Plan ahead for great Prom Pictures

Nikon D3S, 24-120mm, ISO 200, ƒ/9, 1/60

The key to a great photograph of any kind has a great deal to do with the location. This is the time to start checking with your friends to see about possible locations for the photos before all the kids go off to the prom.

Here one of the parents had a lovely backyard with steps that made for wonderful "natural" risers.

Nikon D3S, 14-24mm, ISO 200, ƒ/9, 1/60

At some point this is the photo that will be made–the crew is all together for one big photo. Now this will most likely be the last photo since some will be running late.

I recommend using lights to be sure that you can see everyone's face without racoon eyes. Racoon eyes are from the overhead sun or even worst a backlit photo.

Here is the setup I did for all the photos:

I had six Alienbees B1600 lights. Four are in front with 65" umbrellas and two in the back pointed up to be sure the trees didn't go black. So many trees in the backyard actually created a dark canopy and using the strobes in the back helped to open up the shadows.

Nikon D3S, 24-120mm, ISO 200, ƒ/9, 1/60

Plan for the lens choice as well. I needed to move quickly so for all the photos except the huge group photo I used the Nikkor 24-120mm. This let me do couple shots and then quickly have a small group photo.

You see the evening of the prom they are not wanting to do photos all night long. They want to go to the prom. Pick a great location, put up your lights and then have a lens like the 24-120mm or multiple cameras with different lenses ready to go.

Proms are just a couple months away, but the best photos are the ones where the photographer takes the next two months to plan. You can rent lights if you don't have them. If you have never done this before then do a test run before the date.

Nikon D3S, 24-120mm, ISO 200, ƒ/9, 1/60