South Carolina
Senior portraits · Charleston
In short
Senior portraits in Charleston starts at $395: 90 min on location with a photographer who works in Charleston, and 40 edited photos delivered to a private gallery within 5 business days.
Why choose Senior portraits in Charleston?
Senior portraits in Charleston are a 90-minute session across two or three locations, priced from $395 with 40 retouched photographs and the yearbook crop supplied to the school’s specification. Charleston gives a senior three very different backdrops within twenty-five minutes of each other: brick and ironwork downtown, live oaks in a city park, and open beach at Folly. Most seniors choose one of each, because the yearbook frame and the frames a senior actually shares are rarely the same picture.
Worth knowing about Charleston
The City of Folly Beach treats any photo shoot in city limits as commercial filming: even a reduced-impact shoot of fewer than 10 people needs a City of Folly Beach business license and an application filed 10 business days ahead with proof of insurance. The city encourages shoots only between September 15 and March 15, which happens to match the senior-portrait season, and it prohibits nighttime lighting on the beach from May 1 to October 31 for turtle nesting, so a fall session there ends at sunset without flash.
What does the session in Charleston look like?
- Upper King Street storefronts
- Painted brick, storefront glass and street energy — the frame seniors post, rather than the one the yearbook prints.
- White Point Garden
- Live oaks and open shade at the tip of the peninsula, for the clean head-and-shoulders yearbook frame.
- Folly Beach, east end
- Wide sand looking toward the Morris Island Lighthouse, for the last location of the session at sunset.
What does senior portraits in Charleston include?
- 40 retouched photographs
- Two to three locations in one session
- Unlimited outfit changes within the session
- Yearbook-format crop supplied to the school’s specification
- Private online gallery within 5 business days
- Print release for personal use
FAQ — Senior portraits in Charleston
Can senior portraits be taken on Folly Beach near Charleston?
Yes, with the paperwork the City of Folly Beach asks of every photo shoot: a city business license and an application filed 10 business days ahead with insurance documentation. Folly Beach encourages shoots between September 15 and March 15, so a fall senior portrait session there fits the city’s preferred window. Dunes are off limits and glass is not allowed on the beach.
When do Charleston seniors usually book senior portraits?
Late summer through November of senior year, when yearbook deadlines arrive and the Lowcountry heat breaks. In Charleston, a September or October session in the last 90 minutes before sunset gives a senior the downtown street, a live oak and the beach in one booking, with 40 retouched photographs delivered within five business days.