6 Reasons to Choose Studio Lighting for Your School’s Portrait Day | New Braunfels School Portrait Photographer

We started our school portrait program 3 years ago with a handful of New Braunfels and San Marcos Montessori schools and preschools. Since then we’ve had the opportunity to photograph thousands of students of all ages. Our very first year we opted for using natural window light for school portrait day, but quickly realized offering portraits in a controlled light setting not only improves the quality of work we are able to produce for parents and schools, it also gives our schools a much more streamlined and organized portrait day experience.

Our reasons for scheduling indoors have been the driving force behind building Recess. If you’re vacillating between booking indoor or outdoor portraits for your school’s picture day, keep reading our 6 reasons why indoor portraits are the way to go!

1. Weather/Rescheduling - rain, wind, overcast, etc.:

Perhaps the number one reason we have built our program around doing portrait day inside, on a backdrop, with studio lighting is because of the woes of scheduling portrait day around inclement weather. If you live in Central Texas you know we can start the morning in a parka and be in shorts by the afternoon. That pesky forecast can be quite unpredictable. Rain can be forecasted and dissipate unexpectedly. We can have 30 degree mornings, coupled with 85 degree afternoons.

Being inside allows us to book school portraits without the concern of having to reschedule due to rain, extreme heat or cold, overly windy days, etc.

And, because our calendar does fill up every fall, we cannot guarantee additional fall availability in the event of having to reschedule because of weather. Our fall dates book out 9 months to a year in advance and indoor lighting gives us a sure guarantee that we can provide portrait day services to our schools on their scheduled date(s). 

2. Parents LOVE the seamless backdrop:

Parents at every school have raved about the seamless paper backdrop style of photography. It not only provides the school clean, timeless photographs for the yearbook, but parents really appreciate the fresh, modern approach to school portraits. Each student's gallery includes the standard yearbook image, but also a handful of other poses that really allow their natural personality to shine through.

“The pictures are sooo amazing. I'm so impressed you got him to smile and make funny faces.  Take my money! I just placed the order. Do you have a studio for us to schedule family photos later on?”

-Dana N., parent

3. Consistency for yearbook photography: 

When photographing outdoors the slightest shift in available light can completely change the look of a portrait. Photographing in a controlled lighting environment provides incredible consistency in our work so that yearbook spreads are seamless for schools.

4. Efficiency on picture day:

Setting up indoors provides an added level of efficiency for the school portrait day flow. Once our set up is ready we don't have to spend extra time adjusting camera settings with the changing available outdoor light or waiting for wind to die down like we would be doing while photographing outside. 

5. Quicker image delivery after portrait day: 

The controlled indoor lighting also affords a much quicker turnaround time. We deliver galleries to parents within two weeks of picture day. 

6. Retake day predictability: 

Lastly, if you are one of our schools that requires a makeup day, the indoor setting allows us to guarantee that we can match the lighting set up between the various portrait days at your school.