was lucky that the class is large in terms of the number of students, 36 people, and wholesale, as you know, is cheaper. Here is a meeting of the parent committee and activists with the question of who will take pictures? Low-budget options about "dad taking a picture" are swept aside immediately. As a result, “we turn to professionals”, Hurrah! Candidates, portfolio, prices, quality, scope of work performed and personal qualities applicants. I am promoting my friend (so old that it’s scary to remember in one word from the 90s of the last century, Petrozavodsk, the art and graphic department, the army, well, this is personal), a talented photographer and artist Danil Tikhonov.

Each of us wants to keep our school years in our memory for a long time, and for this, most often, we take a school photo that is valuable to him. This topic will always be relevant, so I decided to tell you how to take pictures at school.

This instruction is suitable not only for photographing children at school, but also for photographing for a diploma.

Let's start with necessary equipment. First, we need several lenses. For example, a standard lens, as a rule, depending on the model of the camera, the focal length there may be different, most often it is 18-55 mm. or 18-105 mm. To diversify the photo a little, a lens such as a fish-eye will come in handy. It gives the picture a kind of bulge - the effect of the "barrel", which is very popular with modern schoolchildren. In addition, with the help of "Fish eye" it is convenient to photograph a large group of people. The second lens we need is called a "portrait lens" - a lens with a focal length of 100 mm. It is perfect for creating a frame with one subject photographed. In addition, we need other lenses. We also need a regular wide-angle lens of 18-40 mm., We will need it for photographing a group of people.

Photographing at school with a fisheye lens

Secondly, we can not do without a few outbreaks. I recommend purchasing two. They will be needed in order to make the portrait smooth and soft. For this, I also recommend that you buy at least one flash box.

Thirdly, pay attention to the presence of additional equipment: reflector, flash synchronizer, tripod, background, etc.

The synchronizer is needed so that the flashes respond to the camera. Separately from it, they will not work, and since there are several flashes, the wired system will not work for us.

We need at least three tripods: for the reflector, for the camera and one in order to hold the background.

The background can be taken in a neutral color, or you can pick up something more interesting, for example, a golden background. It is rare, but with it the photographs acquire the greatest expressiveness.

Consider step-by-step instructions for arranging light when forming a high-quality portrait.

I highlighted this point not by chance, here I will tell you in more detail where we need flashes and a reflector.

Step 1. Where should the light sources be.

So, we have several light sources: 2 flashes, a synchronizer and a reflector. It is necessary to arrange these devices so that the photographed object is illuminated from all sides. Imagine: in the center is our model, in front of her you are a photographer. To your right is a flash in the box, to your left is a reflector; Another flash is attached above the background, directing light on the subject being photographed. This arrangement of elements is the simplest and at the same time effective for creating a good photo.

The reflector and flash, on the sides of the photographer, should be placed so that they not only look at each other, but also fall on the child, for example 45 degrees. This gives maximum light flow on the sides of the model and in front of it. The flash on top of the background allows us to light up the head of the subject, which makes the frame more expressive.

In the figure below, I will show you how this arrangement of all the objects and elements necessary for the photo should look like.

http://s4.fotokto.ru/topics/preview/12/126130.jpg?r245" alt="Photographing a group of children at school" title="Photographing a group of children at school">!}

How to photograph children at school?

When all the devices and devices are ready for photography, you can go directly to work with people, in our case, schoolchildren.

So, the first and most important thing is to make a portrait of each student individually. I recommend that you show the resulting frame to the student. If he likes it, he will say “yes”, so at the initial stage the photo is ready.

So, on average, one child will take up to 7 minutes of time, or even more. Considering that there can be 25 children in the class, the photo shoot process can take more than two hours. That is why I recommend taking pictures of each class on a separate day and planning the process of taking pictures in advance.

You, as a specialist, are obliged to help the child with a pose for photographing. Mostly, for each it should be its own. First, you can ask the guys to pose for the camera on their own. At the same time, you will take a few shots, if you can’t choose anything suitable from them, recommend your poses to the guys and take a few more shots.

For every photographer, there are a few simple but very important rules for working with the school team.

