Central PA High School Senior Photographer, Karissa Zimmer specializes in High School Senior Pictures in Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Carlisle, Hershey and surrounding Central PA.
Senior photos are a rite of passage that so many emerging young adults look forward to, and you want your photos to be as beautiful as you are! One important factor to plan for is your wardrobe. What should you wear for your Harrisburg senior photos? I’ll chat with you about specifics during your pre-consultation, but in the meantime, check out these tips.
Downtown Harrisburg High School Senior Photos
Bring Variety
All my senior photo sessions include multiple outfit changes, and you want your outfits to be different enough to capture all the looks you want. Consider bringing one casual outfit, one outfit that’s more formal, and one that reflects your personality or hobbies like your jersey for a sport you play, an outfit with a rocker aesthetic, or your culture’s traditional dress. It’s a good idea to have a few extra outfits too in case you change your mind or have a last-minute stain or broken zipper.
Boxing Senior PicturesSenior Boy Boxing Photos
Don’t Forget the Details
When planning your outfits, the clothes are just the starting point. Plan which accessories, shoes, and jewelry you plan to wear with each outfit too and try it all on together. This way, you can make sure it looks the way you want and that you have everything you need.
Harrisburg Pa High School Senior Photography
Have Layering Options for Your Harrisburg Senior Photos
Layers are magic in a photo session! They give you more visual variety without a full outfit change and they add some depth and texture to your photos. Bring a denim jacket to go over your dress or a flannel shirt to layer onto a t-shirt and jeans.
Avoid Going Overboard with Patterns
A good rule of thumb for photo shoots is to choose solid colors rather than complex patterns. Avoid anything with words or with a prominent logo too. The exceptions may be outfits that signify a particular hobby or interest you have.
City Island Walking Bridge Senior Portraits Senior Photos on City Island Walking Bridge near Harrisburg PA
So many of the photo sessions I perform are centered on a specific moment in my clients’ lives, and creating lasting mementos of this moment that they can cherish in the decades to come. That’s certainly the case with downtown Harrisburg high school senior portraits. Your child (or young adult) is about to launch a new life for themselves, and I’m here to make sure these portraits are the exciting milestone celebration they should be.
Want to make sure your teen’s senior portraits go as well as possible? Follow these tips as you’re planning and preparing.
Be Strategic with Outfits for Your Downtown Harrisburg High School Senior Portraits
Clearly, the outfits your teen chooses will make a great difference in the final look of their portraits, so it’s important to choose outfits wisely. It can be difficult to know what will and won’t photograph well. While planning your session, I’ll chat with you about my recommendations based on your teen and the look we’re aiming for, but here are a few other tips to keep in mind:
Choose solid colors or simple patterns over busy distracting patterns – we don’t want a shirt to steal the spotlight from your teen! The same goes for your jewelry: simpler is better.
Select outfits that are comfortable so your teen feels confident for their photo shoot.
Make sure the wardrobe feels authentic to your teen and their style.
When in doubt about an outfit, bring it! I can check out the outfits you’ve brought and give you my expertise on which ones will photograph best.
Leave Some Safety Time for New Looks
You don’t want to do anything *too* new on the photo shoot day. A fresh haircut is great, but make sure you schedule it for at least a week before your teen’s photo session. That gives it time to even out a bit if necessary and time for them to get used to styling it (or to fix it if they don’t like it). If your teen wants to try a new hairstyle or makeup look for their portraits, practice a few times at home first.
Work with Your Photographer on Props for Your Downtown Harrisburg High School Senior Portraits
During your teen’s high school senior portraits, props are a fantastic way to highlight who they are at this fun stage in their life. I’m always up for incorporating props like their sports jerseys, musical instruments they play, and props that align with their other hobbies and interests. We may even be able to take portraits with your teen’s beloved car or bike!
With props, though, you don’t want to bring any surprises to the photo shoot. Chat with me in advance about what props you want to bring so I can strategize the best ways to incorporate them.
