For beginner photographers in school photography, portrait photography of school can be an exciting avenue to explore and showcase their skills. It presents a great opportunity for you all to display your creativity and begin building your portfolio.

For those just starting, having the right workflow is extremely crucial. It not only helps you manage the demands of a campus photo shoot efficiently but also enables you to maintain a high standard of work.

Moreover, having a smooth workflow in this competitive field can set you apart. Using AI Photo Editor can be a significant advantage. It can help speed up post-production without sacrificing quality. Indeed, these tools can enhance the overall efficiency and quality of your campus photography process.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the entire workflow of school portrait photography—from pre-shoot preparation to post-production using Evoto AI. This will help you maximize your potential and take your photography skills to the next level. So, let’s get started!

1. Pre-Shoot Planning and Setup

Understanding the Client’s Needs

For school portrait photography, understanding the client’s needs is crucial. When working with schools, it’s essential to know exactly what they’re looking for. Just as in other scenarios, having a clear understanding is key. For example, schools might want certain types of shots. Maybe they want individual student headshots, group shots of classes, graduates or clubs, or action shots from sports events. Make sure you have a firm grasp of the school’s identity and what they hope to highlight through the photos.

Questions to ask include:

What specific activities or aspects of school life should the students be engaged in for the shots?
What tone or mood should the images convey? (e.g., studious, energetic, friendly)
Are there specific editing styles or color grading preferences they have? For instance, do they prefer a more natural look or something with a bit more contrast?

Equipment and Studio Setup

For portrait photography of school in a studio setting, having the right equipment and studio setup is super important. For example, a good quality camera is essential. You also need proper lighting equipment to make sure the subjects are well-lit. And don’t forget about backdrops and props that can add interest to the shots.

Best Camera for School Photography of Portraits

For school portrait photography in a studio, having a great camera is essential. When it comes to taking pictures of students in a studio setting, investing in a high-resolution camera is important. For example, a full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera like the Canon EOS R5 could be a good choice. The camera offers high megapixel counts and excellent image quality. They’re perfect for capturing the details of students’ expressions and outfits.

Key camera settings:

Aperture: For school portraits, an aperture between f/2.8 and f/5.6 is usually good. It gives a shallow depth of field that makes the student stand out from the background.
Shutter Speed: Use fast shutter speeds (1/250 or higher) to stop any movement of the students.
ISO: Keep ISO low (100–400) to avoid grain and make sure your images are sharp and clear.

Lighting Setup for Model Photography

Lighting is one of the most critical elements in any portrait shoot. For product photography with models, you’ll want to highlight the product while ensuring the models look their best. A

three-point lighting setup is often used to achieve flattering, professional headshot results.

Key Light: The main source of light placed at a 45-degree angle to the client for good definition.
Fill Light: A softer light to fill shadows, typically placed opposite the key light.
Back Light: To create separation between the model and the background, use a backlight or rim light.

Tip: Use diffusers and softboxes to create soft, flattering light for your models, minimizing harsh shadows and highlighting the textures of clothing and accessories.

Background Considerations

When taking headshot photos of students, you want the focus to be on them in the background. Neutral or solid color backgrounds can be a good choice. For example, a white or light grey background is great for clean, professional-looking shots. It makes the person stand out. Dark grey or black backgrounds can add a touch of professionalism, too. You could also try textured backgrounds for some variety. But keep backgrounds simple so they don’t distract the student.

Some popular backgrounds for school portraits include:

White or light grey: Gives a clean and professional look, just like in passport, certification or school ID photography.
Dark grey or black: Adds a bit of sophistication.
Plain colored backdrops: Choose colors that match the school’s colors or a specific theme.

2. Shooting Process: Capturing the Perfect Shot

Working with Models

Communication: Provide clear instructions but also let them be themselves. The more at ease they are, the more natural the photos will be. For example, explain what you’re looking for in a pose or expression, but don’t be too rigid.
Posing: For student portraits, poses should be natural and highlight their personalities. For group shots, make sure everyone is arranged in a way that looks good and shows off their connection. For teacher portraits, poses should be professional yet approachable.
Expression: Capture a variety of emotions depending on the purpose of the photos. Whether it’s serious for a yearbook photo or fun for a school event, make sure the expressions match the tone.

Framing and Composition

When photographing school portraits, like students, teachers, or staff, you need to focus on showing them in a great way. That’s why we should think more about framing and composition during the studio shooting.

Here are some composition tips:

Rule of Thirds: Put the person right in the center for a professional headshot, or place them a bit off to one side to make the image more interesting in common school theme shooting.
Leading Lines: Use things in the background or the person’s pose to guide the viewer’s eyes to where you want them to look. For example, a line on the floor or the way a person is looking can lead to the eye.
Symmetry and Patterns: These can make the image look nice and draw attention to the person. Maybe there’s a pattern on the wall or the way people are arranged symmetrically.

