Professional photographs - poll

[SemiSweet]

Just curious. I could only do three questions, so the last one is kind of combined.

[Arcadia]

We get both digital copies and big physical photographs in nice frames for three generation family photos. So can't choose on the third question.

[Tsuga]

I don't even buy school pictures. We occasionally have hobbyist relatives take our pictures. Like once every couple of years.

 

We do take photos at family reunions every five years or so, all of us. They are grainy.

 

 

[PeacefulChaos]

It's hard to answer specifically lol...

 

We usually do pics of our family about every other year.  So far each time we've gone to someplace cheap like JCP Portraits or Portrait Innovations.  Both do okay (though I don't care for the 'studio' look, I've always tried to keep it to those because of cost), but next time (next year) I'll be giving up on that and going with what I've always wanted, which is a professional photographer in an outdoor setting.  I even know exactly where I want them done.  In the end, yes, I'll pay more, but I'll get the digital rights with this photographer, too, and not be paying for a ton of prints that will not all be given away.

 

We do pics of the kids (separate) every year.  Well, once they turned 1.  Before that it was every 3 months.  But since then, every year, but not necessarily on their birthday, or near it, and if it is near it, I do NOT do 'birthday' props or pictures.  There are specific things we do for specific ones - each yearly one is pretty cheap and easy - JCP Portraits has actually done really good pictures of the kids.  So that's where we usually go.  But last year, when we last did family pictures, I went ahead and did all 3 kids' individual pics then, too.  And every kid gets more pictures taken in Kindergarten - rather than the usual JCP, we go to PI (again, but they tend to do decent for kids pics) and get a lot more pictures.  And opposed to our usual purchase - an 8x10, a couple 5x7s, and a handful of wallets - we also order a lot more pictures.  

 

So we do a bunch of things lol.  :D  We also do large, extended family pictures every 5 years.  But I'm getting tired of organizing that, because it's just a headache.  I feel like I'm the only person who cares about getting nice pictures... but that's a whole other topic lol.  :D

[Laura Corin]

We had semi-professional photos taken once per child, when each of the boys turned three.  Their grandmother had framed photos on her wall of each grandchild at that age.

[Katy]

I voted, but I'm not sure my vote should count since I have a pretty decent DSLR setup with remote and multiple lenses, photography is a serious hobby of more than 20 years, and I've seriously been thinking I should do it as a business.  Right now I just do volunteer work with it.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I don't have a single professional picture of anything. Kids, wedding, nada. Someone needs to be at the end of the bell curve.

[Guest]

I am a serious amateur and I take my own family and child photos. I do family photos with a tripod and remote shutter release. I did my DDs senior photos and was as happy as I could be with them. She did still have the classic yearbook photo at school, but I only bought 4 5x7s. I didn't like it much because I like natural apearance, not stiff traditional.

[abba12]

We had our first ever 'professional' photograph taken as a family last month, and it was a $20 shot at a marine park of us all sitting with a seal who was 'kissing' eldest DD. 

 

I guess I'm not really into professional photos

[Wheres Toto]

We used to get annual pictures at JCP or Sears but haven't in a few years.  We did just have a picture taken at church for the directory but it didn't include oldest dd (she was not available at any of the times and doesn't attend our church).  We got one free 8 x 10 but didn't buy anything else.  They were nice portraits but very $$$.

 

I take posed portraits of the kids at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas when everyone is at least somewhat dressed up.  I have a very good camera and they usually come out very nice.  We get my mother to take a full family picture at the same holidays.  We also just had a full family picture taken for younger dd's baptism.  So we're getting a nice picture of the whole family at least once a year and the three kids 3 or 4 times a year.

[luuknam]

I'm not sure I should vote, since you don't have an option for 'never'.

[MeaganS]

We do a professional every year or two, but it is as part of my husband's family and my in-laws foot the bill. Usually they do a large family shot and then each of the siblings get their own mini-shoot with their own family. These are digital rights photos. So... Other?

