Hopefully, these first day of school picture ideas inspire you as you are setting up your own shots of your kids heading back to school. Back to school pictures are important. They become a keepsake to document the milestones of life. They are a way to share with friends the images of your children as they grow up. Just be on Facebook during the beginning of the year, and you will realize that the first day of school picture is important to families.
In capturing my back to school pictures, the main thing I wanted to establish was a tradition. I wanted to try and get similar shots each year.
The first year (kindergarten), I didn’t know a lot about photography. I had an idea. I tried it. It was a major let down. You know when you have an idea in your mind, and it doesn’t quite turn out the way you had hoped. There are a number of things wrong withe the pictures below. 1) It was hard to write well on the driveway. 2) It was a really sunny day so getting a picture with her eyes actually open was a miracle. 3) The shadows were hard. 4) It is awkward looking to have her laying down. 5) It’s just not a good picture.
I still liked the concept of having all of the information on the photo, but I decided to change my vision in first grade. We shot the picture in doors next to a blank wall. I decided to fill in the information in post picture editing. Does that concept baffle you a bit? It might be easier than you think. Free online editing tools like PicMonkey or Canva are what I generally use to edit my photos. They’re pretty straight forward to use, and I think you’ll easily be able to learn how to add text to your photos.
As you can see in the pictures above, my goal is to get a similar shot every year. I obviously forgot to have Abby turn her head as she was walking away from me this year. Bummer. For some reason, I had just remembered her walking way. Oh well. Next year. It was so fun for me to put together this post and see how Abby has grown over the years. I am excited to capture some of these same moments with Kenzie.
