For this critique, we want to see your best "senior portrait," (high school senior, not senior citizen). In our latest competition (which will be released soon), both Pye and Patrick said my submission looked like a senior portrait, and they meant that as an insult. Show us what high-end senior portrait photography can be.
Each person is allowed up to 3 entries. The highest-rated image and one random image with both win a free tutorial from the Fstoppers Store.
glad you agree, I'm only going to be rating the images with the correct theme.
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apparently i'm wrong about all of this and what a senior portrait is so ill be quiet.
These sessions are called senior casuals. Most that I do actually wish to not include a “school vibe” because most of the time these are sessions that are done on top of the traditional school senior portraits. Hate that I may be getting a 1 rating due to someone else’s interpretation as to what a senior photo is supposed to be.
I think a little of this is coming from the kids themselves. I know with my daughter she wanted a few shots in her cheerleader uniform and pretty much nothing else even remotely connected to the school. Again, I don't shoot a ton of senior portraits, but the trend seems to be more fashion and glamour oriented, particularly with the girls. I think the kids see this as their first portrait of themselves as the adult they want to be. Maybe I'm just reading too much into this. Oh, and I agree with you. I would like to see the portraits reflect more of the school experience. But again, I think this is more of a client choice than a photographer choice.
I agree they don’t have to show something 100% tied to the school but they also should be associated to the time in their lives (activities in school, hobbies, etc) enough to know it’s a senior portrait. There’s typically a subtle hint of innocence in a senior portrait. You shouldn’t question the subjects age or involve provocative poses.
Some submissions in here are clearly portraits with subject/model that is just of that age. Some are flat out off topic.
Im happy to be wrong about this, I'm not aware of the American way of doing things.
So If i'm getting this right it is just a portrait of a person at a certain age and nothing to do with a school whatsoever.
whats the point of it?
Wouldn’t those just be called “portraits”?
There’s nothing “senior” about a portrait shoot that has nothing to do with being a senior in college or high school.
In the US, “senior portraits” are more or less about celebrating the end of the “child’s” adolescence. Graduating high school is the last thing you do as a “child”. After that, they are an “adult”. The senior portrait is a way to capture that adolescence before they grow up and the world eats them alive. Usually, the person being photographed will use “props” that they already own to express their personality and hobbies. If you notice, a lot of pictures here have kids with musical instruments, animals, sports equipment, outdoor gear, and so on. That’s how they identified themselves as an individual in that crucially awkward teenage phase and how they hope to shape their adulthood. Now, when you see a picture of a kid in an educational setting, it usually means that that kid was dedicated to their academics and education was their goal usually at a much higher level than the rest of the students.
In the US, public education is pretty much looked at as a joke. Funding is terrible and the academics are lack luster. Most curriculum is downloaded from a Google link and teachers have very little say in what and how to teach. Hobbies and recreational activities are what most Americans live for. Education is an after thought. So, we in the US use the “senior portrait” to remember our kids when they were at a point in their lives before they were thrown out in the world to fend for themselves. Again, the fact that it’s at the end of adolescence education, is an afterthought. More of a milestone achievement.
https://fstoppers.com/originals/download-and-retouch-photo-nino-batista-...
https://fstoppers.com/bts/20-photographers-are-given-same-portrait-edit-...
This would give people to practice there editing skills.
Hi guys, I submitted a photo and then submitted a cropped version of the same. Should I delete the original one or is it unethical? I am new to the contests and have no idea what I am doing.
If people voted the original one don't take it down. Maybe that image will be picked to be featured on youtube instead of the cropped one. It may not be the right decision but we all make mistakes. Next time post the perfect version of your image.
Ok. Thank you very much
Trolls are truley sliming around these days...
I'm just going to say this here. Please don't photograph on active train tracks!
Can we get this out there. Its more dangerous than people realize.
Hundreds of people die from getting hit by trains every year. You cant here them coming like you think you would.
https://petapixel.com/2017/04/04/today-show-demonstrates-train-track-pho...
Photographers always get worked up about shoots on train tracks, but yet there are tons of photos in the middle of busy streets and no one bats an eye.
The report I shared literally concludes by saying that " you wouldn't photograph in the middle of a freeway, therefore you shouldn't photograph on railroad tracks."
You are correct, you should never be photographing somewhere that I could put you or your subjects in danger. But acting like individuals who are sharing helpful safety information are somehow hypocritical because they don't also include every other potentially dangerous scenario is insulting.
You feel strongly that people shouldn't photograph in the road? Fine, share that information. But don't give me crap for bringing up irrelevant safety issue that is prevalent in multiple of the photos inside of this competition. There's literally a horse standing on train tracks for God's sake.
The only person I remember standing in a road was doing so at a crosswalk. And yes, I still questioned whether that was a good idea or not.
Just wanted to say that are some idiots and trolls that rated one star ratings in my portfolio just to make my overall 4 star into a 3,1 star. Is there any way to see who is behind this. In our portfolio we try to show our work which we put a lot of effort in. Maybe the moderator can do something about this to keep this community a good place to be. Just saying.
I think senior photography has nothing to do with photography period. It's merely an event documenting a person at a certain time, like a mug shot after getting arrested.......It's the equivalent of playing in a cover band, in the photography world;)
Cover bands play to pay homage to a band’s existing and well known discography.
Photographers “cover” events to respect the passing of time.
Your analogy in fact proves how it is a needed genre.