1. Your model in the frame should feel confident. Therefore, try to convince the student that he looks good (especially for high school students - girls).
2. Try to insist that the teacher warn the parents of the students in advance about the next photo session for them. This is necessary so that parents can prepare their child: dress beautifully, give the necessary advice and recommendations. Otherwise, unpleasant misunderstandings may arise.
3. I urge you to listen to the opinion of teachers on how to photograph a school class. Perhaps they have their own ideas about this, and you just need to implement them.
4. When all the photos are ready, you must agree them with the customer, in our case, with a teacher or one of the parent activists. With them, you need to discuss all the details of the photo again: the plot, quality, size, cost, to find out if everything suits them. They should also clarify the names and surnames of each student depicted in the photo. This is necessary when forming a school album or photo, where the names of the children will be indicated. If you incorrectly write down the name of the child shown in the picture, then the error will make itself felt when printing, and it is you who will bear the losses for damaged photos or albums.

In addition, you will need to take photographs of children on the street, school grounds. Therefore, study the weather forecast in advance - in the rain you will not get beautiful pictures. So take into account the fact that the sun can interfere with the uniform illumination of the object, for this explain to the group where it is better to stand.

After studying this article, we come to the conclusion that for photographing at school we will need to take a large number of equipment, carefully prepare and spend a lot of time to create the desired result. And you will receive desired photos if you follow these simple instructions.

These words of the popular song of the Soviet era are remembered by many. School years are really hard to forget for any of us, any person. And school photos help to keep this memory very well. They excitedly and reverently resurrect in our hearts the unique atmosphere of our childhood, our youth. Until recently, school photographs were carefully kept in family albums, occasionally showing them to children and grandchildren, nowadays they are digitized and shown to friends in in social networks… It causes a storm of emotions. In short, the topic of school photographs has always been relevant. It is relevant even today. That's why we decided to tell you today about how to take a good, high-quality school photo. Such that it would not be a shame to show it to friends and put it on the Internet.

Let's start with a story about what equipment you need for this.

Lenses. It is good to have several lenses for shooting at school. Why and what? Let's explain. The standard lens of your camera usually has a focal length of 18 to 55 millimeters. Sometimes - 18-105 millimeters. But with such a lens you can make the most ordinary, familiar photo. But in order to make a little "hooliganism", to bring a fresh touch to the usual thing, it is good to use the so-called fish-eye lens, or, as it is also called in another way, "fisheye" for photographing a school class. Pictures taken with such a lens have a “barrel effect”, which is very popular with modern youth.

Another lens you will need for your work is a portrait lens. A portrait lens is a lens that has a fixed focal length of about 100 millimeters. It is good to photograph one person with such a lens, to make individual portraits of schoolchildren.

Well, for photographing large groups of people in conditions of limited space in rooms with a small area, you may need a wide-angle lens with a focal length of approximately 18 to 40 millimeters.

Lighting. More specifically, lighting fixtures. To photograph at school, we need at least a few flash units. Usually two are enough. Two flashes create soft and even light. This is especially true of individual portraits of children. It is good if your flashes are additionally equipped with softboxes.

It is very good to use a golden reflector for the described shooting. The hue he creates on the faces of his subjects is soft and warm, and this is usually liked by almost everyone. If you use a reflector of a different color, the person's skin will look pale and unnatural. This is especially important for portrait photography.

A flash synchronizer is needed in order to coordinate their work. Simply put, in order for the flashes to fire at the same time. Wired synchronizers are already being abandoned today, replacing them with other types of these devices. Who likes a bunch of wires under their feet that you can easily trip over? Especially if there are children around. And your equipment isn't cheap.

You will also need several tripods. At least three pieces. Actually for the camera, for the background and for the reflector.

The background in school photography can be used most different colors and invoices. Of course, a neutral background is usually the most familiar. But others can be used as well. For example, blue or gold. With unusual backgrounds, photographs acquire a special expressiveness.

Well, now it's time to move on to step by step instructions on setting the light when shooting a school portrait.

Step 1. Arrangement of light sources

As we have already said, we will use two flashes, a reflector and a synchronizer. Light sources relative to the person being portrayed must be installed in such a way that the person is evenly illuminated from all sides.

