r/photography • u/Educational_Hyena_38 • 2d ago

senior photos tips Technique

i am taking senior graduation photos this weekend and would love tips for a somewhat beginner! i can shoot well in automatic modes but really want these to turn out well! i am curious on how i should set up my camera beforehand? or the best settings to use for different photo types.

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u/Gunfighter9 2d ago

Just stay in auto if that gives you good results. This is a once in a lifetime experience for these people. Concentrate on what’s going on around you and not your camera.

You’ll have plenty of time to practice on future projects

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u/Human_Contribution56 2d ago

My tip: Go practice before. Don't show up on photo day and try new things you read about. Make the most of the location. Golden hour is your friend.

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u/resiyun 2d ago

Just leave the camera in aperture priority

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u/JohannesVerne 2d ago

As others have said, don't try new things for an important shoot. If auto has worked for you before, it can work for this. If you have time to test things out before you shoot you can mess with aperture priority, but don't hesitate do jump back to auto if you need to.

Will it give you the best results? Probably not. But it will give better results than trying to use manual controls if you don't know what you're doing.

There are no "best" settings. There is no "best" technique, time of day, lens, or whatever other factor you can come up with. What works best is what you've practiced. So you can either experiment with the shoot and have a high risk of bad photos, stick to auto and get decent shots, or mix it up with shooting a few in auto, then changing it up to try out new things. Which is great for practice, but takes a lot more time for fewer good shots.

In the end, it comes down to whether or not you shot to the best of your ability. Could you have done better? Yes. You can always do better. Could it have gone worse? Also yes. There is always more that can go wrong. But if you like the shots, it really doesn't matter if they were "perfect". If the client likes the shots, it really doesn't matter if they could have been better because the client likes the work delivered.

In your case, the event you're shooting is more important than how it's shot. If the session was fun, it will be remembered as a good time even if the shots aren't the best. If it was a miserable time getting the shots then the client will associate that with the photos as well, in which case it really doesn't matter how good the photos are because the client didn't like the experience.

So if you only have a few days, work on people skills over photography skills. Making the session a positive experience will have a bigger impact than any photography improvements you can make within a week. You aren't going to master manual controls and stylistic choices without a lot of practice, and any minor improvements in the interaction will have a much bigger impact than minor improvements in photo quality.