If you're in charge of making arrangements for class picture day at your school, you may be under a lot of stress to ensure that the day goes smoothly.
Class picture day is a big project and requires cooperation and communication among many different faculty and administrative staff members. It also requires collaboration with outside professional photography staff.
To be sure that your school picture day goes as smoothly as possible, avoid the following five mistakes:
Trying to get all class pictures taken too quickly
Photographing every student, faculty member, and class group is a big project. You need to schedule adequate time for everything and be patient.
Remember that class pictures are a keepsake that students will carry with them for a long time into the future. You don't want photographs to be rushed because then they may be lower in quality.
Ask class photography professionals that you hire for input on how much time things will take and plan accordingly for the best results.
Failing to provide all the necessary information to photographers in advance
Your photographers are going to need a lot of information from you to properly handle the organization tasks for which they are responsible on picture day. Your photographer needs to have a list of all students grouped together by class.
It's best to get this information to your photographer(s) before picture day so that plans and arrangements can be made. Sending this information in spreadsheet form is generally the most convenient way to do it for most photographers.
Failing to arrange for assistants to work with photographers
If possible, you should try to have staff members work to assist photographers on picture day.
Remember that photographers have a great deal of experience handling picture day needs of educational institutions. As such, you should instruct staff members who are assisting in the process to listen to photographers in getting each class in and out of the picture taking area.
Not putting some time into the schedule for potential holdups and general turnaround
Be forgiving in your scheduling. It's probably a good idea to include some time cushioning in your scheduling for holdups and turnaround between classes.
It's not always easy for photographers to get that perfect shot quickly. That's especially true if you're dealing with young students. Put enough time into your schedule to deal with unexpected obstacles that come up.
Not communicating enough with photographers
Don't underestimate the enormity of the job your photographer(s) is responsible for on picture day. Make sure you keep the communication channel constantly open between yourself and your photographer(s) to deal with things that come up on picture day and to stay posted on how picture day is progressing.