So let's start. In front of you is the one you are photographing. That is, your model. You are standing in front of the model. In front of you is a camera on a tripod. Behind the model is a background, also attached to a tripod. To the right of you, the photographer, is a flash in a softbox, again mounted on a tripod. On the left is a reflector. A little above the background, also on a tripod, another flash is mounted. Its light should be directed at the model. The reflector and flash should be placed so that they are mutually facing each other at an angle of approximately 45 degrees, but their light falls on the model. Thus, we will direct the maximum possible light flux onto the person being portrayed and the person will be evenly illuminated both from the front and from both sides. And the light source (flash) that is above the background from above will well illuminate the head of the person we are photographing, which will make the portrait even more expressive. This arrangement scheme lighting fixtures considered classic. Standard, so to speak. She is simple and effective. Pictures in such lighting usually turn out good.

But this picture shows a slightly different lighting scheme. She's pretty interesting too.

Step 2. Influence of a foreshortening on change of light

If, when shooting, you, the photographer, will change your location relative to who you are photographing, then you will have to change the direction of the light from the lighting fixtures. If you do not take this moment into account in your work, then your picture may turn out to be either too dark or overexposed.

Step 3. Group photo

Well, work on individual portraits of students is completed. Let's take a picture of the whole class. That is, to put it simply, to a collective photograph. Note that photographing the entire class is somewhat easier than photographing each child individually. This is where a fisheye lens can come in handy. As we have already said, the pictures taken with such a lens are very unusual and spectacular. But at the same time, you will have to think a little more about the plot of such a picture. Walk around the school, inspect its premises, classrooms, corridors. Pay attention to the illumination of these rooms.

Well, in fact, when shooting, do not forget to choose the right exposure, that is, a combination of shutter speed, aperture and ISO value.

How to photograph students?

So the camera is on a tripod. The background is in the right place. Lighting equipment is set. We start shooting. Shooting is about working with people. Therefore, shooting at school is work with children.

The most important thing you need to do is a separate portrait of each child. We advise you to show the pictures taken to the student. If he liked your pictures, then the first stage of work can be considered completed. Based on practice, it usually takes an average of 5-7 minutes to photograph one person, and sometimes a little more. And if there are 25-27 people in the class, then the shooting can easily drag on for two or three hours. That's why we recommend that you don't plan to shoot more than two classes on the same day.

The photographer should help the child choose a pose. The ideal option is when each student in the portrait will have their own pose. It all depends on your experience and your imagination. For starters, you can ask your child to position themselves in front of the camera the way they want. Take some pictures. Show them to the student. If he did not like the photos, offer your own version of the pose. As a result, you will get what you were looking for and what you were striving for - the best option a portrait that will suit a boy or a girl.

1. The model in the frame should feel confident. And for this you need to try to convince the student that he looks great. This is especially true when photographing high school students.
2. Tell the class teacher or the person who helps you organize the shooting at school so that he warns both the children themselves and their parents in advance that photography will be taking place that day. This is especially important when photographing elementary school students. Parents should prepare their child for the photo session. What is this preparation on their part? Not only in dressing the child beautifully and neatly, sending him to school that day, but also in giving him the necessary advice on how to be photographed, how to behave in front of the camera.
3. When preparing to photograph children at school, be sure to listen to the opinion of their teacher. They know a lot about their students, about their habits and characters. Much more than you, a person completely unfamiliar to them. It is even possible that a teacher or class teacher will have good and unusual, creative ideas for shooting. Don't dismiss these ideas and advice. Do you think it might be worth listening to them?
4. After the photos are ready, they need to be agreed with the customer. In the case of photographing at school, this is mainly or classroom teacher, or one of the active parents. Discuss all the details, down to the smallest detail. The plot of the picture, its size, quality, cost and other details. The customer must know everything. Otherwise, later you may have disagreements and even problems. If photographs must be captioned, double-check the name of each child in the photograph. A mistake in this case can be very unpleasant and usually incurs losses to the photographer.

In some cases, you may need to photograph students outdoors, in or near the school yard. Therefore, ask in advance about the weather forecast for the day appointed for shooting. If the weather forecast predicts rain, then street photography will most likely have to be cancelled. Although, however, photographing in the rain you can get quite good results. If there is a bright sun outside, then this is also not good. In such conditions, the lighting is usually bright and contrasting. Rough dark shadows appear on the faces, or even just shapeless black spots. It is especially difficult to work in such conditions when shooting groups. That's why the ideal option for photographing classes outside is an overcast and cloudy day.

