15 first day of school photo ideas (and a yearly tradition)

The best first day of school photo is the one you can repeat every year: the same doorstep, the same spot, the same angle, so the series shows them growing up. Take that one first, before the morning gets busy, then add a few candids.

The yearly photo

1. The doorstep photo. Same door, same spot, every year. Mark where you stand.

2. The chalkboard or letterboard. Grade, age, teacher and "when I grow up I want to be...".

3. Holding last year's photo.

4. Next to the same tree or fence post, so you can see the height change.

5. First and last day. Same pose in June.

Candids

6. Walking away with the backpack. From behind, the backpack looking huge.

7. The bus arriving.

8. Holding hands at the school gate.

9. Sibling hug before they go.

10. Breakfast before school.

Details

11. New shoes.

12. The packed lunchbox, top-down.

13. Name labels on everything.

14. Small hand in a big hand.

After school

15. The pick-up hug. Then the same chalkboard for "favourite part of today".

How to keep the same frame every year

• Mark the spot with a small sticker or note in your phone: where you stand, which lens and how far.
• Use the same zoom. 1.5x or 2x from the same distance.
• Same time of morning for similar light.
• Camera at the child's chest height, not yours.
• Use a guide. The Portrait 1 guide centres a full-body frame, so each year lines up with the last.

Frame the same shot every year

slay overlays composition guides on your live iPhone camera, which makes it easy to line up the same frame every September.

Get slay on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6807513456?utm_source=slaycamera&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=first-day-of-school-photo-ideas