Yearbook Photography
21 October 2015
Now this is a big issue in yearbook land. Choosing which photos to use in your yearbooks will impact on how your finished book appears massively so it’s best to be selective and take a little time to make a plan. Most importantly, you need to decide if you want to include any professional school photographs in your book. You will need permission from the photographers in writing to use their images in your yearbook so it’s best to start this process early to avoid delays. Some photographic companies will charge you for use of their images in your book as they own the copyright for them so you’ll need to factor any charges into your budget and make a decision accordingly 
Lots of photography companies that work with schools will provide low res proofs for their school data bases and we cry a little bit every time one of these images is uploaded. As they are such low resolution, they nearly always come out blurry, pixelated or both and the photography company can charge for these images so avoid this altogether and arrange a photography session in school. Nominate someone to take everyone’s photo or ask a teacher to help you get a more formal set up using your school stage and spotlights Alternatively, choose your favourite photo of you from home. Over your lifetime, you’ll have amassed hundreds (if not thousands!) of photos of you so pick your best shot and use this as your main profile image! Simple!
Some yearbook templates do support multiple images so you can choose to include more photos of you and your friends from over the years. We often see people using a photo of them now and one of them as a baby for example to show how they’ve grown over the years which works really well and gives everyone a laugh on hand out day. When using images from back in the day, you’ll notice the quality wont be as sharp as more recent images- this is largely the result in improved camera equipment over the years but if you’re scanning old photos, be sure to scan them at the highest resolution setting for best results
Whatever you decide to do, do communicate with your yearbook coordinator so they can help with your plans! If you have any questions about professional images, do get in touch with us and consult the copyright notification on the upload pics page