Well, that seems to be all we wanted to tell you about today. We hope that if you carefully read this article, the results of shooting at school will please both you and those you photographed.

Graduation photos, like wedding photos, remain with people forever. These pictures will be a memory of one of the most significant events in life. Therefore, such photography requires responsibility and high professionalism. Graduation photography can be studio photography - to create a photo album, or it can be reportage - to capture the graduation ceremony / certificates and the subsequent celebration. This article will describe reportage shooting.

Which distinctive features this kind of photography?

• Dynamism. Before you, as a photographer, events will develop at a very fast pace. It would seem that everything is predictable and measured - first the official part, then the celebration in the cafe. But in reality, everything happens quite quickly and requires efficiency, endurance and knowledge of your business. We are talking about reportage photography "in the field." Studio photography for a graduation album is much easier in this regard.

• A large number of people being photographed. At a wedding, there are 2 main characters - the bride and groom. All attention is on them. This greatly simplifies the work. There are several dozen characters at the graduation party. And each person should turn out well in photographs. Both in group photos and individually. You need to quickly navigate among strangers, who and how much you photographed. Make sure everything looks good in the photos. Otherwise, it may turn out in the end that there will be too few photos with someone, or the person in group shots will turn out unsuccessfully.

• Difficult lighting conditions. Photos indoors at a school/university, on the street, in a restaurant — all this requires different camera settings. It is very important to work quickly with white balance, exposure settings and flash modes. Additional difficulties are associated with the first two points. You need to quickly navigate and instantly respond to changes in lighting. Otherwise, you risk getting a lot of not sharp or dark photos.

• Filming duration. Several hours of filming a dynamic report requires good physical endurance. Not only does it cost a lot, but it also weighs a lot. Also, long shooting times mean you need to stock up on extra batteries for your camera and batteries for your flash. If you run out of battery in the middle of graduation, you'll let the customers down, and for you it will mean a missed order. This also applies to .

So, how to take pictures at graduation at school or institute?

An indispensable attribute of such a survey are group portraits. Photographing groups of people requires attention to composition in general and to people's faces in particular. Make sure everyone fits in the frame. For this you need:

A) get people right. It is necessary to place people in several tiers. Even if everyone fits into the frame, standing in one line, this photo will be inconvenient for perception. Because you will have a lot of extra space above and below. And in order to see the faces, you will need to zoom in on the photo, which is also inconvenient. As a rule, stairs are used for this.

b) be very careful. Even when people are all placed in the frame and everything seems to suit you, do not rush to take pictures. Now it's time to look at the faces. There are always a lot of photographers at such events (people take cameras, give them to friends, etc.). So when you photograph a group of graduates, make sure they look at you. It's funny when half the people are looking at you and half are looking at the other photographer.

V) do a lot of doubles. Someone can close their eyes, yawn, turn away. It's hard to control, so take many takes of the same photo. It's difficult, given that people are impatient. Everyone wants to take a picture and go to celebrate further. Therefore, communication is important.

G) communicate with people. As a photographer, you can always see better from the outside who is better where to stand and how to look. It still needs to be passed on to others. Speak and correct people in the photo - this is expected of you. In communication, emotionality and good mood. A gloomy and silent photographer will negatively affect the mood of people in the frame. People have a holiday and you need to be on the same wavelength with them.

An assistant may be needed for graduation photo shoots. It is needed to assist in the transportation of equipment. If you take a tripod and additional lighting, you can not do without an assistant. An assistant is also needed to help organize and move people in group photos.

Summarizing.

In general, photography of proms, like weddings, is a rather complicated genre. Here you can not do without professional equipment. The camera must quickly shoot and focus in poor lighting conditions; high ISO values ​​should not cause noise; and, of course, the camera must have a high resolution. Unlike artistic photo shoots, which take place at a measured pace, there is no time to choose the appropriate settings and shooting modes. Therefore, you need to know your technique well and be able to use it in order to be able to quickly respond to surrounding events. In addition to technology, you need to be able to work with a large number of people. After all, they need not only to be photographed, but also to maintain communication with them.

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