What does a family portrait shoot involve?

I promise I won’t make you say cheese! 

First thing’s first, a family portrait shoot is incredible fun. If you’ve never had one done before then you really should; round up your mum, dad, the kids, the grandparents, even bring along your pets if you want to! I’ll take your family into the great outdoors and capture some beautiful family portraits for you that you’ll treasure forever.

I confess to not being a huge fan of shooting in a studio, that white background has never really done anything for me. I remember taking my twin boys for a family shoot about 7 years ago (before I set up my photography business) and I found the whole thing rather stressful. Granted, at the time my boys were only 18 months old so they weren’t particularly cooperative, I spent most of the time trying to keep them still hoping they’d look towards the camera. In my experience, children are more comfortable outside so their naturally inquisitive nature can shine through – they’ll pick up leaves and twigs, point at birds in the trees, throw stones into streams, feed the ducks…it’s just miles more fun and I honestly think I get better, more natural photographs when doing a family portrait shoot outdoors.

A successful family photo shoot will involve input from you and me, sure I’ve already got plenty of suitable locations that I know, I’ve already got loads of ideas for cool shots but I really love it when my customers come to me with ideas themselves, I love it when they suggest locations for the shoot, I love it when they talk about costumes and props. I strongly believe that the best shoots are the result of both parties getting involved.

I’ve found that photo shoots with smaller babies (0-6 months) tend to be more successful indoors as they’ve not got the often cold weather to deal with, plus it’s sometimes easier to capture shots inside using things like beds as props. A home or garden shoot is sometimes preferable so of course, I can accommodate this for you.

I charge £179 for a family shoot; for this you get a shoot lasting around 2 hours and as a general rule I deliver approximately 20 fully edited images on a USB stick. Some photographers charge a lower sitting fee but will then charge you extra for each image you want, there is nothing wrong with that particular business model but I prefer to charge a set fee so you know in advance what the cost to you will be.

I also sell beautifully designed gift vouchers so you can give the gift of a family shoot for Christmas or a birthday present.

So what about getting prints of your photos? I don’t include prints in my family shoot packages as it’d mean I’d have to charge you more money and I want to keep my prices as affordable as possible so I only charge for my time. There are a couple of professional photo labs that I recommend to my customers; now I have nothing against the likes of Boots, Asda, Max Spielman etc but if you are going to invest in a professional photographer to take your family photos then I strongly believe you should get the images printed by a professional photo lab. My two favourite professional labs are Sheffield based Peak Imaging and Whitewall who operate from Berlin, Germany. Both of these labs provide prints of exceptional quality on a variety of paper stocks and canvases, to give you a rough idea of cost, they both charge around £11 for an A3 sized print which you can then pop in a frame yourself to suit your tastes and home decor. Give them a go, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

So there you go, please feel free to have a nosey through my family portrait shoot portfolio…get in touch if you want to book me…I promise not to make you say cheese!