Capturing Different Angles

In school portrait photography in a studio, different types of shots are needed for things like school pictures, graduation photos, and ID photos.

Full-Body Shots: For example, for school pictures, you might want to take full-body shots. These are great for showing the whole student and their outfit.
Close-ups: You can take detailed shots of things like school pins, ties, or hair accessories.
Action shots: For graduation photos, action shots can be nice. If there’s a grad cap that can be tossed in the air, for instance, that can add some excitement.

Tip: Take more photos than you think you’ll need. It’s always better to have a lot to choose from rather than not enough.

3. Post-Production Editing on School Portrait Photos

Portrait photo post-processing is often time-consuming. But Evoto AI Photo Editor can speed it up. It offers tethered shooting for better control during campus shoots. Batch editing and batch preset applications are great for handling large numbers of campus photos quickly. It’s an invaluable tool for campus photographers.

Thanks to the extensive editing options in Evoto AI Photo Editor, you can quickly edit your photos through the following steps:

Step 1. Import Photo(s)

Download Evoto and install the AI Photo Editing Software for school portrait photo editing. On the home screen, there are several ways to import your photos. The one is direct photo import and the other is tethered shooting import.

Direct Photo Import

You can drag individual photo(s) or image folder(s) into the project workspace. Or you can create and name a project folder specifically on “Create Project” for your school portrait photos. When a photo appears, you can right-click on it to rename it if needed.

The software supports various image formats such as JPG, PNG, TIFF, RAW, and more.

Additionally, photos can be imported as a Lightroom catalog (.lrcat). This allows for a quick sync of edited photos between Evoto and Lightroom. You can either drag and drop the .lrcat file onto the home screen or create a new project for this purpose.

Tethering Shooting Import

There’s another way to import photos using tethering shooting. With tether shooting, you can view your photos instantly inside Evoto and apply presets with the live view streaming option.

Option 1: On the Evoto home page, just click on “Create Project” and then “Tethered Shooting” to start enhancing your photos while live streaming.

Option 2: While editing a photo in the editing workspace, you can also import and check photos. Simply click on the camera icon at the bottom of the right-hand column and make changes by following the panel instructions.

Step 2. Organizing and Culling Images

After the school portrait photo import, it’s important to organize and cull your images. First off, go through all the photos you took. Pick out the ones that are good and meet the needs of the school. For example, choose the ones that are in focus, well-lit, and not redundant. By doing this, you’ll make your editing workflow easier and save time later.

You can also use Evoto AI Photo Editor for this task. By using shortcuts or clicking on the star ratings on the preview bar, you can classify and grade the photos you took. This helps you quickly filter out useful photos later when editing.

It’s recommended to use this along with tethered shooting. That way, you can quickly organize and classify your photos after the photo shoot. For example, select only top-rated photos first.

Step 3. Color Adjustments

Evoto AI offers numerous filter options to help you achieve the exact color, lighting, and clarity you want for your school portrait photography project.

First, on the right-side panel, you can choose the “Warm & Cozy” filter. Then, use the various sliders to modify aspects like temperature, tint, exposure, shadows, and highlights.
For more advanced editing, there are additional options available. These include curves, HSL, color grading, detail, grain, lens correction, and color calibration.

In the latest Evoto AI Photo Editor, there’s AI Color Match like the one in Photoshop. The feature is about adjusting your target image’s color to match the color style of a reference photo. This tool is extremely useful for achieving consistent tones across photos or making headshots meet the school’s color standards.

Here’s how to access the AI Color Matching:

Select a school portrait photo to be edited. Choose a reference image by either uploading one or clicking one from the project’s preview bar.
Apply the tone by clicking on the reference picture. AI will copy the color grading to the target editing photo.
Make precise adjustments: You can drag the slider. Click the manual icon to access the details page and adjust the full image’s amount, tone, and color. Or use masks for local adjustments.

Tip: After making color grading for your school photos, you can save them as a preset by selecting “save preset” at the bottom of the side panel. This way, you can easily apply the same adjustments to other photos later.

Step 4. Portrait Retouching

For school portrait photography in a studio, skin retouching plays a crucial role in the post-editing stage.

Click the second option on the right of the editing panel for “Portrait Retouching” (head symbol). There are a variety of retouching options accessible via sliders. For example, you can reduce wrinkles, and smooth skin, remove dark circles, enhance teeth, smooth hair, and remove double chin.

Here’s an example of using the “Eye Wrinkle” slider to improve the appearance of fine lines around the eyes.

Also, remove forehead wrinkles with the Face Forehead Wrinkle slider.

And for teeth touch-up, use the Teeth Touch-Up pulldown and apply the Teeth Whitening and Brightness sliders to realistically lighten yellow teeth. You can also fix gummy smile with its “Facial Expression”.

After making any portrait editing, press the spacebar to view the before-and-after photo comparison. The adjustments can also be saved as a preset.

