mini session - studio portraits
I am opening up another round of Spring mini sessions for Mother’s Day, so I thought I would do a little self Q&A post to tell you more about mini sessions. One of the most common questions I get asked is “what is included in a mini session?” or, “What does a mini session entail?” Well, why don’t I show you?
Here is what a typical mini portrait session in my studio might look like…
You will arrive at my studio on Main Street in Peekskill and grab a meter parking spot usually right on Main Street. Walk to my super cute, vintage-y looking building between the windows of Ramen-esque. Make a mental note to grab a carry-out order when we’re done.
Usually, the building is open, but if it’s the weekend and the doors are locked I will text you the code to get in.
Come on upstairs! (Third floor, you got this.)
Hello! Welcome to ahp studios! Home of allison hooban photography (and hopefully one day a lot more). There’s a clothing rack to hang your things, and a table by the door to set down your bag and coffee. Make yourself comfy.
We’ll start with a little tour and I’ll show you the bathroom right outside the studio door, the full length mirror, and the mantlepiece mirror where you can check your clothes, hair, and makeup, and right down there is a mini fridge stocked with cold bottled water and seltzer.
All of the furniture in the studio is moveable, so I will have it set up or will move our set to your specifications. That fireplace? Divine, right? Yes, of course we can use it in your photos! The couch? Folds out to a small bed. We can make this look like a real room. It even has a duvet.
And for headshots, we can show your photos on a laptop screen as we go to make sure we’re nailing it.
A mini session moves pretty quickly because for a mini we have only one backdrop and one outfit. You will check in the mirror one last time to make sure you look perfect (which you DO), and I will put you in place. I’ll snap a frame or two to check placement and lighting and adjust. Then we do the posing rundown…
Every one of my clients get a basic set of tips that will make you look your absolute BEST in every frame. I will even show you examples of how you look on the screen as we go along - especially when you’re really nailing it. Want to know what my posing tips are???
BOOK A SESSION AND FIND OUT.
Then we rock and roll. You smile or smize or give me blue steel and we move and re-pose and create magic. After 15-20 minutes, we look at the back of the camera and high five because we know we absolutely got it. I can sometimes tell while we are shooting when we’ve captured a perfect shot - it’s my favorite moment during a session when I gasp or yell or say something wildly inappropriate that means you totally nailed it. I’ll show you and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
Then I say “we’re done”! And we chat. Because now we are connected and there’s a 99.9% chance we are now friends. It just happens that way. And we hug fiercely to solidify that bond we just created. Then we part ways and you go get your ramen on the way out.
But before you leave, I will fill you in on the next steps: In a day or two, you will receive an email from me with your portrait proofs. These are only lightly edited and not retouched at all. They are low-resolution digital proofs that are yours to do with what you wish - you can download them or share them. Once you have looked through them all thoroughly, you will email me back with your FAVE pick and the file number. I will email edited versions of your chosen photo until we get the retouches just right, and then I will send you the FINAL retouched photo in high-resolution (and usually web-size, too, so you don’t have to mess around with resizing it for social media, etc.).
If we really hit it out of the park and there is more than one that you love, you will click on the extras that you love in your gallery and purchase either “Retouching”, “High-res digital download”, or both. You can do this with as many photos as you want from your gallery. The nice thing is that there are no additional purchases necessary, and you get all those proofs to keep. It’s a good deal.
One thing I can promise is that you will feel good, and in the end you will look good. That’s my highest priority.
I am going to open up Mother’s Day mini sessions soon, and perhaps my next post will be about holiday mini sessions!
