My first child portrait (er sorta) client (8 pics)

rufus5150 · May 1, 2009

I hadn't intended on doing kids at all but this opportunity came up. The client (mom) wanted to do the session in their house and some posed but mostly following the little one around and getting candid shots while he played. Of the 30 proofs I showed, they ordered at least two of each and some many more copies. I just got back tonight from delivering the final prints (between grandparents and mom and dad, they ordered over 200 prints!). Here's a few of the shots from the session:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5. The boy and the dog have this great relationship and although this isn't my favorite, it *was* the parent's favorite, including the request of 'can you make this look like an old TV show?'

#6

#7 The final printed version of this had the bookcase cloned out but I didn't re-web-size that image.

#8 A mommy moment after an owie.

Thanks for looking.

leighthal · May 1, 2009

Loving the candid follow around. I would have ordered tons of prints too. The dog kiss is so dang cute. My favorite is #6. From the cute pointy toes to the deep concentration frown to the toy cluttered background... it's adorable.

photographyfanatic · May 2, 2009

These are great! My fav is the mommy and me one. I am wondering how long was your photo shoot and how many pics did you take? Then was there an agreed upon number of proofs to preview? What do ou charge? I ask only because I am intrested in this type of shoot with kids.Thanks

rufus5150 · May 2, 2009

leighthal said:
Loving the candid follow around. I would have ordered tons of prints too. The dog kiss is so dang cute. My favorite is #6. From the cute pointy toes to the deep concentration frown to the toy cluttered background... it's adorable.

Thanks. He was a hoot to work with.

photographyfanatic said:
These are great! My fav is the mommy and me one. I am wondering how long was your photo shoot and how many pics did you take? Then was there an agreed upon number of proofs to preview? What do ou[sic] charge? I ask only because I am intrested in this type of shoot with kids.Thanks

Thank you.

I charge a $90 session fee and $45 for each hour after the first two. This session lasted about 90 minutes, maybe? I got there a bit before he woke up to set up the lights for the posed shots so maybe a bit longer. I captured his day from the time he woke up until he was ready for breakfast.

I took ~120 photos and I rejected about a dozen right away on the first review (blown focus, finger up the nose, etc). We had no set minimum though I told her it would probably be between 15 and 25 but I would offer up any I thought would pass the muster after she looked at the first set. After I posted the first 30 (and IMHO the best thirty) she requested I not post any more as this was giving them too many issues deciding.

I'd say the session probably produced 80 or so that were keeper worthy and 50-60 if you picked out the very best of the very similar images.

It was a delightfully fortunate session with an extremely agreeable subject and I don't consider that keeper ratio my norm (1 in 4 is my rule of thumb but I think I'm pickier than I need to be sometimes).

The session I did later that afternoon (a family of 3) was teetering on disaster that started with the father sitting in a fire ant hill on the first pose (to my credit, it was their back yard and they picked the spot). I took about the same number of pictures and really only felt good about 20 of them, though, again IMNSHO, the three whole-family pictures I presented were probably some of my best family portraits yet. I was fortunate in that it was a good number for them and they got the images they wanted for friends and relatives.

(Due to certain circumstances, I'm not allowed to post the latter images, though.)

photographyfanatic · May 2, 2009

Thanks for the info! More question for you! What lenses did you use for the little boy shoot? What is your per print charge? Do you offer discounts when someone purchase so many photos?

rufus5150 · May 2, 2009

photographyfanatic said:
Thanks for the info! More question for you! What lenses did you use for the little boy shoot? What is your per print charge? Do you offer discounts when someone purchase so many photos?

I used a 50mm for most of the shots. As to the other questions, I offer prices commensurate with what I evaluated to be my skill level and product quality and how it matches with the current market value in my area. When she expressed the number of pictures they wanted to purchase, we worked out a price that was mutually agreeable.