Step 5. Background Adjustments

When shooting campus ID photos in the studio for students, graduates, or teachers, here are the essential steps for background adjustments.

Find the “Background Adjustments” option, usually the third one in the editing panel. Once selected, you can refine a solid background, clear away distractions, clean up the backdrop, or enhance it.
You have a great selection. You can choose from a bunch of recommended backgrounds. Or, if you have your own, you can upload up to 100 of them. This gives you the freedom to match the school’s style or the photo’s purpose.
If the background is the sky, the editing tool can detect it. Then, you can do things like “Sky Replacement”. You can also adjust the temperature, and saturation, or add a sky blur to make the photo look just right.

Step 6. Clothing/Accessories Touch-Up

If there are clothing wrinkles on the student’s shirt, you can also make use of “Clothing Adjustment” to de-wrinkle the creases.

Select the “Clothing and Accessories Touch-Up” option (t-shirt icon), then you can easily remove wrinkles in clothing through the sliders.

Step 7. Crop & Rotate

On the right-side panel, find the crop and rotate icon. Clicking it gives you crop and rotate options. Click it, and here’s what you can do:

Cropping: A cropping frame will show up. For a student’s ID photo, you can adjust it to center their face perfectly. Evoto offers common ID photo ratio sizes like 1-inch and 2-inch. Just pick the one you need from the options or customize what you need.
Rotating: If your photo is tilted, don’t worry. You can rotate it in 90 or 180-degree turns with a simple adjustment on the slider. The AI horizontal correction can analyze and straighten the photo for you, saving you tons of time.

Step 8. Batch Editing with Evoto AI

Evoto AI is a great tool for newbie education photographers who need to quickly edit lots of photos while keeping high quality. When doing campus photography, you usually get a bunch of images to process.

Here’s how you can use Evoto AI for efficient batch editing:

Adjustment Setup: You have two options. First, you can manually fine-tune settings like exposure, contrast, and color balance on a single photo. For a student’s portrait, you might brighten the face and adjust the color to make it more vivid. Second, if you’re short on time, Evoto AI offers portrait presets. Just pick one that suits the style, like a natural-looking preset for a casual student photo.
Batch Application: Once you’ve made the adjustments or chosen a preset, it’s time to apply them to the whole batch. Select all the photos in the batch (shortcut: Ctrl/ Command + click), then click the “Sync” button, or apply the preset. This ensures every image has a consistent look, whether it’s for a school ID photo or a yearbook.

By using Evoto AI batch processing, you can apply consistent edits across a series of similar student photos.

Step 9. Exporting and Delivering Files

Once you wrap up editing school portraits and ID photos in the studio, exporting in the right format is a must. Evoto AI Photo Editor supports formats like JPEG, JPG, PNG, RAW, and TIFF.

For school websites or digital yearbooks, JPEGs are ideal. Their small size allows for quick loading, ensuring easy access for everyone. But for high-quality prints such as school posters or official docs, high-resolution TIFF files are needed to keep details sharp.

Here are key export tips:

Web-Optimized Files: Use Evoto’s compression settings to create small-sized yet good-quality images for online use, like on school social media.
High-Res Files: Prepare uncompressed, high-res files for any large-scale print projects.
Consistency: Stick to the school’s required aspect ratio and resolution, especially for ID photos, to maintain a uniform look.

By following all these 9 steps, you’ll ensure your school photography meets all needs.

4. Tips for a Successful School Portrait Photography Business

Once you’ve got a collection of amazing school portraits from your studio shoots, it’s not just about having great photos; it’s also about how you make the most of them. There’s more to do to make your business a hit. Here are some handy tips to help you out.

Share Your Work

Once your photos are ready, deliver them to clients like schools or parents. Then, share your portfolio on social media and your website. Feature high-quality shots of students, teachers, or graduates. This showcases your skills and attracts new school clients.

Build a Strong Portfolio

Every school photography project is a chance to expand your portfolio. Update your online platforms with your best work from school events. Highlight any collaborations with the school or notable figures to show your versatility.

Offer Special Deals

Run special offers during big school events like the start of a semester or a prom. Promote these on social media and via email to the school community. Mention how tools like Evoto AI speed up your workflow and deliver quick photos. This appeals to school clients who value efficiency.

Follow these tips to grow your school photography business and gain a solid reputation in the school community.

Conclusion: Mastering the School Photography Workflow

A well-organized workflow is crucial for school photography success. School shoots often have tight timelines, like for yearbooks or graduations, so every step matters.

Before shooting, prepare your gear, set up lighting, and understand the school’s needs. During the shoot, capture different poses and expressions. Then, use Evoto AI in post-production to speed up editing and deliver high-quality photos quickly.

An efficient workflow builds your reputation in the school community, leading to more projects and better client relationships. Combine creativity with practical workflow management to exceed expectations and succeed in the school photograph

Mastering Campus Photography: A Step-by-Step Workflow for School Portrait