Make Skincare a Priority
It’s so easy to fall out of your skincare routine, but your teen should make it a priority to maintain theirs in the weeks before their senior portraits. If your teen wants a facial, talk to your aesthetician in advance about when to schedule it based on their photo session, because some facials can cause irritation for a day or two.
With that said, don’t worry if your teen has some pimples during their photo shoot. Editing software is our friend!
The Ultimate Advice for Your Downtown Harrisburg High School Senior Portraits: Use Your Photographer’s Expertise
All the tips above are helpful but here’s the end-all-be-all: take advantage of your photographer’s expertise. I’ve been taking senior photos for many years and have first-hand experience with what works well and what doesn’t. When you hire me, you’re not just paying for my camera and my photography skills, you’re paying for my expertise. So, if you have a question, just ask!
Ready to start planning the outstanding downtown Harrisburg high school senior portraits your teen deserves? Contact Karissa Zimmer Photography today.
Senior photography is a hallowed tradition that creates a lifelong memento of this incredibly unique milestone in your teen’s life. Every photographer works a bit differently, though, so it’s important to ask the right questions to know what to expect from the experience. As you prepare to book your Camp Hill high school senior portraits, make sure you’re asking these important questions.
High School Senior Boy Photography
How Will You Customize My Teen’s Camp Hill High School Senior Photo Session?
Senior portraits shouldn’t be cookie-cutter copies with the same poses and styles from person to person. These portraits are all about representing your young adult and who they are at this time in their life, so make sure your photographer will customize their session accordingly. For each of my clients, I customize their session based on their interests, activities, and personal aesthetic.
What Should I Bring to My Teen’s Photo Session?
Be sure to make a list of items your photographer recommends that you bring to your senior’s portrait session. That will include all the obvious items, like outfits and accessories as well as anything you might need to touch up their hair or makeup. Along with all this, though, I ask my seniors to bring any props that will help their portraits suit them. That can include anything that represents their interests – musical instruments, sports jerseys, and so on.
What Finished Products Will I Receive?
Before you book your senior portrait session, make sure you know what you’ll have in hand when all is said and done. Does your photographer work with you to design and order quality products like prints, framed portraits, albums, and so on? Or will you only receive digital files? As a full-service photographer, I guide my clients through every part of the process including ordering, sourcing, and delivering printed products so you know that you’ll have prints you can treasure and enjoy.
Booking Your Camp Hill High School Senior Portraits
Ready to get the ball rolling for your teen’s Camp Hill high school senior portraits? Book a senior photo session with Karissa Zimmer Photography today.
If you have a favorite photographer or photographer friend in your life…check on us. We are not ok! It is a very scary time for all of us small business owners. But, there are ways you can help support us in this time of crisis. If you’re not able to shop and spend with us, keep us in your thoughts and prayers! In addition, please, please share our social media posts, leave a glowing Google review, or tag us in your favorite photo that we took. These little things all help so much more than you can imagine!
Like many photographers, my slow season is usually ending as soon as the first blooms start to break the dead of winter. It’s the time for fresh new life and outdoor maternity photos, family portrait sessions, pictures of children happily playing outside. I am usually on bloom “look out” and casing out my favorite locations for those beautiful tree blossoms that make for the perfect maternity, senior or family photography session. This is a time I look forward to every year as do many of my clients. This year is so very different. And so very scary too.
Small Businesses Need Your Support
I am blessed in so many ways. I thank God everyday that I am able to do what I love as my job! However, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for this COVID crisis. Many of you know that I am a solo mom of an awesome 12 year old daughter and that my photography business is my (typically-MORE than) full time job. It’s my livelihood – my bread and butter. Not being able to make a living for (at this point) over a month is tough. And to kick, most little businesses like mine have not yet seen a penny of our government’s promised help. I know there are many, many people walking in my shoes right now. Certainly, I am not alone! I want to be here to see you again when dust settles. And I want to connect and capture the moments that mean the most to you. Not only do I miss my clients and doing what I love so much, I miss being able to make a living to provide for my daughter and I. The good news is, there are lots of ways you can help support the photographer in your life! Some of them costing $0!