[BrittanyM]

My best friend is a professional photographer so every November she does an outdoor photo shoot for us and takes shots of all of us and the kids individually. She charges $150 and we get a CD with all the photos. This has worked out really well for us and I love having the photos. We use them for our walls and for giving to family as well. We've done this for 6 years now but the first two we just had my sister take them and the next year my BIL who is an amateur took them. Every year since then my friend has taken them.

 

I have a DSLR so if I need shots of the kids I take them myself. The only professional photos I ever had done of any of the kids are from when my third was stillborn. The same friend came and took photos at the hospital for me since she is apart of NILMDTS and those photos are greatly treasured.

[lailasmum]

I've never paid for professional photos of my kids because I'm a good photographer and can do my own, but I think there is huge value in really nice photos if you are into that kind of thing. That can come with a fairly big price tag depending upon what you want to achieve. Here there isn't so much of a tradition to pay to have lots of family photos, most people just have school photos and maybe a couple of baby toddler type posed things.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Very rarely do we do professional photos.  I did just before the three's adoption and again for Squishy turning 1.  

 

We get both digital rights and physical photos.  It was almost $100 for the adoption ones and almost $200 for Wyatt's.  

 

But I've been told that people thought some of my pics were professional and I prefer unstaged anyway.  I just don't feel the need for a lot of professional pics.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I don't have a single professional picture of anything. Kids, wedding, nada. Someone needs to be at the end of the bell curve.

 

:lol: I'm with you over there. We had pro pics of the kids done maybe twice, years ago, because my mom wanted them. That was it. I much, much prefer good candid shots, so that's where we focus our attention. 

[MFG]

Dh and I just had passport pictures taken at Walgren's. Does that count?

[Mama Geek]

I didn't answer the poll because I will probably change this year.  I usually have had photos taken at Christmas of just dd, but 1 year we did all 3 of us.  This year I am going to take the pics of dd myself just because I am unhappy with the last 2 years.  Maybe we should get a family picture done at some time other than Christmas again.  

 

We usually bought the digital and the physical pictures and paid less than $200.

[regentrude]

We had a professional wedding photographer 22 years ago, and the kids got the cheapest package of school pics once a year before we homeschooled,  because all the other kids did. We take a lot of pictures ourselves, and I prefer ours over the staged studio ones.

[Bluegoat]

I think we've had professional photos done three times.  Twice it was when we had new babies and relatives were asking for pictures, and once it was when we won a voucher.  The first set were by far the most expensive, they were done by a fellow who had set up a studio near where we lived and were nicely done.  The second set were done at Sears and they were really awful.  The third set was done at a studio that is above our vets office - we won a draw.  they usually did animal photos, but they did a really great job at a set of family photos.  I guess kids are not unlike pets in some ways.

[lynn]

I go to target. I get perfect photos every time.

[Pam in CT]

My best friend is a professional photographer so every November she does an outdoor photo shoot for us and takes shots of all of us and the kids individually. She charges $150 and we get a CD with all the photos. This has worked out really well for us and I love having the photos. We use them for our walls and for giving to family as well. We've done this for 6 years now but the first two we just had my sister take them and the next year my BIL who is an amateur took them. Every year since then my friend has taken them....

 

 The only professional photos I ever had done of any of the kids are from when my third was stillborn. The same friend came and took photos at the hospital for me since she is apart of NILMDTS and those photos are greatly treasured.

Brittainy, I didn't want to "like" this post... what a beautiful, priceless gift from your friend.   :grouphug:

 

 

 

My SIL is a professional photographer.  She's done the family a handful of times, did the kids' baby announcements, and sometimes she takes the picture we use for our New Years card (which I do up myself on shutterfly or something like that).

 

It makes a BIG difference.  I mean, I take fine pictures on vacation or with a birthday cake or whatever.  But her composition and her camera and her eye... there really is a world of difference.

