How to Take Beautiful Senior Portraits

If you are looking to take some portraits of your senior, or are looking to pick up some work in that area, this video gives you some great tips and a behind-the-scenes look at a senior shoot.

There aren't many times I'm hit with a difference in culture between the UK and US, but this was one of them. When I clicked the video, I thought it was going to be the taking of pictures of the elderly — that's how we use "senior" in the UK! In fact, it was the other end of the spectrum: seniors graduating high school. Fortunately, the images were indeed stunning and it was worth viewing.

I have photographed subjects of all ages from newborns, to toddlers, to children, to teens, and all the way up to octogenarians. There are many similarities between all age brackets, particularly from teens up to those in their 80s, but the differences are the key. Photographing teenagers can be particularly tricky for one reason: most of them are uncomfortable in their own skin, like we all were at that age. This can easily translate into the images without the right direction and guidance during the shoot!

What's your best tip for taking senior portraits?

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

Log in or register to post comments
7 Comments

No offense, but the results can be far better on that location. Flash is too noticeable on pics and some work have to be done with posing and composition.

Those were my thoughts....

I think the portraits look good. Good technique too to maximize efficiency. I suck at shooting portraits on wider lenses so i generally just carry my 70-200 one sturdy light stand with a wide base and a medium softbox/octa. I also do the same with exposing BG first and then bring in the light. I'd like to add another light but it would take too much time for me my self to haul it around but you can really add some dynamic looks to your images with two lights. Good concise video.

u are an idiot, use the sun, not the flash

Lmao I hope you're trolling.

Looking through the camera eye piece would be a good start ? It's not a phone, it's a camera? No way you can hold a heavy dslr/mirrorless with "portrait" lens steady at arms length..particularly in portrait orientation...terrible habit!!

Just let people enjoy things man.