'Selfie' profile photos
A few schools that we are working with have opted for selfies instead of regular profile pictures for their 2014 yearbook. We think this is a great idea as the selfie is so 'of the moment' that it really adds to the essence of capturing what's relevant in the lives of today's school leavers, which after all is what a yearbook is all about!
If this is something that you like the idea of and would like to try out for your book, we have a few top tips...
Quality - remember that not all cameras are created equal, and a lot of front facing smartphone cameras are quite low resolution compared with regular cameras. Pick a good camera and if possible use it for all of the photos.
Consistency - firstly choose whether you want all of the photos to be similar or whether you would like them to reflect the individual. If you want them to be similar pick a place and time that everyone can get to (a particular classroom at lunchtime for example) and get people to come to you to take the pictures.
Composition - try to keep the subject central in the image, so none of the face is cropped from the image.
Personality - selfies give individuals the opportunity to express their personalities, so you might want to offer people the opportunity to dress up or include props in the images.
Move Around - if you choose not to take the photos all with the same background you could do them in the places that people spend most of their time at lunch or break, for example some might gather in the library, others in computer rooms, football pitches or the field. This way to get to include other memories of your environment as well as the people themselves.
Take Charge - asking people to take their own photos and send them to you might sound like an easy option, but the reality is that the majority of people either won't bother, or will send something that is poor quality or badly composed. The easiest option will be to have people come to you...
Expand on the Theme - you could even take staff selfies for their comments, or group selfies for your committee page!
These are just a few of our thoughts, feel free to comment and share your own ideas!