Session Details

We look forward to creating artistic pictures of you and your family! If you would like to schedule an appointment, please see Contact section of this website. If you already scheduled your session,
below is information to help you prepare for your photo shoot.

Before the Session

Be sure to keep your child's nap schedule in mind when selecting your appointment time.  It's best to make sure to capture them at their happiest. This means, for example, a child is probably happiest after a good nap or after eating.

A short pre-session consultation (in person or on the phone) is recommended to plan for and prepare for the session. During the consultation we will discuss how you, your significant other, or your child want to appear in the photo, with which background, props, etc. We will also discuss your image preferences (i.e. color or black & white), and any specific poses you would like to try.

Clothing Details

What you wear is very important: it will affect the final outcome of the portraits as much as photo equipment and our skills as photographers. When choosing clothes for the session, remember to keep the style simple with no patterns, logos, words or pictures.

Black or white backgrounds are classic and most commonly used and requested. With black background, you will want to dress you and your children in dark solid color clothing.  We know most children don't own black clothing, but navy, green, burgundy, almost any dark color will do.  For a white background, dress them in light colored clothing.  Again, the clothes don't have to be white, a pastel or cream will look fine in black and white. (Bare feet also add a great touch to these looks!). Denim looks great with either black or white backdrop.

If you are doing a newborn or a young baby session, you won't need to bring clothing, as they are normally photographed nude or just in diapers. If your newborn does not like to be naked, please bring a simple onesie preferably in a light color.  You will need to bring several extra diapers, a blanket to wrap them in between shots, and a change of clothes for you.  Parents are often used as props for these types of sessions, so please come dressed in appropriate clothing.  For photographs against a black backdrop, at least one parent will need to be dressed in black.  If we use the white background, at least one parent will need to wear a white shirt and light colored pants or jeans.  

For group shots, be sure that everyone dresses in similar, complimentary outfits – same color clothing works best (i.e. everyone is wearing white shirts and blue jeans). If same color clothing is not possible, choose clothing that is all similarly dark or light. For teenagers and adults, long sleeved (below the  elbow) tops look best.

Feel free to bring your own props and toys, such as a favorite blanket, stuffed animal, or clothing item, to personalize your portrait. You can also bring multiple changes of clothing to allow for a variety of portraits, and looks.

The Session

A session can last anywhere from 1/2 hour to 1 1/2 hours, giving you and your children as much time as needed for breaks, snacks, diaper changes, etc. We will shoot as many frames as needed to ensure that we get all of the shots we want. Newborn sessions take the longest, sessions with one child are the shortest.

Viewing Proofs and Placing Your Order

Following your session, we review all of the images from the shoot and carefully choose a selection of the best images to be individually cropped, color corrected, and completely retouched before they are presented to you. Since this is a very manual and artistic process, it takes 2-3 weeks for photographs to be available for viewing or ordering. Once photographs are ordered, they are typically ready in another 2-3 weeks. The final set of photographs will include a unique blend of natural color, artistic color, black & white, and sepia tone images. We will contact you once your images are available for viewing.

Cropping

Not all size prints have the same proportion.  The proofs as you see them show the entire frame, but the portion of the frame visible on the final print depends on the size you order.  In particular, 8x10 and 16x20 prints are more square than the original frame, so it will be cropped quite a bit.  In most cases, an equal amount will be cropped off each end, but if we determine this will not make the best crop, it will be cropped by hand to give the best end result.