The senior drape-formal session

The senior drape photo… and school photo day.

I find that my high school upcoming seniors have a lot of anxiety over the photos done for the yearbook. They feel rushed at school and not at their best. The perfect senior drape photo should be natural and relaxed. It’s still a portrait and should be edited as a portrait would be.

Every school in my county has a different requirement for the drape photos and tux photos.  The senior formal photo has to meet a certain crop proportion as well as many other rules. Each school has it’s own color of background, and there are even rules about how the student is posed. Both shoulders should be showing!

My personal beef with many photographers, is the over edited senior portrait. The faces of these young people are beautiful.. to take the skin and smear it to a doll-like consistency is just wrong. The portrait edit that I most like to use is Frequency Separation. It clears up minor blemishes without wiping out all character out of the face.  A fresh face with a gorgeous smile is the perfect senior formal.  I use real velvet fabric that I ” drape” around the shoulders. I like the texture and the feel of it. Most of my portraits are two light portraits with a reflector. Eyes should sparkle and hair should shine.  I think Makenna’s school formal is perfect, but it would be hard to miss with this pretty young lady.

xxoo C