Calling a book a “Master Guide” for anything might seem a little presumptuous, and, while I wouldn’t go so far as to call this the complete guide to senior’s photography, there is certainly enough meat in the text to make this book a helpful addition to the bookshelf of anyone doing seniors portraits.

The Wacker family has been photographing since 1906, and has been photographing seniors since 1962, so they’ve got a little bit of knowledge on the matter. However, the nature of senior photography has changed over the last decade, so that history might lead one to suspect that the photography here would be a little … out of date. Far from it. The Wackers have managed to bring all the technical skill and proficiency learned over the last five decades to bear on their photography while still adapting to new styles and new trends. In fact, the key idea behind the book is that “Senior portrait photography is always in a state of flux. Image concepts that thrilled seniors one year may be out of style the next—and the tools needed to create those images, to present them, and even attract new clients, are changing all the time. As a result, senior portrait photographers who want to stay in the game must know how to create top-quality work at every session—and do it year after year.”

Okay, so some of those trends might seem outdated already, less than a year after the book was published. But that’s okay. Better to be trying new stuff and figuring out what works and (just as important) what doesn’t than to keep doing the same old thing.

Visually, this book is a treat, showing off some phenomenal images that have been taken by this photographic family over the years. But it’s an Amherst book, and great photos are to be expected. More importantly, the text is a brain dump of information on senior photography offering advice on marketing and sales and props for the studio and posing and shooting outdoors and along the way, offering a couple neat tips and tricks, like the flaming baseball bat and the mobile cloud.

As mentioned, this is not the complete book on photographing seniors. There’s always more information that can be added, and at 124 picture-filled pages, there isn’t *that* much room for text. However, the information contained here is top notch. Even the section on retouching (usually a section that makes me hang my head in frustration) had some interesting, helpful tips.

The only thing that really bugged me about this book was the sometimes horrific design on display in the ads and displays presented. Then again, I design beautiful, elegant ads and shoot a dozen seniors a year, while the Wacker’s make hand over fist, so maybe the rainbow gradient over text (brr) works.

Master Guide for Photographing High School Seniors
Dave Wacker, Jean Wacker, J.D Wacker
Amherst Media

BONUS: they have a kindle edition! Rare in photography books these days.

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