Senior portraits are all about capturing your personality and celebrating an important milestone. However, you do not have to do the entire experience alone! Scheduling group senior portraits at Bernal Ranch Park with a close friend is a great way to make your session more fun, relaxed, and natural.
You will still have plenty of time for individual senior portraits. However, having a friend there gives us even more opportunities for candid moments, genuine smiles, and photographs that document your friendship during senior year.
Why Take Senior Portraits With a Friend?
Being in front of the camera can feel a little awkward at first. That is completely normal. One of the biggest advantages of scheduling your senior portraits with a close friend is that you have someone there who naturally makes you laugh and helps you relax.
Instead of feeling like you need to pose for every photograph, you can talk, walk, joke around, and interact with each other. These little moments often lead to some of my favorite images from the session.
Of course, we will also take plenty of posed photographs. You can expect a good mix of individual portraits, photographs together, and candid images that feel natural.
Most importantly, each senior still gets their own time in front of the camera. Think of it as two senior portrait sessions combined into one fun experience!
Plan 90 Minutes for Group Senior Portraits at Bernal Ranch Park
For group senior portraits at Bernal Ranch Park, I recommend scheduling a 90-minute session.
Having that extra time gives us the flexibility to photograph each senior individually without feeling rushed. We can also take plenty of photographs of both seniors together.
A 90-minute session also gives you time to change outfits.
Bernal Ranch Park has restrooms on site, which makes outfit changes much easier. You may want to start with a dressier outfit and then change into something more casual. Or, you can bring two completely different looks that show different sides of your personality.
Because we have plenty of time, an outfit change does not have to feel rushed. We can photograph one look, take a quick break to change, and then continue with a different backdrop or area of the park.
Parents and Family Members Can Join the Session
Your senior portrait session does not have to include only the seniors.
Parents, siblings, and other family members are welcome to jump into a few photographs too.
Senior year is a big milestone for the entire family. If Mom and Dad are already coming along for the session, we can easily take a few family portraits while everyone is together and dressed nicely.
These do not have to take up a large portion of the session. We can spend most of our time focusing on the seniors while setting aside a few minutes for photographs with parents, siblings, or the entire family.
It is an easy way to get a little extra variety from your session.
Evening Is the Best Time for Senior Portraits at Bernal Ranch Park
For the best light, I recommend scheduling senior portraits at Bernal Ranch Park in the evening.
The exact session time changes throughout the year because sunset can vary quite a bit from season to season. Ideally, I like to schedule the session so that we finish approximately 15 minutes before the sun sets.
This allows us to take advantage of the softer evening light as the sun gets lower in the sky. It also gives us enough light to move around the park and create a variety of photographs without rushing at the very end.
When planning your session, you can check the exact sunset time for your date using the San Jose sunrise and sunset calendar from Timeanddate.
Once we know when the sun will set, we can plan the session around the best light.
Bring Outfits That Feel Like You
One of the best things about having 90 minutes is the ability to create different looks during the same session.
For example, you could begin with a dress, blazer, or another slightly dressier outfit. Then, for your second look, you might change into jeans and a favorite top, a varsity jacket, or something else that feels more casual.
The goal is not to wear something just because it looks good in photographs. Your senior portraits should still feel like you.
The same goes for your friend. Your outfits do not need to match. However, coordinating the overall level of dressiness can help your group photographs look cohesive.
Make Your Senior Portrait Session Part of the Memory
Years from now, senior portraits will remind you of much more than what you looked like during your final year of high school. They can bring back memories of your friendships, personality, interests, and what this stage of life felt like.
That is one reason I love the idea of taking senior portraits with a close friend.
You get beautiful individual portraits to celebrate your senior year, but you also walk away with photographs of a friendship that was an important part of that experience.
Group senior portraits at Bernal Ranch Park give us plenty of time to create individual portraits, photograph multiple outfits, include parents or family members, and capture relaxed photographs with your friend.
Most importantly, the session gets to be fun.
If you and a close friend are graduating and would like to schedule senior portraits together, contact me to start planning your session at Bernal Ranch Park.
