Welcome back!  Thanks for joining me for day two of How to Prep for your Senior Pictures.  In case you missed it last week, here is the link to the first in my series about senior pictures where we talked about how to begin the process and how to choose a photographer that best fits your needs.

Today we are going to talk about timing.  As in all things…timing is everything.  I wish that we could do senior pictures year round.  I recently did a “just for fun” session with my niece who will be a senior next year.  These pink trees give me all the heart eyes.

Unfortunately here in Colorado, most schools have an early deadline for submitting senior pictures for the school yearbook.  Most schools in Jefferson County require you to have them submitted as early as September 1^st or 15^th.  Which means that your photos need to be done at least 3-4 weeks prior to that date (depending on your photographer).

If you really want Colorado at the height of it’s beauty, June is your best bet for pictures.  The grass is nice and green and the flowers are usually abundant!  If you wait until July, everything starts to dry out.  The good news about July and August is that the beautiful weedy grasses are nice and long and dry (meaning they are a beautiful golden color).  At the beginning of July there are beautiful wildflowers (also depending on how dry it has been).  If you wait until the end of July or beginning of August it can be really dry without much green or flowering plants.  Again, it depends on the year and where we go!  We can almost always find flowers and grass (golf courses are nice because they are always green and they are good about letting us shoot there) so don’t worry about it if July/August work best for your family.

Another reason for pictures in June is that photographer’s calendars tend to fill up quickly with family and senior sessions in June/July/August.  So you want to be sure to schedule in advance to make sure you get your pick of dates.  Seniors are SO busy with work, friends and travel that it can sometimes be tricky to find a date so the more in advance you can plan, the better!  It is also nice to have a backup date just in case of rain.

So now that you know when to schedule your pictures, let’s talk about WHEN to schedule your pictures!  Meaning….what time of day should you choose.  I know seniors don’t want to hear this but morning is awesome for pictures.  8:00 am is a great time to do pictures.  It doesn’t interfere with their work/social schedules as much and the lighting is amazing first thing in the morning.  The other great part about the morning is that it is cooler.  Sometimes the afternoons/evenings can be really hot and we are often walking around quite a bit which can mess with makeup if you are sweating!  So morning really is a great option if you can get your teenager out of bed!

Look at this beautiful picture of Danielle from 2 summers ago.  Thankfully Danielle is a morning person so it was easy for her to get up early and I am so thankful because her session is still one of my favorites!!!

Not a morning person??  That is okay!  Evening is just as good.  The hour just before sunset is called the “golden hour” because the lighting is complete perfection!  It is soft, beautiful and flattering.   It can be a little toasty (especially as you get into July and August) but the light is wonderful.  I usually like to start around 6-6:30 so we have plenty of time before the sun goes down.  However, if we are going to do our session in/near the mountains we might start a little sooner as the sun sets earlier the closer you get to the mountains.

Check out this image of Maddie that I took just a few minutes before the sun went down behind the mountains!  It created this beautiful haze while she was standing in a field.  If you look closely it was lightly raining and you can see the raindrops!

If you are worried that August isn’t as pretty, just check out this picture of Mia from August last year.  It was still green and pretty in up past Morrison where we did her pictures.

Let’s get scheduling!  My calendar for June is already filling up so if you want a June date let’s talk!

Stay tuned for later this week when we are going to talk about getting unique pictures that fit your life and personality!  And remember that if you book by May 31st and pay the $50 deposit your session is only $350 instead of $400.  You can also split the payments or pay by credit card if that works better for your family!  Send me an email at lisa@photolilo.com!