Portrait F.a.q.

The answers to some of your frequently asked questions regarding portraits and prints.

When we book you for our session, will we actually be getting you, or do you send an employee to photograph our event?

For every single event and portrait booked with our company, you’ll have our owner and principal photographer, Rachel, as your photographer, not a person you’ve never met/spoken with. We too have heard the horror stories about photographers and other service providers who secure an event with clients, and then hire and send someone the client has never met for the actual day of the wedding or event instead of showing up themselves. This is definitely not the case with us. Depending on the size and scale of your booked event, you might have one or two of Rachel’s assistants in addition to her, but all of our staff members are personally hired and trained/vetted by Rachel before being authorized to work at any event booked by our company. Rest assured, when you book us for your event, you don’t have to worry about a stranger showing up on your important day! Rachel and her team will be with you every step of the way to deliver a personalized professional experience, from the initial booking of your event, to the pre-planning, to the photography and the post-production!

How soon after our session will our portraits be available to view online?

Generally it takes about 2 weeks for us to prepare and upload your images, depending on our current workload. We will give you an idea of when your gallery will be ready when we’re done with your session, and we will be in contact with you throughout the post-production process as needed to keep you up to date on the status of your album.

When is payment due for our session?

Unless otherwise agreed upon, your payment will be due in full on or before the date of your session. A deposit is required to hold the date of your session and this non-refundable; however, we know that life happens and sometimes schedules change, so if you do experience something that causes your session to be postponed (illness, weather, etc), your deposit is transferable to your rescheduled session. All details on the deposit amount and process will be communicated to you during your consultation. If need be, you can pay off your balance in installments with no additional interest or finance charges added on; for more details on installment plans, just ask us.

What should we wear for our session?

During our conversations before your session, we’ll help you with this, but a general rule of thumb is to stick to solid colors and/or simple patterns, and wear colors that you like to see on yourself. The whole family doesn’t have to match exactly, but if you’re all in similar shades or color groupings (shades of greens and blues, etc) the photos will turn out better and you’ll be less distracted by the clothing. You are welcome to change your outfit during most photo sessions, so if you’d like to do some that are a bit more formal and some casual as well, you are welcome to do so. As far as makeup, feel free to wear it to your comfort level, but don’t cake it on too thick–remember that today’s camera equipment and lenses are designed to pick up rich accurate detail, which means that if you’ve piled on the foundation, you may look unnatural in the photos. A good guideline is to wear your makeup in a manner that you are comfortable with and that looks good to the naked eye–if you look in the mirror after applying your makeup and feel concerned that it looks over the top, you’re probably correct, and the camera will prove you right!

We’re interested in having portraits in an outdoor location but we’re not sure where. Can you suggest some places in the area that might be nice for portraits?

We can! We photograph all over the greater Orlando and central Florida area and we’d be happy to help you choose a location that’d be perfect for your portraits.

We would like to have portraits taken at our own home; do you provide this service?

Yes, we do! Many of our clients like to have their portraits taken in the comfort of their own home and we are happy to accommodate you with this. Generally, you are welcome to have your session take place in a couple of different locations, so if you’d like to do some at home and then head out to your favorite beach, park, or other location as well, that’s fine. (If the location change is more than 15 miles, we may charge a small additional fee to cover for our transportation costs.)

We want to bring props or other special items with us to our session. Is this allowed?

Of course! Feel free to bring props, favorite toys, things that define you or your family or stuff that you all love or do together (for example, we frequently photograph a family in which the mom and dad both went to the University of Florida, so they often bring footballs and UF Gator items to include in their yearly family photos). We’d be delighted to help you incorporate a few of your favorite things into your photos to give them that personal touch.

We’re taking family portraits of our whole group together, but we’re interested in having break-downs as well (just the kids, the baby alone, mom and dad together, etc). Is this okay, or will it cost us more to do different groupings within our portrait?

This is absolutely fine, and no, it won’t cost you any more! When we’re setting up for your portraits we’ll be sure to find out from you exactly what you’re looking for, including different groups and combinations that you’d like photographed within the group and the total number of your group. From there, we can play with different combos and poses to make sure we get all your shots in during your session.

Oh no! A member of the family is sick/the baby is teething/the car broke down/work called me in/the weather is bad…can we reschedule our session?

Absolutely. Life happens and sometimes, the best laid plans go awry…we take pride in being flexible when the unexpected comes up (and living in Central Florida, we know all about those pesky weather delays, especially in the spring and summer months). If something comes up that causes you to be unable to make it to your scheduled appointment, just let us know as soon as you’re aware of the conflict. We will get your session rescheduled for the next available date and time that works for you. Also, your deposit for your session, while non-refundable, can be transferred to your rescheduled session date. So don’t stress when the unexpected strikes…we’ve got you covered.

Will you provide me with the raw/unedited image files from my session?

Except in cases of low resolution unedited files for the purposes of choosing your initial photos (as in cases where you’re working with a tight deadline, such as needing headshots back quickly for an audition, etc), we do not provide the unedited or raw versions of your photos. We think of it like this: if you went for a great meal at a fantastic restaurant, you wouldn’t want or ask the chef to deliver the ingredients for your dinner to your table and expect you to assemble them yourself; part of your experience and expectation in that scenario would be to have the chef use his skills and talents to properly and thoroughly prepare your meal and deliver it to you ready to enjoy. That’s how we approach preparing your images and why we don’t deliver them to you unedited…we make sure every image is ready to show off for you when you receive it. We’ll do the heavy lifting of editing, perfecting, and polishing your photos so that all you have to do is enjoy them!

We are interested in having portraits of ourselves in our favorite local theme park. Can you do this?

Yes! We’re big theme park fans ourselves and we’d be happy to provide you with some fun photos of your family enjoying the sights, sounds, and attractions at your favorite park. Just let us know where you’d like to shoot and we can arrange it! Additionally, if you’d like to hire us to photograph your ENTIRE day at the park, we’re available for personalized vacation photography, too. For more information and pricing on this service, send us an e-mail.