5 Senior Portrait Poses

Take it from me, when the time finally comes for your senior portraits, you don’t want to get stuck feeling stiff and unnatural. Your senior session should be a fun experience! Below are a few posing options to put a creative spin on this exciting shoot.

Traditional

In every senior portrait session, it’s important to get a headshot looking at the camera. It’s a must-take photo for parents and family, as it’s the most mature and professional-looking one. It’s also a great idea to have when you’re applying to internships or colleges. Having a professional headshot is a must for everyone starting their career, so it works out well that you’ll have a great photo for your LinkedIn page and beyond!

senior portrait posing ideas, pittsburgh senior portrait photographer

Model

Let’s put your modeling skills to the test during your senior portrait session! These expressions can be a bit more serious and will be great images for your parents and family members to display in their home (and, of course, on Instagram)! This is a great opportunity to play with black and white imagery, or even get your hair and makeup done beforehand to complement the overall more serious tone of the shot.

Work with the weather

If there’s one thing you don’t have control over on the day of your senior portrait session, it’s the weather. So why not embrace whatever it brings your way? If it’s a bit windy, we can use it as a natural way to give your hair some movement. If there are leaves on the ground we can incorporate them into some of your poses. If it’s raining, perhaps we can grab an umbrella as a prop and take some Singing in the Rain style shots. The options are endless!

Candid

There’s something about candid images that people are simply drawn too. The trick is not being afraid to laugh at yourself (or me - I do some strange things to get the shot!). Another option is to bring along a friend to watch from the sidelines! It will help relax your nerves and help you feel a bit more comfortable in front of the camera. This will also help me get shots of you laughing, smiling and enjoying time with your friend.

Incorporate the scenery

Depending on where we take the shots will affect the kinds of poses you do. If we take photos in a field with wide open spaces I can take shots of you holding flowers, sitting under a tree or incorporating nature some other way. If you’re in the city we can snap pics of you against a graffiti wall or standing near a statue or in a city park. We’ll let the setting guide us!