When Do You Take Senior Pictures?

Do you have a senior in your home? Congratulations! I know this year will be filled with lots of fun, celebration, and memory making as everyone prepares for your student’s next phase. As you start to plan for senior year, you may be wondering: “When do you take senior pictures?” In this post, I’ll discuss some of the factors to consider!

Note: This article is not talking about the traditional, formal senior portraits. You know, the ones with a drape or tuxedo jacket. Your school may provide a pre-scheduled picture day for those. Similarly, they may offer a very firm deadline to complete these formal pictures. This post is specifically discussing lifestyle senior pictures. These portraits tend to be more informal and feature the student’s personality and interests.

TL/DR: When do you take senior pictures?

• If your high school yearbook has an early deadline and you plan to include one of your lifestyle portraits, take your senior pictures in the summer or early fall.
• If yearbook deadline is not a concern, the whole senior year is fair game! Choose a season you like (i.e. fall and spring are popular). Also consider a time when your schedule isn’t overly full with extra-curricular commitments.

Consider First: What do you plan to do with your senior pictures?

As you consider when to take senior pictures, first take some time to think about what you plan to do with your senior pictures.

• Will one of these portraits be featured in the yearbook? What is the deadline for yearbook submission? You may need to schedule in the summer before senior year or early fall if your school’s deadline is first semester.
• Are these pictures going to be featured in your graduation announcement? If your senior is graduating in May, you’ll likely want the session completed by early spring at the latest.
• You may be taking senior pictures mainly for personal enjoyment. How are you planning to print and display them? If you plan to hang one as a piece of wall art, consider the decor of your home. Do the warm, rich colors of fall leaves fit your home? Or do the pastels of spring and summer work better? (There is of course flexibility here. Different color palates can be accomplished in different seasons.)

What season suits your senior’s personal interests and style?

If early deadlines aren’t a scheduling factor, you have the freedom of timing your senior pictures based on interests and style! What is your senior’s vision for the session?

• Does your senior have a season they really love? Are some of their happiest times out playing in the warm summer sun? Or do they prefer the the coziness and deep colors of fall? Do they love the romantic look of spring blooms?
• Does your senior want to feature a specific hobby or sport in their senior pictures that is tied to a specific time or year?
• Take some time to consider your seniors school calendar. Do extra-curricular commitments limit your family’s availability during certain months of the year? Sure, you could squeeze a photoshoot in one evening, but what if bad weather or illness derail your plans. No one need that extra stress! Consider planning to take your senior pictures at a time when your family has some scheduling flexibility.

Taking Pictures in the Summer

Traditionally, senior pictures are taken the summer before senior year. This can be a great time as summer schedules are often more relaxed.

Many photographers like to schedule portraits in the hours right before sunset. Sunset is usually the latest during summertime. However, this often suits teenager who are wired to stay up later anyways. Just make sure you don’t schedule your session the night before an early morning commitment!

One negative factor to consider, may be summer weather. In my area, Chattanooga, TN, summer is often hot and muggy! I personally have frizzy hair and trying to maintain any sort of styling during the summer is an act of futility. Our area is also prone to pop up afternoon and evening thunderstorms that literally develop out of no-where. Prepare to be flexible with the weather when scheduling a summer session.

Fall Senior Pictures

Fall is generally the most popular time for any type of outdoor photoshoot in my area. The fall leaves mixed with mountain and river views are truly stunning. The weather tends to give us less humid, slightly cooler days. Everyone wants to be outside! Why not go ahead and schedule your senior portraits in the fall!

However, do consider that school will have already started by this time. Sunset also begins to happen earlier and earlier, especially after daylight savings time. This can make it harder to schedule senior pictures if you have many commitments after school. You may need to look for weekend openings.

Try not to wait too late in the fall schedule your senior pictures. Your schedule will likely get even fuller as the holiday season approaches. If your photographer also works with families, know that the fall can be a very busy time as people schedule sessions with holiday cards in mind. Book early!

If you’re set on capturing fall leaves, many state park systems have “leaf tracker” websites that make predictions about the timing of peak color. I often reference this one for my area!

Senior Pictures in the Spring

Better late than never! I’m serious, though. Don’t let feeling like “you’re too late” keep you from scheduling senior pictures. The entire senior year is fair game in my opinion.

I recently worked with a young lady who decided she wanted senior pictures a few weeks before graduation. We literally completed her session the day before she had to move out of her boarding school dorm and leave for a senior trip. She graduated the next week!

Sure, we were cutting it close in terms of scheduling (and I’m so grateful we had good weather). However, I truly believe that she and her family will look back on these portraits and remember the excitement of the last weeks of school and her accomplishments!

Taking your senior pictures in the spring makes it even easier to capture the excitement of this time in your senior’s life. Graduation is so close they can taste it! If your senior already has their cap and gown, they can bring their set along to be featured in some of the images rather than scheduling a separate cap and gown session.

Spring is generally another beautiful time to be outside in my area. Everything starts to green up around the beginning of April. Many photogenic blooms also start to make their debut as well! There’s always a chance of a string of rainy days, but usually there are mild days sprinkled in.

Now you know the answer to “when do you take senior pictures?”

I hope you’ve found this guide helpful in deciding: when do you take senior pictures?

The moral of the story: Take the pictures when you can or want to, but just make sure you take them!

Senior year is such a fun and monumental time in the life of your senior! Finishing high school is a milestone worth celebrating and capturing with photography. It’s a season worth documenting before he or she enters into a new phase of life, possibly officially moving out of the house and launching into adulthood. Trust me: schedule the session and take the pictures.

If you’re in the Chattanooga area and interested in working with me, let’s chat! You can learn more about scheduling a session with me here.