Taking Back-to-School PhotosStephanie Elie captures this milestone annual event with the Tamron SP 24-70mm VC lens. |
Article by Jenn Gidman Images by Stephanie Elie |
It may only be the beginning of August, but parents are already starting to prepare for their children's return to the classroom. Although the time leading up to a brand-new school year can be a whirlwind of making school supply lists, shopping for clothes, and sneaking in final hours by the pool or at the beach, that first day back is always exciting for both parents and kids - and the perfect chance to take plenty of pictures that capture the emotion of those back-to-school moments. |
Photographer Stephanie Elie uses the Tamron SP 24-70mm VC lens to photograph her own two children during this special time. "My daughter's going into third grade this year, and my son's going into kindergarten," she says. "I love the range of the 24-70 for a photo session like this, especially the colors and details it's able to get. Plus, because I mainly shoot my back-to-school photos handheld, the Vibration Compensation is really useful - I can have pretty shaky hands!" |
Stephanie uses all-natural lighting to show off her eager young subjects on their first day. "The only time I'll use my flash to bounce a little light is if I'm doing a food shot inside in the evening, like I did with my daughter's lunchbox, which was the only photo I shot with the Tamron SP 90mm Macro lens," she says. "And for some of the outdoor pictures, like a series I did with the kids leaning on their textbooks, it was all natural light, but I used a reflector because the sun happened to be going in and out of the clouds." |
Stephanie photographs kids from different angles with a couple of objectives in mind. "I don't usually like to make it look like they're smaller than they are," she says. "I like to try to show things right at their eye level. At the same time, it's fun to show things from their perspective to tell a story - for instance, if they're standing with their backs against the brick wall of the school, I'd want to show how big the building is next to them and maybe get down a little lower. An image I did of a bunch of girls standing around talking was another example of where I got down low: I wanted to get a good view of them talking while still capturing their environment and backpacks and all the other stuff that was going on in the scene." |
Taking the traditional pictures that anchor every back-to-school album is one of Stephanie's initial goals during the back-to-school picture session. "You want to photograph your kids getting on the bus, maybe standing next to the same tree or mailbox they stand next to every first day of school," she says. "I've had my daughter hold a sign that has her grade on it. You could also have them wear the same article of clothing they wore the year before (though you could obviously only do this for a couple of years). That's something different that shows how much they've grown. I make sure to get my daughter tying her shoes and getting ready, a picture of her backpack and other school supplies - pretty much all the elements you think about when you think about the first day of school. If you're allowed, you can head up to the school and capture your child walking in with the other kids, on line to go into the classroom, and things like that."
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Letting the kids show off their back-to-school clothes and accessories (backpacks, lunchboxes, outfits) is another way to not only get great images, but also to help the kids relax in front of the camera. "Kids always remember what they wore on the first day of school," Stephanie says. "My parents always made such a big deal with clothes on the first day: We always wore brand-new everything, and that's what I do now with my kids. It's a fresh start! You can use the 24-70 to zoom in on a detail, like a pair of boots, or pull back to show off the whole outfit." |
After you take the more traditional back-to-school images, try to think of some outside-the-box (or outside-the-lunchbox, in this case) ideas to document this milestone. "I did a series of pictures outside where I had some of the kids lean on a stack of books, as well as one where I had one boy actually reading a book, which was cute," Stephanie says. "You can blur out the background nicely in those shots so you can still see the background (maybe the brick exterior of the school, your own living room), but the focus is on the child. I even shot my daughter's lunchbox in my kitchen the night before so she could remember what she took to eat on the first day." |
Stephanie doesn't necessarily pose her subjects on that first day back - she simply takes the kids' lead. "My daughter has this certain pose that she does in so many pictures, like the one where she's against the brick wall," she says. "That's basically her pose. Roll with that if your kids have a certain way they like to stand or act." |
If your young subjects need a little more direction but you don't want them to be too stiff, position them where you want them according to your lighting or compositional needs, but then engage in goofy behavior or conversation to loosen them up. "There was a group of girls at the school I knew a little better, and they can act really silly, so I was acting silly with them," Stephanie says. "We were kind of goofing around, and then I said, 'OK, just pretend you're hanging out, I'm not here, and talk about what you'd usually talk about with friends.' I did the same thing for two sisters I had positioned against a wall. I knew they were going out of town soon, so I asked them to talk about what they would be bringing on their trip. Once they struck up a conversation, I just had to wait for that moment when they were most relaxed and I could get a good picture." |
Older children are often easier to direct when it comes to a back-to-school session. "It's much simpler when they're older," Stephanie says. "I love the time between the age of 10 and when they start to get all teenage-y. It's the golden age where they follow instruction, you can have a great conversation with them, and you don't have to get too crazy-silly to evoke a reaction. For the images of the boy reading the book, he was such a ham, so it was a simple shoot. I just gave him a book and told him to pretend he was reading. He was a natural!" |
To see more of Stephanie Elie's work, go to www.bizzieliving.com and www.bizziephotography.com. |