How You Can Support Your Photographer during this crisis:
1. Buy Products
Remember that extra piece of wall art or album that you loved so much and wanted to add later? This is a perfect time to invest in an additional product/s from your previous session! It’s also a fantastic way for you show your support monetarily…and to purchase something beautiful that you and your children will have forever. Need to see your album layouts or images on your walls again? No problem. Let me know and I will create new wall mock-ups for you or provide you with the ones you saw during your ordering session. I would be happy to Skype screen share and walk you through the ordering process again to help you make the perfect selections!
2. Purchase a gift certificate to use at a future session
Do you already have a session booked with me or know that have your memories captured every year by “yours truly”? You can purchase a gift certificate in any amount to use toward portrait products at your future ordering session! It never expires and gets you a jump start on your order…and helps support your favorite photographer during these crazy times!
3. Leave a Great Review
Google reviews are literally worth their weight in gold! For every positive review I receive, not only does it help attract potential amazing clients (like you!), but Google thinks I’m the bees knees and puts me higher up in search results. Lets be real, when is the last time you ventured past the first page of search results?!
4. Engage on/share social media posts
Let’s be honest, no one has a lot on their daily calendar right now anyways, and there is a pretty good chance you’re on your phone scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. Likes, comments and shares are are all super helpful and show that you care about your photographer! Commenting and spreading the love helps our posts stay relevant and could introduce us to potential clients that you’re connected with on social media.
5. Refer me to your friends
A referral of friends and family is the greatest compliment you can give your photographer! If you’re not in the position to spend on a portrait product from a previous session or towards your future session, maybe you know someone who is looking to update their family pictures or add some art to their walls. Referring your friend or loved one to hire me as their photographer is showing me that you trust me and my work so much that you want someone you care about to experience working with me. That means the world.
Thank you to all of my amazing clients for your love and continued support. Not only now, but all the times you’ve trusted me to capture your memories and supported my little business in the past.
Love,
Karissa
To contact me about purchasing a product or gift certificate to use toward future products you can reach out to me via phone or text at 717-991-7414 or send me a message HERE.
Karissa Zimmer Photography is a Camp Hill PA photographer specializing in Newborn, Maternity, Family and High school senior portraits. She services all of Central PA including Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Hershey, Carlisle, and surrounding areas.
High School Senior Pictures near Hummelstown Pa | Emma’s Senior Photo Session – Part TWO
High School Senior Pictures near Hummelstown Pa | Emma’s Senior Photo Session – Part TWO. Emma’s senior pictures were EPIC. Emma has one very ambitious dad. Because, how many parents do you know that would haul their child’s piano to a field for a photo session? He was determined to have his daughter’s number one passion captured exactly how she envisioned it. Together, we came up with a plan to carry out this vision to showcase Emma as the musician she is! AND yes, this took some very careful planning. Summer evening thunder stroms were our biggest obstacle and enemy during this part of Emma’s session. And it sure did involve some scheduling, re-scheduling and sitting in our cars to wait out the storms. BUT determination and persistence won and Emma has some of the most gorgeous senior picture memories – I must say so myself!
Not only is Emma a pianist, but she also sings! Again, we were total obstacle dodgers and improvisors. We had a plan to capture her love for singing in her church choir, but our plan didn’t go as planned. And I couldn’t be happier because we ended up with some of my favorite shots from my backup plan! How awesome are these shots?
It’s my passion to capture your passions. It’s makes my heart so full and happy to be able to connect with my senior portrait clients and to showcase their individual personalities. I believe you should feel beautiful inside and out and your senior pictures should reflect that.
2021 Seniors – Start planning your session now.
Are you going to be a 2021 senior next year? Now is the time to start thinking about your senior pictures! I’d love to connect with you. I want to learn all about you and your passions so that I can capture images that will mean something to you forever. We’ll carefully plan to capture your vision and i’ll share my own thought and ideas with you! Let’s chat about making some magic with your senior photos and reserve a date just for you. To get started, send me a quick message HERE.
Connect with me on INSTAGRAM to catch more senior picture peeks and other fun images!
