Before Your Session
We’re so excited you are
interested in professional
portrait photography!
Here is some information about what to expect when you work with us at Beach Photo:
We will plan out details together and work to create a portrait session that reflects your vision and style. We will work out the time and date of your session, location details and anything other specifics you are looking for.
Have you looked over our website and portfolio for examples of our work? Our beach portraits tend to be lighter and brighter (often because of all the light colored sand), and our photos in other locations like parks tend to have a deeper, richer color palette. Generally, we capture images and edit in a more true-to-life style that is timeless. However, if the subject matter is more avant-garde or fanciful (such a halloween themed session, or a magical composite like a fairy tea party), you can expect editing that reflects those themes.
Once we have confirmed all the details, and we have decided on a date that works, we will email you an invoice for the booking fee, and we will hold that date for 24 hours after the invoice is sent. If the invoice has expired and not been paid, the date opens back and can be booked by anyone else.. No session is reserved in our calendar without a paid booking fee. The booking fee is non-refundable, but we are happy to apply that amount to another session in the event we have to reschedule due to weather or other possible unforeseen circumstances. The booking fee is deducted from the total due by the day of the session.
We will contact you again prior to your session as a confirmation and reminder. We will also monitor the weather to make sure we are good to go for any outdoor photography. If we need to reschedule due to weather we usually wait until about 1-2 hours before the start time to call it. The weather can change quickly, especially at the beach!
A few things to keep in mind before your session:
If you are on a beach vacation, please avoid sunburns before we meet. We can edit out a few red spots here and there, but if someone is bright red all over from a bad sunburn, they will still be that way in the final edited portraits.
When planning your outfits, avoid large logos and small patterns like stripes or checks (the camera can digitally distort small patterns). If you are wanting clothing advice, we have a beach style guide and a few color palette ideas that may be helpful. It truly makes a difference to make outfits special. Your outfits don’t have to be super formal but they should reflect your personal style and look put together.
During Your Session
We can’t wait to meet you!
We work hard to make this time enjoyable and memorable so you love all of the photos we create.
On the day of the session, we want you to be mindful of how we operate and what to expect:
Full Payment is due by the day of the session. We are happy to email another invoice for the remaining balance if you prefer to pay online. We also have our merchant services credit card system on a phone app, so we can take credit cards in person. We are always happy to accept cash in person as well.
Be on time. We know sometimes there are unforeseen events, but if you are 35 minutes late for photos before sunset, then it will be too dark to make up that time after about 20 minutes. In most cases, that time will be rescheduled at an additional cost to the client. If a client no call/no shows then they forfeit the booking fee and Beach Photo is under no obligation to take further time out of a busy booking calendar to accommodate that client. Please stay in communication with us if something comes up the day of your session. You can call or text the business phone number at any time.
Please remove all items from pockets; large cell phones and bulky keychains need to be set aside. We are happy to keep a bag with those items close to us while we photograph you if you do not want to leave them in your car. It may sound like a small thing but large pocket items are actually super obvious in a portrait.
We usually start with formal portraits (the ones that grandma loves best!) and then capture the beautiful in-between and in-the-moment memories too. We aim for a good mix of traditional portraits along with emotional, candid moments. We make ask you to do a few silly things, but they work, we promise!
If there are small children, we always try to get the posed shots and then give them a little break to just be kids before we try for many more poses. If we are on the beach, we are happy for you to get a little wet at the end of the session—that is completely up to you! As a beach photographer, we almost always get sandy and wet too, we just try to keep the cameras dry!
We always use 2 cameras at once so we have a variety of focal lengths in our galleries (think wide angle lens vs a telephoto lens). You can expect that we will capture each pose with each camera, and we may move around to get each pose or prompted candid moment from different angles. We try hard to work quickly and efficiently so that if there are any meltdowns we have a lot to work with to provide you with quality photography.
Please don’t stress too much if your young child isn’t cooperative. If you stress, they will sense it and usually react even stronger. We should have enough time to get some genuine reactions from your little one and usually parents are pleasantly surprised by the results we capture!
After your session
You will receive a sneak peek within 48 hours. This is a low resolution image intended for online sharing. Please do not attempt to print your sneak peek, it will not be as good a quality as the high-resolution version that is in your final gallery. Not everyone is active on social media, so the preview image will usually be emailed to you. We love showing off our beautiful clients though, so you may very well see them on our social media pages too.
Your proof gallery will take 2-3 weeks to edit and upload to our gallery host website. You will receive an email as soon as they are live.
Once your proof gallery is live, you will need to choose the portraits that come with your package. You can favorite them, and we will create a gallery from your favorites. You can also choose to purchase more digitals or purchase the entire gallery. We will send you an invoice for an additional purchases and update your gallery accordingly. All final purchases will be high-resolution and suitable for printing. They will have all watermarks removed.
You can also purchase prints, custom albums, or wall art from us. We can only guarantee prints that come from our professional labs. A print or canvas from a big box store will not be of the same quality, the colors will not be accurate and those computer systems are not calibrated for correct printing profiles. We also cannot know if the digital file was uploaded to a lab to ensure the highest quality if we do not do it ourselves. Trust the experts for your forever memories, it is worth it!
Please see our product price list for more information about our printed art.
