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Different Types of Portrait Sessions

these were the portrait sessions that we offer, and this could be the's. Just what I do. Different things might work for you guys. You might want to do like a puppy plan, like people do newborn sessions on throughout the year, and you kind of capture their first year of growth. But just to kind of walk you through the variety that we offer our classic session is our most popular session. That's what I was saying before. It's about an hour long session. We book it in the hour and 1/2 time slot, and this session is it's the most popular cause. It's for the most variety. So when clients come in, we're doing the whole family, just the dogs, the dogs. Individually, this owner with this dog again, we're doing consultations. We're gonna talk about that next. But I always say the classic session is the owners in the same outfit, a session on the same background, so it's too much to go. Oh, can I do a little bit of this? Can do a little bit of this and I have a lot of clients who ask for that c...

ause they see and you guys saw a picture. My studio. Oh, but that couch is cute and Oh, that's cute. The way I overcome that, cause you don't want to shoot. You're gonna be shooting all day. If you do that the way I overcome that, as I say, Yeah, we can switch it up a little bit. But if we do a bunch of mishmash of backgrounds, it's really hard for you to do holiday cards that match. It's really hard feed into Wall Siri's because all the backgrounds or mishmash it's really hard for you to do a collage. And I really want your portrait so kind of flow and everyone kind of goes OK, so let's pick something. That's how I overcome that Objection. The custom session. This is actually something that we implemented because we had people coming to the classic session with, like, a roller suitcase and, like, five pairs of shoes and like, a dozen jewelry options, and I'm like this is gonna take a lot longer than an hour. But the only session that I offered my couple first couple years of business was a classic session, and these people are like, OK, why have this outfit with ease shoes and most people that have that much going on they usually accessorize their animals so that their animals have bow ties and pro necklaces. And this and that and this outfits ago with my outfit. And I'm like, Holy cow! First of all, this is like way too much work, and I don't have enough time to do this. Someone's coming in an hour and 1/2 and you showed up 20 minutes late already. So we created the custom session specifically for these people. We charge double for the session fee. You're there for two hours instead of one hour, and we show you the same amount of images. I'm not showing you more images. I'm still showing you 25. That's kind of our magic number that I present the clients and you're still getting 25. The extra time is just for the set. Changes for your outfit changes. Change the background, shames the lighting. So we did the custom session. I don't have a ton of people do it. We do about five or six a year, maybe, but I don't have people coming in with the roller suitcase because they realize, Oh, that's a different session, so that was the reason for it. We actually have a lot of products that we have like this. Like our coffee table albums. Our most popular coffee table albums are in like the $900 range, and we have other coffee table arms that are leather, and you've seen, like the wedding albums really heavy. You could, like, knock a burglar out with this coffee table album, but those albums air like 1522 $100 or something. I probably sell one of those a year. I don't sell a lot of them, But having them, I sell more of the smaller album. It's the same thing with this session having that custom session having that option. Yeah, if you want all the backgrounds different. If you want every single set to be different on the lighting different, let's just do the classic session and then you kind of overcome not having to shoot all those crazy, different backgrounds. Um, so even though I don't use it a lot, it's useful. Many sessions, so many sessions, I added. Um, like I said, I spend less time on these, so it's a 10 minute session, and I tell people expect to be there for about an hour. It is the same subjects in every shot. That's the trick. There's no different combinations. There's no dogs together. Dogs individually, one with the owner, one with the dog. It's a mini session. It's the same subjects in every shot. So if you want your two dogs together, every single portrait is the two dogs together. If you're photographing you and your dog than every single portrait is you in your dog? If you want different combinations, you need to do the class succession. The mini session is a shorter session fee. It's half the price of the classic session, and like I said, we edit the's right away. So right after a shoot them, I tell the clients, Just hang out, have some tea. Give me 10 minutes, edit the portrait, show it to them right away. They're already getting such an experience that our studio to me it doesn't devalue what we dio. It kind of seems like fast food photography, but that was our compromise. I wanted to have many sessions, but I didn't want to devote if I had them come back. A week later, like I was doing with the classic