Deciding Class Order

The best general practice when it comes to deciding order for individual photos is to proceed in the following order:

1. Waiting Parents/Children who are only present for photos
2. Infants
3. Toddlers
4. Preschoolers
5. Staff

There is a large degree of flexibility when it comes to individual photos. Our setup does not require modification to get through the children's photos so, to the photographer, the order of individuals is largely irrelevant. With that said, infants generally seem to be most receptive to photos first thing in the morning so it is best to get to them first. Also, they are the most difficult age category to keep clean so it is best not to leave them in their photo outfits longer than is necessary. As the age of the children increases they become more likely to remain clean and controllable so proceeding through the age categories in sequence often works best. 

We understand that in practice things may not be able to work out this way, there may be delays for children who haven't made it in yet, or a group may be outside playing when their turn comes around and may need extra time to bring the children in, change and clean them and come down to the photo room. It may be more efficient to move on to a group that is already inside and prepared and come back to the first group later.

The above is simply a suggestion and we are happy to work in whatever order you deem prudent. 

Individual Photo Process

When beginning the photo process it is best to keep the children in ratio and bring them to the photo area in groups. 

Infants: 1 Staff should bring down 3 infants secured in a stroller. The small ratio allows things to move along with some degree of speed and if one child finds the scenario too stressful they're unable to share their stress with the rest of the children in the infant room only the 2 other children in their photo group.

Toddlers: 1 Staff should bring 4-5 toddlers to the photo area as a group. Again, small groups reduce the likelihood that a single nervous child will affect the rest of the classroom.

Preschool: 1 Staff should bring 8 preschoolers to the photo area as a group. In this case limiting the group size to 8 helps to reduce rambunctiousness and distraction to the child being photographed. If the photographer has an easier time keeping the child's focus they can get a good photo faster and move on to the next child of the group.

In all cases it is best to swap the children out in groups rather than switching out individuals as photos progress. The distraction caused by constantly switching out children makes it more difficult to keep the attention of the child in front of camera and actually slows the process down.

Staff: Staff are by far the easiest to keep clean and happy. It is best to have them photographed last for 2 main reasons:

1. The photo day lighting setup is geared toward children, we have to raise our lights and background to photograph adults and it is best to switch the setup as few times as possible as it creates delays.
2. When staff photos are done at the end of the day they normally fall between 11:30AM and 12:30PM. In most cases this is when the children are sitting for lunch and staff are beginning their own lunch breaks. By having the staff come down one at a time and covering off for each other we can move quickly through staff photos with minimal disruption to lunchtime routine.

For information on handling different age groups during individual photos click the button below.

Group Photos

Group photos should be set for a specific timeframe. For the most part it is best to schedule group photos immediately before or after waiting parents are to have their child's individuals done. This prevents waiting parents from getting frustrated with delays and encourages families to have their children to the centre on time. 

Quick Points:

• The photographer will come to the children's rooms to do group photos so the staff should choose a wall in their room to use as a background.
• For toddlers and preschoolers the photographer will require chairs to compose the photograph. To determine the number of chairs take the number of children in the room and divide by 3 rounding to the nearest whole number.

Ie: 15 children = 5 chairs, 16 children = 5 chairs, 17 children = 6 chairs.

• It is best to place the children in the group photo immediately before taking the picture. Placing them too soon will cause them to grow restless and impatient.

The group photo process is relatively simple and you can get more specific information by clicking the button below: