How To Take School Pics That Don't Suck (2024)

Matt, I love watching your videos. You don’t get extremely technical. You mostly go by feel and every once in a while you give us a golden tip that just makes a world of difference. I appreciate artists like you. Thank you.

I hate shooting glasses so thanks for the tips!!!

Jazz up school yearbook photos... No Pro Light Mods with smoke...?

Great title…. If you need a free assistant for a week let me know… I could learn a lot working with you for a week! Keep up the great videos!

Great man! We use a similar setup that we changed up a little bit from Matthew The Body. I know you are going to crush that school job!

I am just getting back into photography, bought a mirrorless, I'm using all my old lenses on it, and I'm remembering how much fun it is to watch endless technical tips from wise photographers!

Yeah, it is a nice setup when you are doing it in for eg sports hall. Try it in a small classroom with a low ceiling 😁

Matt, your videos are always very well done, very informative, as well as motivational. Thanks for not being afraid to share tips (I won't say tricks) of the trade.

This is gold!

Simple setup is efficient! Thanks for the tips dude!

good man , I am gonna watch more from you for sure

You da man Matt!

Curious how you are setting an accurate white balance reading when you stand in front of your main light to photograph the white card? We live and die with Expo Discs which also nail the exposure in addition to the white balance but are always looking for other ways to do things. Thanks

My local high school has between 700-800 in the graduating class. Since all the classes are so large (K-12), the district uses the big, national companies. Those companies do very basic, limited training then send out inexperienced photographers who wind up with glasses glare, bad lighting, and poor posing in their images. They switched companies from last year, but I haven't been impressed with what I've seen. It's really a shame. Your video is great - especially with raising the light to eliminate the glasses glare.

I appreciate your solution and the way you present it in this video. Going to subscribe. The only thing I'd be concerned about is the lack of catch lights, which really can make people look dead and expressionless, like a shark's eyes. And I didn't see much of a catch light at all with your overhead setup. What would a workable solution be to get catch lights in all the subjects' eyes?

Awesome!! Great video!! Thank you!!

It's hard to tell on video, are there catch lights on the eyes with that two light setup?

Nice work. 👍

Being nitpicky and overthinking it a bit, I probably wouldn't set WB wearing a green shirt that close and almost directly under the key light. There's probably a bit of green color contamination that's pushing up the magenta in WB. All that said, I'm probably stealing this setup for the hockey team headshots that I do.

Thanks a lot for the video.
I will definitely give it a try at setting the main light from above to get rid of the glare on the glasses.
About the background and hair light, I just use a diffuser panel with something like a 400w to get both a clean white solid background and hair light at the same time. Where I'm from we always have to use white background in the yearbook photos.
I have a question about the lighting when it comes to kids in a box. I also shoot the year book for the 5 years old, instead of a formal shooting I set a cardboard box and sit the kids in a cushion inside the box (the front of the box open towards the camera). If I use the light from above it'll create a shadow because of the box. Would you use it your system and just add a small fill light from behind the camera for example or that would create glare on the glasses?

Two light setup perfect! Question. Would you put a silver reflector under his chin or leave as is in your video? Thank!!

Thanks for the links--was the backdrop link in the link list? If not i'll just browse the site haha Thanks man

Would you add a small speedlite on low power for a catch light cause little to no light in dem eyes might have some of the kids look scary

lol school photos are my goal.

Hey Matt. What software do you use to stay organized with that amount of students. Specially to know who is who?

Thanks, was the back edge of the overhead light aligned with the front of the model?

Great video and timing. Thanks for doing it. I just got home from photographing my first school for the year. Would you have a side view showing or info on how far the 7' umbrella is from the subject? Is the umbrella over him or in front of him? Is the far edge of the umbrella in line with his body?

If you had to pick a certain size of strip light modifier for new people to get started with good edge lighting, what would you suggest? Just getting started and wanting to get the most versatile gear until I can afford more gear! Great videos Matt!

Did the strobe batteries last for the entire shoot?

What is your system / work flow to track students name to their photo?

The big flaw that is in this set up is kids with disabilities

IMHO, way too bright on the top of his head/hair, especially for a guy.

First 👵