session, I'm devoting just as much time to them as if I shot a classic session and our average is a lot lower for many sessions. And, um, yeah, so I didn't want to devote as much time. So that's the mini session. Outdoor sessions? Yes, in the mini sessions, How long do you allow for overall for the photography and presentation? Usually an hour. I look it in the hour and 1/2 times, just like the regular session. Okay, so those are all booked. The only minutes longer is the custom session. Two hours. OK, but the mini session and the classic session or both booked an hour and 1/2 times lots. The difference with the many is that they're shooting and ordering, and they're out of their thinking that times thought, Yeah, so Outer Sessions. So the thing with outdoor sessions is it's not just about the background, because a lot of people go like, Oh, I want trees or on grass or on a couch, And yes, that's part of it. But for me, the biggest thing without door sessions is what I was talking about. with the shepherds, its energy and its personality, his portrait. We're not going to get his head down. He's not gonna go. You know, sitting might sit on the bench, but it's not likely that we're going to get the shot that we got in the studio with its head all the way down outdoors. So it's just a different energy. So when clients are saying like, Oh, but I have this great area and I have my backyard Well, what kind of portrait's are you looking for? Do you want your pets to be laying paws crossed, head tilted, focused? That's an indoor session that could be done in your home That can be done in my garage, But that's an indoor type of session. If you want fun running around goofy, here's flying. More personality, more energy. That's an outdoor session. So try I would try and focus on that a little bit more, as opposed to Oh, it's gonna be a grass instead of a blanket. So different energy a day in the life session I am. I'll talk about a day in the life session. I'll show you some outdoor samples so they in the life We created this because we had a lot of clients who were saying, I just wish you were there with me when I woke up in the morning because my dogs are like doing the super cute thing or when I come home. My dogs are like doing this funny like smile at me and I never could capture it. And none of those things Air Wall Portrait's and my dogs do those things, like when I feed my dogs. One eats and one sits, and he just has to sit there and wait. And then when he's done, he sits on the treadmill. He stares out the window and he watches the birds and it's just kind of his thing. He stands halfway in the dog door and halfway out for like, 10 minutes. I don't need a wall portrait of that, but I want that portrait. So we created the day in life session to capture those types of images. So it's a three hour session. We go anywhere you want so any. I mean, if you want to go in Vegas, let's say we go. We're Hand Henderson and then you want to go to Red Rock what we can do those two things. But you're probably only going to get those two shots because it's gonna take us three hours to shoot here, drive and go there So a lot of people will do. Let's start off at my home. Let's go to the dog wash. He is a buddy that we do a play date with. Let's go there. He gets his favorite treats from this boutique. Let's go there. So I just kind of follow people around like you see the image on the bottom, right? They drove in the car together all the time, and she's like, I just want to capture us driving perfect. So she's going 10 miles an hour and I'm shooting up. Go around the block again, miles an hour shooting. And that's what we did. And he in his session he swims, going back to their house. He was swimming in the pool, so we put all of those images in an album. So that's her only session that we have that includes a product all over other sessions or just a session feeling you purchased portrait Sala card with the day in the life session, we including album again, because no one wants a wall portrait of that. It's just great images that people wanna have. So yes, Rebecca. So when you're looking for the outdoor session or a day in the life session, what are some elements that you're keeping an eye out for? For safety wise or you're talking about energy of the animal? But what about, like, traffic? Sure, no background. My first thing when I'm talking to clients and trying to get a feel for what kind of session they want. My first question is, Are they good off a leash? If the answer is no studio session, I don't like leashes, not cute toe. Hold a retractable. I'm not photo shopping leashes out because you have a lot of clients releasing this photo. Shop it out like No, I'm not. It's not even that I don't want to charge you to do. I'm just not gonna do it. That's just way too much work. So that's my main thing is, are they good off a leash? And if they're not, we should do a studio session or shoot in your backyard or somewhere like that where you're more comfortable. I don't want to go to a dog park that there's other dogs around. I don't want the fence in the background, that type of look. So that would be my answer to that is, yeah, is maybe an outdoor session isn't a good option for you if you're dogs aren't good off leash. And then just a follow up on that is if, say, the dog is great off leash. What are some