Taking Senior portraits

Senior portraits are costly just for a picture if you go to any professional photography company. I have access to a high quality camera but no extra special lenses and such.Me and a few friends want to take our own pictures, but have no experience whatsoever. How should we take them? Any major tips on poses and such? Also, are there any free editing programs online which can slightly filter the pictures easily without ruining the quality of the picture? Perhaps if I wanted to add minimal light or filter adjustments like how many iphone apps include. Or something similar?

Have you checked your local Craigslist?
Chances are you can find an enthusiastic amateur who will take very good photos for a fraction of the price ( I used to be one of those).

Other than that, we can't tell you in a few sentences what others have written many, MANY full books about. You can't gain years worth of knowledge and skill in a few lines/minutes.

You have to either open your wallet, or make the effort to do a lot of research and learning.

More important than lenses are your light sources and your background.

Look at some photos that you like and understand how they are good. The background complements but does not distract from the modeling subject. I like dark, royal colors--purple, maroon, navy--with texture. A curtain or something speckled or roughly painted.

You are creating three-point lighting: One light on your back ground to give the impression of dimension and 2 lights on the subject-- a main light on your good side and "fill" light on the other side. There's contrast but not too much. Experiment. If you get good at this, you can advertise your new skills and take photos for aspiring actors and models.

The secret is: Understand that is your job to make the subject look good. Make him or her feel good first. Feel good yourself. Have beverages. Exercise your eyes and face. Use a little make up, even on boys (hey, Hollywood does it… ).

There are few more rewarding tasks than making another human feel beautiful. Congratulations of your D. I.Y. Approach.

Another example of 'I have a Pro camera, therefore I can take pics like a Pro'. As Selina has said it's not as simple as that, you can't buy good images just by buying good gear.

You wouldn't expect to be a concert pianist just because you bought a Steinway piano. But for some reason people seem to think that Photography is easy and all you need is the gear. It drives all of us Pro photographers here on YA nuts!

What you are buying from the Pro photographer is their many years of study, practice and gathering and applying knowledge, not something that you can learn in 5 minutes.

You hire a plumber for their knowledge of plumbing, you hire a concert pianist for their skill in playing a piano, you hire a photographer for their knowledge and skill in Photography. It's no different.

You pointed out some of the reasons why professional photographers cost more. They have the gear, they have the experience, they have the knowledge. You can try taking pictures of each other, but unless you know how to use your camera, you're stuck using automatic mode. How good your pictures turn out may not mean much to you now, but 5, 10, 15+ years from now its going to make a world of difference. I would have loved to have really good pictures back when I was in high school. If you can, try and get a photographer who will do outdoor portraits. They can be a lot nicer and timeless than studio portraits.

If you want cheap, check craigslist. Right now I'm building a portfolio (different from my flickr page) so I surely would have taken these photos at a subsidized price. Try to join a photography forum and see if there's anyone in the area.