portraits

Taking Great Photos in Classrooms.

As a school marketing photographer I shoot a really wide range of subject matter from classrooms, to sport, to music, drama, forest school and portraiture. I am often asked about the different techniques I use to capture these different genres so I thought it might be useful to share a few ideas and tips.

Today I am going to talk about Classroom Photography.

It goes without saying that my primary objective when taking photos of kids in a classroom is to produce images that grab the viewer’s attention. I want the viewer to look twice, three times at the photo and feel a connection with the subject. I try to achieve this in several ways:

Get Down! I make sure I am at the level of the subject. If they are on the floor I get on the floor. If they are sitting at a desk I kneel down to be at their eye level. A photo taken by an adult standing up with the camera pointed down at children is always going to feel like a photo taken by an adult looking down at children. Whereas if you shoot from a child’s eye level, as if from another child’s viewpoint, then you enter their world, feel closer to them and are more likely to make an emotional connection with them.

On a similar note, if I introduce a teacher to the photo I always ask them to get their head on the similar level to the children, allowing me to shoot them eye-to-eye. This creates an intimacy not possible if the teacher is standing up, and it often leads to plenty of smiles and giggles!

Use the Right Lens! I use a pretty long lens to shoot in classrooms, usually a 70-200mm. The long focal length, combined with a wide aperture of f2.8, blurs the background and foreground. Classrooms are often quite busy and cluttered so this technique helps to isolate the subject and make them stand out from the background.

My other go-to lens in a classroom situation is a super wide-angle lens. This allows me to be almost on top of the action and brings a really different perspective. I might use this lens is during a science experiment where there’s a line of test tubes or beakers in the foreground that will add nice colour to the photo. It’s not as effective as long lens but it does give a different perspective/feel to the photo.

Fill the Frame! I like to fill the frame with the subject, especially in classrooms. If I were shooting against a blue sky or green field I might compose the photo and leave space around the subject which can be useful if text needs to be added. But in a classroom it’s usually best to zoom in on the subject so that they fill the whole frame and any possible distractions are cropped out of the frame.

Use the Background! As you will have gathered I am keen on avoiding distracting backgrounds! But equally I am always on the lookout for interesting backgrounds that might add to the photo. These could be a lights or wall designs or photos. It's rare that they work but when they do they can add a lot to a photo.

Be Patient! I always have an idea of what I want each photo to look like but often have to be patient, waiting for the perfect, natural moment. And when it happens I shoot a lot of photos very quickly to ensure I capture exactly what I had in mind. I might sometimes ask a pupil to redo an action they had just done, but mostly I try to shoot without any interference.

I hope that these tips are useful to anyone working in school marketing departments. Hopefully you can adopt them and create some lovely images in the classrooms at your school.

#schoolmarketing #schoolphotography #independentschools

Photographing School Groups

One of the photo requests that I often receive when shooting for schools is for a group photo showing the age range and different ethnic backgrounds of the pupils at that school. It’s a really important photo for every school to have and is on most school websites and in their prospectuses.

 If done badly these photos can easily looked clichéd. So here are my top 10 tips for shooting bright, lively, original group photos in a school setting:

1)    Location, Location, Location: It is very worthwhile scouting out a good location in advance. You need to consider the background and the available natural light. It is worth choosing a location where pupils can sit, stand and lean – walls, fences and archways work well.

 2)    Setting the Scene: You need to start the session by getting everyone quiet, introducing yourself and then explaining how the shoot is going to work. Although you might be speaking to the pupils, this information is equally important for the teachers so that they know what is happening and can help out. You need to be loud, clear and authoritative so that the pupils know you are in charge!

3)    More is Less: Ask the school to bring along a group of around 15 pupils. The school will research who they want in the photo before the shoot. 15 is really too many for one photo but having them all there will give you a lot of variety for the smaller groups. The maximum number I think that works for a group photo is eight.

4)    Mix it Up: Start with small groups of 4 or 5. And then keep changing the group - add more in, take some out, swop pupils in and out, always keeping in mind that you need to include a number of photos with a mix ethnic backgrounds included. You’ll have to take a few photos with each pupil so that no one feels left out but make sure you concentrate on those who are best in front of the camera. If you find a combination is working really well then stick with it for a while. Some groups just have great chemistry.

