Most importantly, choose a portrait photographer who will take the sort of photos you like, is good with kids (if you have them) and can tell your story in a way that you will love.
Getting professional portraits done could mean a significant investment.Some photographers will often have a low entry price special to give people an incentive to book now rather than “some day”(I’m not knocking that, we do it ourselves from time to time)It lets you save some money right on the front end and there is often little or no risk in the case that you don’t like any photographs at all.Be aware though, that if your photographer is any good, you will love a lot more photos than you anticipated, and the final price might be more than you at first thought you might spend.It is important that you are able to adjust your order, at time of order, if it is getting too spendy for comfort.The group of portrait photographers I am a part of will do all we can to make this easy for you, what is right for you is more important than a big order.(in Australia: Real Portraits Group)
Pricing can vary a bit but most professional photographers charge a session fee, and then per print, framed portrait, album etc that you order.Some offer digital files as an extra or as a product in itself.(note that printing the photo is not a big component of the total cost so there wont likely be huge discounts for digital files only) Next most common is packages, which usually offer more product for your money, which is great as long as it is the product you are wanting.At the time of writing my studio is trying out a package deal which has huge savings off the list price, and is being very well received so far.
Get a realistic idea of pricing by asking about other things you may want over and above a special offer. Ask about other available product options, there might be something available that you had not thought of.Ask if there’s a guarantee on the work, and if you don’t like any photos is there any costs involved?(not a likely situation if you chose someone whose work you like)
Family Portraits are far more than just an image documenting what your family looks like at a given point in time. Unfortunately I think far too many people are satisfied with just that, when it can be so much more.So what should a family portrait be?
Ideally, it should tell something about your family, it should tell your story.Your family is unique so your family portraits session is an opportunity to express that.Just while I am on that, it is important to note that the results are a collaboration between your family and the photographer as well as each other.So certainly feel free to tell the photographer what you like and ask about involving something your family loves into your portraits.
Usually it is most important for you to get a really nice photo of everyone together.Afterall, this one is not one you can do yourself very well, and is actually not very easy to do well, which is why you rarely see a great family portrait that was not professionally taken.You probably take a lot of photos of the kids yourself, which is great, but your professional family photo session is a great opportunity to get some to go towards a story telling set, and to get all the kids together as well.While we are at it, when was the last time mum and dad had a nice photo together?This is all part of telling your family story.When you think about it, there are a whole network of unique relationships within your family.Mother daughter, mother son, father daughter, father son, brother sister, brother brother, sister sister and so on.It doesn't hurt to get some more photos, whatever comes naturally is best.
When and how often should we get our family portraits ?Ideally, as often as you can, say at least once a year when the kids are young because they change very quickly and the relationships evolve as well.At the least when each baby is born and just after they can walk and a year or so after.Of course it is not the cheapest thing in the world, each time you get professional portraits it is going to cost at least a few hundred or even into four figures depending on what you get, but it is one of the few things these days which has a lasting benefit.Its an artwork which will be more valuable to your family as the years go by.Hopefully you will be filling in the blanks in between professional photos with heaps of your own family snaps as well, which is just as important.(more on that in a later post)
Well I have loads more to say on the subject and will continue later but if you are in the Brisbane area, please consider us to tell your family story:
