PREPARING FOR YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION

WELCOME!

We want to thank you for trusting us as your family photographers. Our goal is to make the session fun and easy and most importantly, give you timeless portraits that your family and loved ones can enjoy for years to come. We have been photographing for going on 2 decades and throughout those years, we have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and insight on how to achieve great outcomes and photographs which is what we would like to share with you prior to your session. Here we go....

LOCATION

OUTDOOR SESSIONS: We will coordinate the location for your outdoor session with you ahead of time. In general, we like to complete outdoor sessions in the late afternoon/evenings to make best use of the beautiful light that time of day. We recommend dressing appropriately for the season and layering for your own comfort as well as choosing location appropriate footwear. If you wear glasses and have transition lenses, we recommend bringing a pair without transition lenses if you have them. More about clothing below...

CLOTHING CHOICES

What you wear is key for a successful session. Clothing complements who you are as a family, speaks to the environment in which the session is taking place, and coordinates with the home where final images will be displayed. Your style should be as unique as your family, so we’ve put together some clothing advice for a creative, comfortable session. What to wear...

For the whole family

* Be sure to plan your outfits completely a few days before your session. Here are some general rules of the road for making picture-perfect fashion decisions:

* Choose a palette of 3-4 colors and mix it up, including both pants and dresses. You want a cohesive feel, but without being overly ‘matchy-matchy’. Picture a page in a clothing catalog where everyone coordinates, but nobody stands out more than the rest.

* Generally, sleeveless shirts and shorts on adults tend not to flatter, but layered clothing is fabulous.

* Arrange your outfits ahead of time on a big bed, including accessories.

* Make sure all clothes are clean and pressed and on hangers a few days before your session.

* Remember, shoes must be clean and stylish, too.

Babies and Kids

* Newborns are sweet, sleepy bundles; keep things simple.

Choose:

~ solid onesies, simple cloth diapers or diaper covers, and plain swaddling blankets

~ knitted caps, which are adorable for a few images

~ a few special/classic props, like heirloom silver rattles

~ extra blankets for variety

Avoid:

~ grown-up clothes, with collars and buttons

~ socks, shoes, or big bows

* Babies and Kids can be bolder with color and style.

Choose:

~ to show off their fun style with layered clothing

~ non-fussy, casual clothes to keep kids comfortable and for natural expressions of their real personalities

~ fitted clothes

Avoid:

~ big bows, any sort of makeup or hairspray

~ baggy clothes

Adults

Choose:

~ clothes that flatter your body type and coordinate well with the rest of the group

~ solid colors, which usually photograph best

~ to have hair cut a week, or so, before the session (men)

~ to have hair styled before the session if that is important to you (women)

~ to have natural makeup that is slightly heavier than usual

Avoid:

~ dressy clothes, unless it is a formal event

~ sleeveless shirts and shorts, which tend to not flatter adults

~ logos and bold patterns

~ transition glasses-if you have clear lenses, consider wearing those instead

***We will gladly retouch boo-boos, scars, and blemishes if required. Our clients love this extra service.

THE SESSION

We like our sessions to be fun and as natural as possible as those two components lead to the best photo outcomes. During the session, we typically take traditional posed portraiture-you looking at the camera in various family combinations but we also like to photograph those in between moments that really speak to your personality and the relationships in your family.

If there is an activity that you as a family enjoy together, let us come photograph your family doing that...we will still make some portraits but also capture your love and family dynamics candidly.

AFTER THE SESSION

After your session, we will get to work on culling your images down to the very best of the best (typically between 40-60 images/session, then editing those images and getting them up into your gallery. Once they're ready, we'll be in touch to schedule your 24-hour slideshow window. When you get the slideshow link, we encourage you to make an event of it! Queue it up on your tv or a large computer screen and gather the whole family around (sound up!)... the first time you see your photos is always the best. You have the full 24 hours to really take in your photos and share them with any family you want. This 24 hour window is where you will get a sense of which photos you love and must have printed-it will help you make an informed decision about which collection is the best fit for your family. Once you've selected and paid for your collection, your gallery will open for thirty days, preloaded with your print credit and set for you to download the number of files that corresponds with your collection.

Downloading your files:
Once you've decided which images you'd like to use for your download credit (no need to choose if you go with collection C), we'd encourage you to do that immediately. The process is simple: select the images and use the down arrow in the upper right corner of your gallery - click on that and the system will walk you through the download process. The images will download as a zip file, which you can double-click on to expand. We suggest you make a second copy of the expanded files, then save the two copies to two different locations - we generally recommend that one copy be saved to an easily accessible drive (either on your computer or on an external hard drive), and that the other get saved to the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.).

Copyrights (and wrongs):
Once you've got your digital files in hand, you are free to print them when, where, and as often as you wish - you can use them to make holiday cards, share on your social media pages or personal blog, etc. The only things you can't do are related to the resale of your photos or use for commercial/business purposes. For instance, if you authored a book, you'd need additional permission to use one of the photos on the dust jacket, and you wouldn't be able to enter one of the photos into a contest and win prize money for it. Otherwise, you've got free reign.

Printing your images:
While everything that we offer in our store is printed in professional labs and guaranteed to be beautiful, we also recognize that you may want to print your images yourself, and thanks to those digital files, you absolutely can! We recommend mpix.com for online prints. Be sure to de-select any color correction options, and be sure to upload the original files you downloaded, not copies. The files you receive from us should allow you to print up to 20x30" at minimum.