really, really cool outdoor type areas that make for good backdrops? Or just I think a lot of that, too, is just unique to the area you live in, like in Las Vegas. We have Red Rock, a Mount Charleston, and Red Rock is just a really cool like, unique area like You're not gonna find that in Seattle and there's bright red rocks and it's just really cool looking. So I shoot a lot of sessions out there just because people want to capture that landscape. There's a Bernese mountain dog is right here, so we shot him up at Red Rock and he's a mountain dog and they're like, we just want to be up in the mountains and this was in Vegas like people are like, Where is that? There's like no from Hawaii, So I don't know trees, but I'm like Aspen trees or whatever. Those are their cool looking and they're like, That's in Vegas. So I would say it's just really more general to your area where you live and just ask you what they want. You know? Do you want like in Vegas, for example, Do you want green grass and trees? Or do you want to go to the district and have cool buildings and cool stores and lamp lights and textures on the wall? So you know, not so much. I think it would just be more like What style do you want? Do you want to go out in the desert? We could go the desert, goto a dry lake bed and have a cool like random cactus sticking out of the ground. That could be where your session is. So I think when you're just showing people different options and people will tell you like, Oh, I don't really like that where someone else make Oh, that's cool. So sorry. That wasn't a perfect answer. Karen. Yes, on your mini session now in your classic and your customer. You're saying you're presenting like 25 images? Were the clients to view mini session? Oh, thank you. 58 images. Yeah, Thank you for asking. Yes, I usually show 5 to 8 of the best images. And sometimes if someone's coming in with, like a group, the bigger the group. Less images you get to see. I mean, just that's how it works. I did a session with 12 cats, a dog and a bird in one session on one couch. That client soul one image. Here's your slide show and the slide shows done. I mean, there's, I mean with 12 cats, a dog in a bird. There's one image so but generally normal sessions. Many 5 to 8 images and rock asked, What would you suggest if a client of a mini session sees their shots and are not loud and want something different? Do you Would you sell a whole new session or never happened? Why are they not wow reason wondering, You know, I want my clients to be happy. I stand behind my products 100%. I stand behind my services 100%. If someone's not happy, I would say I just didn't do my homework ahead of time. So if they're not happy, like, maybe it's like I don't know, that's just not really them. They might have been more of an outdoor client session because maybe they're looking, you know, it's not really like my dogs to be on a couch. I should have found that out ahead of time if I didn't. I'm not gonna let clients leave my studio until I'm happy. And if it's a mini session and it's taking an hour, I'll shoot for an hour. And if they need to come back, I'll have him come back And, you know, But I'm not gonna let clients leave. And that would be my first question. If you're not happy, why just There has to be a reason. I mean, I'm not going to show you Portrait's and I'm not happy with everything I show you is something that I would be proud to hang in my studio. So if you're not happy with it, then we just didn't do something right. It's not that I didn't capture your dogs. Well, it's just maybe we use the pink vintage couch, and that's not your style or maybe. Like I said, your count your dogs air on a couch and they're more outdoor dogs, and you want them running free in the woods. So with that, answer that, Thank you. Sometimes I forget what the question is, but I just start talking, Okay? Studio sessions, first outdoor portrait sessions. So this is actually the same client to different years. And this is what I was saying before. If you're having clients cause I've been in business for seven years now you're Portrait's kind of start looking the same. No matter how Maney couches I get how many different backgrounds I get. I'm the same photographer. I'm gonna kind of pose you somewhat the same. I mean, it's just still me. So there's only so many things when you're photographing someone for six years in a row in a studio that you can dio. I know some people are probably cringing when they hear that cause there'll be creative. You can do this, but for me, it's just the easiest thing to do is go. You know what? We should do it out to recession this year. We should really switch it up. That would be so much fun people like, Hey, let's do that. So in the bottom images, you can see we're using vintage couches. The dogs really, really focused, looking at the camera in every single shot, Perky years. The next year we did an outdoor session and that 45 degree angle shot I was talking about someone's walking by. That was that shot. Don't try and get their attention back to the camera. Just shoot the show, I told the owner. Just look at them to look in the same direction running. That's a shot you're never going to get in the studio. It's not gonna happen. So that's just a great outdoor session. And they're running together. So just different energy. Yes, the