We love it when we can work with a family over and over again. Especially when they’re as awesome as the Voss Family! 🙂 Verona High School senior Audrey decided to have pictures taken at the arboretum, which is a great choice for nature photos. With so many different environments, in one relatively small spot, it gives us a lot of different “looks” during the photo session. And it helps to have such a gorgeous subject like Audrey! Thanks Lori, Chris, Jared, and Audrey!
We just started booking our first senior picture sessions for this summer and I wanted to get a blog post out with some highlights from last year and info for this year’s clients. Jen and I love taking senior pictures which we hope comes through in our sessions when we push our seniors for “just one more” picture. We really love what we do and making sure you have the best images from this great time of life is our number one priority.
Referrals = Money
For past clients I want to remind you that if you refer a senior who books a session with us we’ll give you a $50 cash prize. Word of mouth referrals are our number one approach to marketing and we appreciate all the good reviews you’ve been giving.
For new clients, we’re now booking senior portrait sessions for the summer and fall. Email us and we’ll send you pricing and other info. Jen and I love working with seniors to come up with the perfect photo shoot but we also have lots of ideas on locations and what to wear. We want to make this as easy on you as possible and we’ll be with you through the entire process.
All right, let’s look at some pictures
Elia is a senior at Madison West High School who wanted her senior pictures taken at the UW arboretum. The arboretum is beautiful and there are many great outdoor locations to choose from. Elia recently had the trendy, handpainted balayage treatment done to her dying it a gorgeous purple. The purple hair color in her senior portraits contrasts beautifully with all the colors at the UW arboretum. For this portrait we used a favorite technique where we place the senior girl where there are flowers in the foreground which we throw out of focus by shooting wide open to create a shallow depth of field. For this senior girl pose we asked Elie to naturally run her fingers through her hair at look off camera. We love the dreamy expression comnbined with the beautiful golden hour light.
Beautiful and fun senior girl pose standing in the middle of State St in Downtown Madison. A lot of our senior portrait clients love getting their pictures taken in front of the capitol in Madison. The rain had just passed through which created this great texture on the street and pavement for this outdoor portrait. We like to call this pose “i’m hugging myself” and ask the client to drag their fingers through their hair while rocking back and forth. It’s a great way to get a natural candid smile from the senior portrait client. The clouds created a beautiful soft portrait light on Emily, which is one of our favorite lighting patterns for portraits.
Anna from Middleton High school wanted her senior pictures photographed by Studio Indigo Photography at Olbrich Gardens in Madison. This standing pose was photographed by the rose garden. We work hard to make sure all our senior portrait girls and guys feel comfortable and relaxed during the shoot. Anna is wearing a simple black dress which is a great idea for what to wear to your senior portraits. The black dress works great with any background or location for your senior pictures photoshoot. Anna is in a simple but relaxed and natural standing pose and is framed by the arches at the rose garden. Olbrich garden has so many great locations for senior pictures although it is usually busy and we have to work around visitors.
This senior portrait was photographed by studio indigo on the Epic campus in Verona, WI. We asked Landon to sit comfortably against the fence of the bridge and then we started to put him into a pose that would look natural while creating angles and negative space. The curve of the bridge and shallow depth of field of the portrait create visual interest with leading lines. This is one of our favorite places for ourdoor senior pictures because of the lush natural environment and the bridge gives us lots of posing ideas for senior guys and girls. When posing senior guys in sitting poses we often ask them to pop a knee up and rest their wrist on their knee. Make sure to have them relax their hands to make sure the pose looks as natural as possible.
Isabel from Madison Memorial high school had studio indigo photograph her senior pictures at pope farm park. In this photo she has a relaxed, candid, natural expression while walking through a field of yellow wildflowers. For this picture we used a vintage film effect to give it a subdued lower contrast look. Isabel’s purple cold shoulder top works beautifully with the yellow wildflowers. This simple top is a great choice when looking for ideas on what to wear to your senior pictures photoshoot. We always want our senior picture clients to feel really good in whatever outfit they choose but we also say that simple is best. Simple tops and outfits work well in any location, outdoor, nature, city, or urban. For this picture we didn’t actually ask Isabel to pose instead having her walk through the wildflowers and looking down and then back at the camera which resulted in this candid, peaceful, natural expression and pose.
