Back to School Photography Essentials

As a photographer, with the first day of school approaching, you want to ensure that you have all the essentials that you need to take fantastic school portraits and have your back-to-school photos, appearing in high quality and ready to share with your loved ones and friends on social media. There will be several different scenarios of where you are taking your back-to-school photos, therefore, when you are setting up your photoshoot this school year be aware of how much natural light is in your shooting scene and adjust your camera settings accordingly.

These types of situations will apply to your loved ones who are heading in for their first day of school. So, if you are taking your little one you want to make sure you have the necessary photography equipment. As this is a special moment for your kiddo at their first day at a new school, you will obviously want your school photoshoot to make high quality exposures. This applies to any type of back to school photo you may take, like your child heading into their first day at High School.

There will be a plethora of terms that you should know when it comes to photography. When shooting back-to-school photos, having a great mirrorless DSLR camera is crucial. Getting high quality pics with a DSLR camera from manufacturers like Nikon, Canon, Sony makes getting a DSLR camera your first and foremost priority. These will give you tremendous control on the camera settings over things like ISO and shutter speed. School photographers will appreciate this when taking school pictures as adjusting things like the shutter speed, which you would set to a higher speed if there is an abundance of natural light. However, if you are in a situation like taking headshots of your classmates and you need that extra light to hit your camera sensor, than a slower shutter speed would be in order.

So, let’s explore some school photo ideas, photography tips and tutorials on the recommended back to school photography essentials.

Photo Tips

Alright, so we have provided a quick intro for all you school photographers, now we can expound on many of the previously discussed items and provide some additional photography tips.

Equipment

We need to start with ensuring that you get a great digital camera, as those cameras will provide all the camera settings you need. Having the right camera for your shooting scenarios will make your back to school photos easy to take. A DSLR camera will give you control over settings like aperture, shutter speed, ISO amongst others. As previously mentioned there are so many great options from manufacturers like Nikon, Canon and Sony that have a wide variety of price ranges based off the abilities of each particular camera, and ones that fit all different budgets. So go deep when comparing the features between each camera. You want to compare “apples to apples” so look closely that the camera and get the one that you feel fits your needs to get back-to-school photos.

Having the right digital camera is wonderful, however you want to pair that with a top notch lens that can handle any type of lighting situation including studio lighting provided by a good flash. You can look at a prime lens that can handle pretty much all of your back-to-school photos, however you want to think about a telephoto lens if you are taking headshots of your subject. Either way Beachcamera.com can provide the right lens for each shooting situation.

Having the right flash will be of immense assistance when handling all types of lighting situations. And especially, if you are taking school pictures in a low light setting, the flash will provide the lighting you need to get all the sharp details in your exposure.

With your DSLR camera, you want will want to make sure that you have good memory card installed with a high rating and plenty of storage. The Lexar high-performance memory card is perfect for your back to school photos. This memory card can quickly capture play back, and transfer 1080p FHD, 3D, and 4K video with good speed. The class Class 10 cards use the UHS-I technology to deliver high-speed performance up to 95MB/s for read/write and capture speeds. This memory card from Lexar also include an SD adapter, making it easy to transfer files between your devices. This is helpful, especially if you have a laptop or notebook that you want to do some editing with or share on social media.

One other item that would be of use to you when taking school photography, is a tripod. Tripods will resolve the shake and blur that is often accompanied by handheld shooting. We recommend the Deco Photo Tripod. With it’s 360 degree flexible legs, you can position this tripod exactly how you want it to capture the perfect shot. And don’t worry about your camera falling out of the tripod during use as there is a locking mechanism for your DSLR camera to keep it in place.

Photo Situtations

There will be photo situations when heading back to school that arise which you should be prepared for. If you are taking back-to-school photos, try and hone in on your child’s school clothes. They maybe wearing clothes that advertise their new school, or even having you kiddo wearing their athletic gear like a sports jacket with the school emblem will be cool to take.

When taking a back-to-school photo it is very important to have good editing software. As there are so many photo opportunities at school, lighting and other factors such as fast action photography will have an effect on your exposures. Therefore, you should download Adobe Lightroom or another photoshop app of your choice for post processing and editing. That way you can rest easy that your photos are superb and ready to put up on your social media site of choice to share with your subscribers.

One cool thing in photoshop is the chalkboard effect. Using this will increase the contrast of your pic and create a high contrast back and white background. You can clip and drag images onto the chalkboard that appears, should you want to. We have to say that this will come in handy when creating back to school photos, giving that cool school vibe in your exposures.

Try and grab some cool pictures of your kiddo with their school supplies, backpack and lunchbox, giving you lasting cherished memories of your child with all of their accoutrement heading back to school.

Conclusion

Utilize our photography tips to get the best back-to-school photos. However, it’s not just the tips that will get you the desired photograph, you need to have the right equipment to complete your photo essentials. So pick up one of those great DSLR cameras, pair it with a good lens and storage card and you are well on your way to getting amazing back to school pictures. Having these essentials will ensure that you are prepared and ready to take on multiple lighting situations in any school environment and scene. That could be pre-school for your child, or heading off to middle school or high school, in any of these cases with the right essentials that we have recomended, you will get high quality photos. Enjoy the new school year!!