Tips for School Picture Day

Say cheese! We like to write about a variety of topics related to family life at this blog, but at our core, we are a photography business specializing in fun photoshoots for kids and families. With this expertise, we are popping in with our best tips for a successful school picture day! 

As we are not with them at the shoot, school picture days can be a practice in letting go and trusting our kids (and that the teacher or assistant will remember to fix your kid’s bow). You may be lucky and get a photographer who knows how to engage children and get them to smile and laugh…or your child’s class might be scheduled for the end of the day and the photographer is just trying to get the job done after having photographed hundreds of kids. Therefore, our tips for school picture day are all about preparation and attitude:

Hair

Keep it simple! You don’t want your kid to be self-conscious or worry all day about messing up their hair. And it’s possible that your kid’s class won’t be scheduled until late in the day, so that fancy hairdo might not even make it past all the sweat during recess. Keep accessories to a minimum so they won’t be a distraction. And if you want to get them a haircut, make sure to do it at least a week in advance to give their hair a chance to grow in and look natural. 

Attire

While some school photography studios let you know what the background will be like beforehand, some may not. Although nowadays, some studios actually give you the option of selecting your background after the fact too. In any case, we again advise keeping their attire simple (if your child will let you) to easily work with any background. Avoid small prints like fine stripes and plaid, as the camera might capture them in a funny way, and they may look busy with the background. As for color, pick something that complements your child’s skin tone and is ideally one they like so they’ll beam with pride!

Smile

If your kid is receptive, you can practice smiling with them. Saying “cheese” sometimes produces cheesy smiles, so instead, you could tell them to think of something funny and laugh. Again, this depends on the photographer though, so we might not be able to control this in the end. Try not to emphasize their smile too much though, because some kids can become self-conscious and this can backfire. We wouldn’t want them to think that people are judging them based on their appearance. 

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the pictures don’t come out the way we envisioned. Rather than be disappointed, we encourage you to embrace this memento of your child as they are at this age. The missing teeth or the cheesy smile aren’t what one might think of as picture-perfect, but take it from Caroline, mom to an 11-year-old—the years pass by in a flash and one day you’ll come to appreciate those awkward smiles. Now, having this laissez-faire attitude may just negate all our previous tips for school picture day, but a lot of parenthood is about embracing the imperfections. And if you still have that nagging feeling for a do-over, come join us at one of our photoshoots!