This past week I spent a few days in the small town of West Point, Georgia, photographing a reasonably new college at Point University.

Colleges need strong images to sell their campus life to prospective students and parents.

If you need to recruit, you must show and tell your story. Photos will be a great way to convey what it looks like and feels like to study or work with you.

If you want to do this type of photography, then master lighting. Know how to use off-camera flash and reflectors to make the light work for you.

What A Professional Photographer Provides

Now compare that top photo to the one below. Can you see the difference?

The difference is the light on the subjects. The photographer added light to the people to make them pop out in the photo.

The majority of the students play a sport. Approximately seventy percent of those who helped us with the photos were athletes.

With approximately 500 students, you get to know everyone pretty quickly.

Whenever I went to make a photo, we needed to add some light to the image. There are a couple of reasons for this, but almost everyone can understand that they have already been shooting lots of photos with their phones and could tell from the results that they wanted something better.

I loved doing a lot of portraits of the students. My favorite during my time was these three volleyball players, who you could tell had become good friends.

The town welcomed the school a few years ago. Many of the buildings were donated to the school, like this house they use for Alumni events.

Every school needs to show its dining facilities. I always notice that if the food is good, the conversations are also good. If it isn’t, then they are looking to leave soon.

Today I think every college must also show some places to hang out and get coffee.

While seeing classrooms is essential, people want to know what to do outside of class, like playing pool with friends.

How big are your classes? That is always something I try and show through photos.

Now the wide shot shows quickly how small their class size is. For most classes, you also want to see engagement.

I encourage all my clients that I need time for these moments to happen. I try and schedule about 20 minutes to be in a classroom to get those moments of engagement. You have to be there long enough that the students relax and then for a moment to happen. It would be best if you had a few moments from each classroom to pick your recruiting guide.

Every school has a few unique things to offer. For example, this school has a network of churches for those students who want to do Biblical studies and have a chance to work in the local churches. Some work as pastors or youth leaders, for example.

I kept this photo as an example of why using flash makes a difference in the photo.

The school is right on the Chattahoochee river and has parks for the students to enjoy.

Some of the education students have internships in town with different schools. For example, here is one student working in early childhood education.

Some students are in the downtown of West Point, Georgia, which offers shopping and restaurants.