backgrounds air different, but for me, it's more about the energy of the session. Here's another sample again of a studio session verse outdoor session, so we're balancing a treat on his nose. That is not gonna happen outside. So again focus. Sitting on the couch, he's tilting his head and then outdoors. He's running with a stick. He's happy, so don't feel like you have to accomplish every single thing in one session. You want lifetime clients so It's totally okay to go. You know what? The most important thing for you right now, what I'm hearing from you as you want a beautiful portrait, you know, with them really focused on kind of capture that soulfulness in their eyes. Let's do a studio session first. Let's do these for your holiday cards and the next time let's do a halt outdoor session. So always keep thinking for the future. Don't just think that you have to go. Oh, but they want this all. But they want this and we have to do it all at once. Like no, they can come back for another session. It's OK. So this client here she's actually someone who brings animals and for one of the rescues. And she does adoption. Portrait's with us, and we'll talk about that tomorrow. It's complimentary, helps animals find homes. And she just said one day, I really need to bring my dogs, and I've been to your studio 50 times bringing these dogs, and I really need to get my dogs photographed like, Yeah, let's do it. You know, if you want to set up a time what you have in mind, you know What kind of couch? What kind of color would look good? She's like, Well, I don't know. My dogs don't really couch dogs and the more we were talking, she's a marathon runner. She runs like 10 miles in the desert with their dogs, and she's like, We do that every morning. I mean, they're just dogs and, you know, we're just out there all the time and I said, Well, where do you go? She told me where she went, and the more we talked. I was like, You need to do an outdoor session. We cannot shoot this in the studio. So when I met her out in the desert and she was wearing running clothes wasn't acute like, oh, dress for a while. Portrait portrait session. She was like, you know, yoga pants and a sports bronze. She's running with her dogs, but that was so her. The session, the image on the top left she got that has a large wall portrait. The dogs aren't even looking like pantsing there, but that's her dogs. That was their personality. If I got all of them in the studio laying, looking at me, yeah, that's pretty, but that's not her dogs. So just make sure when you guys were doing consultations, you're always, you know, gearing the right session for the right client. Oh, that was a day in the life. I jumped around. Sorry. So that's just a little advertisement to show you that was a dog. I spent three hours with him. They're driving in the car. They went and had lunch together. She's texting on her phone against the wall portrait. But you want that image. They go to lunch every Saturday. That's where they hang out, the dog swimming in the pool. And then he ate dinner and he went to bed that night. So it's just a fun capturing their day together. And again, that's another way to sell another session. All right, we did a couple sessions in the studio. We did a couple sessions outdoors. Let's do a day in the life session. So again, you're always creating these things, though have repeat clients. I have a question from pro image pets. How do you handle the same style images on a Web site like, If you're if you have a similar couch that air using and there's multiple pictures of different dogs on the same kind of the same style. Images on your website? Yeah, like for example, if you have, you know, one couch that use and it's a similar pose. Are you keeping multiple dogs on that same background with that same couch or definitely switching enough? I mean, there's people all the time. I'm sure all of your clients are like the portrait you took of my dogs with the Cubist portrait ever. And you know, why aren't they in your gallery? And, like, one, I just can't put all of my clients, my gallery? But to what I'll say, What I'll say is, it's not about, um, that your animals were cute or not cute or whatever it is. I just need variety of my website. So if I had the blue background, there were two dogs laying. I just don't want to do another blue background with the two dogs laying, so just switching it up and doing different, like if you're using, like a yellow couch, show a family on it, but then show a dog single. And that kind of helps people gauge like what size is the couch? Can I use it for my dog and just show variety so I wouldn't if you're going to show like the same couch. Multiple times just don't have, like one dog, one dog, one dog, one dog like Let's do a couple cats. Let's do a family. Let's do so because at that point it's not gonna be all about the, um, couch. At that point, it's going like no one's gonna when you're showing all that. I have a background book on his show. When I do consultations to go, here's kind of all the different backgrounds we have here. Some outdoor samples. No one's looking at the backgrounds. Everyone's like, 000 okay, we're looking. It's a background look. Look at the back. I want to put like a black bar over the dog's eyes, you know, but no one's looking that much of the backgrounds. Just switch it up