Photo day creates a lot of buzz and excitement for students. For school staff and administrators, though, let’s be real – it can sometimes be a bit of a hassle.

It doesn’t always have to be that way! By partnering with the right school photography company, photo day can actually be an absolute breeze for you and your staff. If you don’t believe us, it’s probably time to start looking around for a new provider.

Keep reading to find out what you deserve from a photography partner, so you know what to look for.

You forget photo day is happening…

…because that’s how stress-free your photography partner makes things. Their resourceful photographers have everything covered, and you don’t need to step in for anything.

A good school photography partner has your back and will only engage you when absolutely necessary. They understand how busy you are and do what they can to make sure photo day doesn’t cause you or your staff any headaches.

They take the work off your plate

It can be time-consuming ensuring everyone knows photo day is coming! A great school photo partner has all your photo day marketing covered: providing posters, flyers, and even templates for your school’s social media and newsletters.

The best school photography providers even proactively help you answer questions from parents. They have some sort of notification system in place to let parents know when photo day is and send out updates when proofs and orders are on their way. 

They keep your students’ data safe

Unfortunately, schools are becoming the next big target for hackers across North America. The state of Louisiana declared its first-ever state of emergency in 2019 after three of its school districts were victims of a cyberattack. 

While no organization can be completely immune to a cyberattack, it’s important to partner with a company that recognizes the importance of continually investing in secure systems, as cybersecurity is not a one-time investment. Choosing school vendors who prioritize data protection and security is one of the best ways to mitigate your risk of a data breach.

Need to find a great school photography vendor? Contact us to find out more about working with Edge Imaging!

School picture day is one of the most fun days of the year, but the pressure of taking the perfect photo can make it more stressful than it needs to be. After all, this photo is going to be in the yearbook!

With more than 13 years of experience photographing schools, we know the ins and outs of a great school photo. While we can’t guarantee perfection, we’ve compiled our list of top tips for taking an incredible fall school photo.

Start preparing a couple of weeks ahead of time

For those truly dedicated to taking the best school picture ever, preparing the night before is not enough.

Luckily, preparing for school pictures is not difficult.

If you think you might need to get a haircut, aim to do so about two weeks before your photo day. Not everyone likes the way their hair looks right after leaving the hairdresser – or the day after when the styling has been slept on or washed out – so leave yourself some time for your hair to start feeling natural again, and to get used to styling it.

Consider practicing your smile in front of a mirror. You might feel silly at first, but it’s a helpful strategy for getting your picture-perfect smile right on cue come photo day. Besides, it’s better to feel silly standing alone in front of your mirror than on picture day in front of the camera!

What to wear

The key to looking comfortable in front of a camera is, well, feeling comfortable! Choose an outfit that makes you feel awesome and emphasizes your personality. In our experience, bright colours and/or long sleeves help students to stand out against the background and draw attention to the face. 

If you know you’ll be photographed against a green screen background, be careful not to wear any green. Trust us, you don’t want to be a floating head against your background.

If you normally wear glasses, don’t feel worried about wearing them to the camera. Edge photographers are trained to reduce lens glare.

And most importantly…

Relax and have fun! Edge photographers are known to be awesome people. 🙂

Don’t miss out on anything photo day related! Sign up for reminders and notifications at photoday.edgeimaging.ca.

If you log on to any social media app, you’ll see your parent friends posting dozens of adorable snaps of their children. With the quality of these smartphone photos, filters, and pre-sets, it’s almost like everyone is a professional photographer.

Even with this technology right at our fingertips, students and parents alike are still excited every year for the back-to-school tradition of fall photo day. Fall school photos go back many decades, and in the early days, most families did not have access to a camera the way we do now. 

So why then, despite the increasing digitalization of our world, are school photos still so popular here in Canada? 

Why we love school photos

Whether your child is coming home from school with a school portrait of themselves against the timeless blue background, or a more modern green screen option, it’s clear that the tradition of school photos is alive and well, and here to stay.

School photos represent more than just another photo of your child. These photos represent a child’s journey into independence; that is, when he or she is off making memories and doing things without their parent or guardian being around.

School photos serve as a professionally captured documentation of a student embarking on the journey of a new school year. By the time they finish high school, each student has 14 years’ worth of photos of themselves in a similar pose, completing the story of growth through their school-aged years. 

The evolution of school photo day

Like with any art form, trends and fads in school photography styles have come and gone over the years. Even in just the last few decades, we’ve seen preferences change from the laser backgrounds – that were all the rage in the ’80s – to a wide range of green screen options. Green screen backgrounds are an exciting way to customize school photos, and let the students showcase some of their personality.

School photo products have changed a lot as well. What started out as just simple, printed photo sheets developed into fun paper products like calendars and montages, and now, school photos are incorporated into useful items like notebooks, mugs, and digital-only products.

In short, school photography has adapted to the times, using the latest technology to continue offering relevant and interesting products families treasure and use to encapsulate these precious school year moments.

The future of school photos

Through the rapid advancements of technology, school photos remain a popular mainstay. School photography fills a different need than iPhone photography does: leaving parents with a professionally documented memory of their child in their school years, a crucial life stage, and provides fun product options beyond the photo album (or rather, the smartphone photo gallery).

The school photo is a timeless tradition for students in Canada; paired with digital developments, the industry continues to offer increasingly innovative products to parents and students to bridge the desire for that traditional, year-over-year school photo with the desire for cool, fun items both students and parents like.

Browse our online products and order your school photos now!