 5)    Large Groups: You might be asked to take a photo with a larger group – i.e. all 15 pupils. This will take some planning and thought. I have shot large groups sitting, spread out around steps and also running towards the camera. It’s a tricky proposition but possible if you find the right location.

 6)    Composition. Think carefully about the composition of the group. Ideally you want everyone’s heads to be at a pretty similar level. It’s obviously good to mix up the ages so you don’t have all the big pupils on one side and all the small pupils on the other.

 7)    Crazy Faces: I can guarantee that in a group of 15 at least two pupils will make odd faces in front of the camera. They might look perfectly normal away from the camera, but point a camera at them, and they do some curious crazy grin or pull a weird face (I know because my 4-year-old son does this ALL THE TIME!). It might feel harsh but, once you have identified these pupils, leave them out altogether. You have limited time and you can’t afford to waste it. Of course if you have to have these crazy face pupils in the photos then try Point 8…..

 8)    Eyes off the Camera: You always need to shoot some photos with the pupils looking down the lens, straight at the camera. But often the most effective images are when the group all look away from the camera, to one side. Amongst the group of 15 there will usually be one pupil who is a bit sparky and fun. Use that pupil as your off-camera jester, to stand off to one side of the camera and make funny faces or tell jokes. The group you are shooting will then look at that pupil and smile and laugh. If you don’t have a fun pupil then a teacher might help you out. As a last resort (and assuming your camera is on a tripod) you can use a remote release and stand to one side yourself and make funny faces! Alternatively, you can ask them to look for birds or planes in the sky.

 9)    Chat to your neighbour: With older pupils (or groups with teachers and pupils) you can ask them to chat to each other. But make sure everyone looks interested in the conversation. If one person is looking like they are not included then the photo won’t work.

10) Under Pressure: These group shoots are always time pressured. Pupils are busy during their school day and often have other commitments to dash off to like lessons, music practice or sport. So it’s vital that you work fast and get some good photos in the bag at that start of the session. If you find that some of the most photogenic pupils cannot stay for the whole session then make sure you shoot them at the start.

I hope that’s helpful. It’s a tricky task taking group photos of school pupils but hopefully these tips will give you some good pointers.

School Website Photography

Now that the kids have finally gone back to school and they can be taught by professionals, instead of my bungling attempts at home schooling, I have finally been able to settle down to work.

One of the main areas of my job is shooting marketing photos for independent schools. The kind of photos that feature on websites, prospectuses and social media. It’s a part of the job that I love for two reasons: firstly, most kids tend to smile easily. Younger kids just smile because, well, life is fun! With older kids its more of an embarrassed smile because of having their photo taken in front of their friends. Either way, it makes for some great results; secondly because of the variety of photos I take in a school - sport, classrooms, theatre, music, portraits - all require slightly different skills which I have developed over the years and I think I can safely say, without hopefully sounds too arrogant, that I do them all very well.

This week I have been sending out a small brochure of my school photography to Marketing teams at schools. It requires a bit of research to find the right person, address etc, but the process has been interesting because I have visited a lot of school websites. It’s fascinating to see the variety of styles as well as the huge difference in the quality of photography. I can notice pretty quickly if schools have used a professional photographer and it’s been very useful to see the work of some other good photographers. More often than not though, the photos on school websites are not very strong. School website designs these days are very reliant on photos. The photos are large and dominate the page which is great. But it’s a bit depressing to see so many out of focus, flat, dull, underexposed, unsharp, poorly composed photos being used.

Now of course you might think I’m being cynical because I am touting for business! Well I am touting for business, but I am also being truthful. There are a lot of substandard images out there!

Of course, as a photographer, I am bound to notice weak photos and you might argue that most people who visit the site won’t notice if a photo is slightly out of focus. Well, I believe that even if they don’t notice it consciously, I am sure their subconscious will pick up on the webpage being not quite right. Secondly, I am certain that they would notice immediately if that page had an incredibly strong photo - they would stop and look and be impressed, lingering on the page for longer and their opinion of the school would improve.

If you’re going to go to the expense of employing a marketing team and developing a really funky website, it seems crazy not to spend a few hundred pounds more to get some really decent photos as well. These photos can then be used across all your marketing platforms both digital and physical. Despite the rise of smart phone photography there is still a place for true professionals who can deliver eye-catching imagery consistently and under time pressure. Hopefully plenty of schools will receive my little brochure and agree!

 https://www.tomsoperphotography.com/#/education/