Jacob wanted some of his senior portraits to have a baseball theme. We photographed him at the baseball diamond in Verona, WI where he played varsity baseball. For this senior guy baseball senior picture we used the sun in the background to create a cool visual flare effect while Jacob was taking batting practice. The bleach bypass effect in Alenskin exposure is a great example of a senior portrait for guys that gives the image some cool, crunchy effects. We also pumped up the clairty on this image in Lightroom. Senior guys can be hard to pose but we get them comfortable by doing things they normally do which can create relaxed, natural expressions and smiles. It’s a great idea for posing senior guys is to not pose them at all!
Madison West High School senior Abby had studio indigo photography take her senior pictures at Epic in Verona. This shallow focus outdoor portrait is taken in a field with natural grasses in front of a barn. This is one of our favorite pose idea for senior girls. We ask the senior to naturally run their hands through their hair and as they pull their hand through to then follow their hand with their gaze. It can make for a beautiful dramatic pose and it’s one of the senior girls favorite pictures. When senior girls and guys ask for ideas on what to wear for their senior pictures we always recommend that simpler is better. Abby chose a simple, elegant blue-green skater dress that worked beautifully with this golder hour portrait with the brown tones of the prairie grass as background.
Verona high school senior Nikki was photographed by studio indigo on the Epic campus southwest of Madison. Nikki is wearing a cute white summer dress with straps. She is backlit with the sun which creates flare in the lens which softens and warms up the picture. We used one of our favorite posing techniques for senior portraits having them gently sway back and forth and play with their hair. It usually creates a natural, candid laugh and expressioin that turns into a beautiful senior picture. Nikki is walking in one of the back fields at Epic in Verona and her white dress contrasts beautifully with the lush green and yellow nature setting.
Studio Indigo took Verona High School senior Eve’s senior portraits at pope farm park in Middleton, wi. In this portrait we posed Eve up against a white fence with a farm in the background. To capture this natural, candid moment and smile we asked Eve to play with her hair and pull it to her side while also looking at it. This is one of our favorite posing techniques for senior girls to get them to show natural expressions and laughs. The sun is near golden hour and the light is beautifully highlighting her face for this portrait. Her simple white top is a great choice for what to wear to a senior pictures photoshoot because it isn’t busy, works with multiple backgrounds and doesn’t draw attention away from the senior.
Studio Indigo photographed Jefferson High School senior Haley Happ for her senior portaits in several outdoor locations in rural wisconsin. She wanted some photos taken in front of this cool barn outside Madison WI near Jefferson. For this part of the photoshoot Haley wore a denim or jean jacket and jeans with a black top. We work with all our seniors to make sure they’re comfortable and use a technique called flow posing that achieves natural looks and expressions. We have lots of posing ideas for our senior portraits and focus on capturing those beautiful candid moments with our clients.
Monona Grove senior Emma loves vintage vinyl and wanted her senior pictures photographed by studio indigo photogrpahy at b-side records near Schenks Corners in Madison. We love working with seniors to come up with unique and artsy senior portraits. And with our seniot portrait sessions we often shoot in mulitple locations. A popular choice is for seniors to choose an urban location and a nature setting. For this natural pose we asked Emma to look through the albums and pick one that she liked. Her natural thoughtful expression works great for this senior girls pose. For the pictures inside we used strobes with a softbox to direct soft light on Emma’s face. The softbox creates a soft light with some direction so the light sculpts her face with highlights and shadows.
We love it when our high school seniors bring their pets to the shoot. It’s a great, fun way to remember these special times. With Vernoa Senior Eve we started out at Pope Farm Park in Middleton for some beautiful outdoor shots with wildflowers then made our way to the incredibly fun Epic Campus for some shots at the Epic Stables. That’s where we met Bear. Bear was very excited about being photographed and getting lots of treats! Thanks Eve, Mom and Dad. What a fun night.
Sneak peek of some of the shots from this soccer-themed senior portrait photoshoot. It was great working with Verona High School student Alex and we appreciated his patience as we kept asking for just one more header! We photographed Alex at Reddan Soccer Field in Verona on a beautiful Friday evening. Contact us for more info on a soccer or sports-themed senior portrait session.
Verona High School student and soccer player Alex photographed running through some individual soccer drills. We were trying to capture some cool motion and incorporate flare into the portrait. Used Alienskin Exposure 7 Cinema Jaws effect to warm up the image but the flare was captured in camera.
In this action sports senior portrait I layed on the ground and shot up at Alex as we photographed him heading the ball. Hope your head is ok Alex! The low POV adds to the feeling of height in the senior portrait. Used Alienskin Exposure 7 bokeh effect to create the selective focus in the portrait.
Boys senior picture of Alex from Veron High School. Alex plays for the Madison 56ers and we shot this portrait at Reddan Field in Verona, WI. The sun is the key light and Jen held up white foam core behinid Alex. Love the modeling achieved on his face, emphasizing his chin and jawline.
Senior picture of Alex in his Madison 56ers uniform at Reddan Field in Verona WI. Used the specular light from the sun as key then used Alienskin Exposure 7 to apply a bleach bypass effect.
HDR portrait of Alex from Verona High school. We had nice sun as side light and then reflected a little kick on the side of his face. Shot a 5 burst bracket handholding and then used Nik Collection HDR efex pro for the final treatment. Love this stylized dramatic senior portrait.
Soccer senior portrait headshot with a pretty decent rembrandt lighting pattern from the sun as key light. Used Exposure 7 to introduce a flare effect and vignette.
Senior picture of Alex from Verona High School standing in the goal holding a soccer ball. Shot this with stong backlight from the sun and speedlite set on manual. I really love this high key, fashion look with the speedlite blasting the subject with specular light.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when we offered to photograph the Verona Junior Prom. The morning after, Jen and I agreed that we had a blast! It was so much fun and the kids, parents, chaperones and school staff were all wonderful. There was so much great energy at the dance. And I can guarantee that Jen and I were asleep way before any of the kids (and their parents) were:) Special thanks to Dawn and Julie for taking over the Fuji Instax station. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Sarah is a class of 2017 high school student we were lucky enough to photograph while in St Louis. Jen and I were attending the Shutterfest conference and held this senior photo session at the old Union Station. Don’t worry! Union Station is a non-operating station so for the photo on the train tracks the only danger was tripping on the tracks. The black and white photo of Sarah is one of our favorites. Thanks Sarah and Mom for a great shoot. We had a blast!
Medium tight portrait of Sarah holding on to train at union station.
High school junior Sarah on train platform for her Senior Portrait photo shoot. Pictures shot outdoors with natural light and a small reflector. Gear used is a Nikon D750 and Nikon 85mm 1.4 D lens.
Sarah looking into the sun with eyes closed for this artsy black and white senior portrait. Used Nik Software Silver Efex Pro for black and white treatment.
On the train tracks at a non-functioning train station so no worries about trains suddenly showing up. Sarah very carefully leaning on the tracks for the high school senior portrait. Shot entirely in natural light with the NIkon D750 and 85mm 1.4D lens.
Wide shot of Sarah showing more of the location. Senior portrait photo shoot at Union Station using natural light and small reflector. Nikon D750 and Nikon 35mm 2.0D lens.
Sweet senior picture of Sarah on stairs in union station. Beatuiful smile and light filtered through station roof.
Medium length portrait of high school student Sarah leaning on train. I would call this a senior “fashion” style portrait session. Shot entirely with natural light and post processing with lightroom, photoshop and alienskin software.
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