[kirstenhill]

We have several friends that do professional photography as a small "side business". Since the grandparents and other relatives want picture every year of each kid anyway, we make this our Christmas gift to get prints made of each kid and of all the kids together/the whole family. With 4 kids and the number/size of prints we need, it works out the same or cheaper than getting everyone in to a studio like Target or ordering the "school pictures" our co-op offers. And it has the side benefit of supporting a friend's small business.

[BlsdMama]

We do family photos about every 3-5 years, not exactly pro - but places like Picture People, etc.  We usually spend about $150.    We TRY to do annual pictures of the kids at places like Portrait Innovations or JC Penney's for the wall - kind of like the traditional annual school pictures but with the chaos of moving, etc., I haven't had them done in two years.  This is the biggest gap ever and I'm frustrated by it - so is my mom and mil.  

 

My parents schedule pro pictures about every 7 years.  My in-laws schedule pro pictures about every five years.  We actually have them going on this weekend!

Exciting!

[Katy]

Brittainy, I didn't want to "like" this post... what a beautiful, priceless gift from your friend.   :grouphug:

 

 

 

My SIL is a professional photographer.  She's done the family a handful of times, did the kids' baby announcements, and sometimes she takes the picture we use for our New Years card (which I do up myself on shutterfly or something like that).

 

It makes a BIG difference.  I mean, I take fine pictures on vacation or with a birthday cake or whatever.  But her composition and her camera and her eye... there really is a world of difference.

 

 

To the bolded... The difference is shooting in RAW and editing in photoshop or lightroom.  When you shoot with a camera phone, or before with film if you didn't develop them yourself, the camera settings, film, and lab choose how the pictures come out for you.  When you shoot in RAW, the camera captures a ton of information, and then you can choose how to bring it out with photoshop. But it's taken me years of practice, watching lessons on YouTube and CreativeLive and photography blog tuturials to develop a style I love and I'm certain I could get a lot better.  The danger is when you first start shooting in RAW your photos look WORSE until you figure out how to edit them.

 

If I ever do open a business I'm going to charge a fortune, because by the time you've edited each photo properly it's a work of art.  And I don't mean changing things to make them look different than they are, but just making sure the lighting and exposure and posing and saturation are perfect so the subject looks exactly like themselves but on their most beautiful day.

[Desert Strawberry]

We had portraits done once. The vintage style ones at Wal-Mart. We will do it again because it was just before Luna announced herself. The next shoot will be mostly for her. I don't expect to ever do it again.

[Southern Ivy]

We have done them for the newborn, smash cake/1st year, and 2nd bday (for family pictures). I have a couple of friends who are photographers, so I get the friend discount. It was $150 for both of them, though I think newborn was a bit more. Like $200. 
We can't afford that all the time, so I think we'll start using groupons for JC Penney. lol 

[BarbecueMom]

We did a photo session (family member photographer) once when the older two were toddlers, but not since. I also don't own a camera, just a phone.

[Ali in OR]

We've only done a professional session once and I think it was worth doing. BUT dh's hobby is photography and he's good at photo editing too, so we do take the time for a family session once or twice a year. Getting decent pics of our disabled dd is pretty difficult and I think we do a better job on our own. Typically we find a setting we like, pose, and dh sets up the camera to take a picture every 5 seconds or so for 15 pictures. Then he checks them, makes adjustments to our pose or his camera, and we do it again. We can usually find at least one frame that's decent of all of us!

[almondbutterandjelly]

We don't actually get "family" photos done, but I do get my dd's photo done every year at JCPenney.  I like to preserve all the "schooly" traditions that I like, including annual photos.  (We also do report cards and award ribbons at the end of the year  :ph34r: )  (ooh, ooh, plus my dd has a locker and we did a mum this year)

[Arcadia]

If I ever do open a business I'm going to charge a fortune, because by the time you've edited each photo properly it's a work of art. And I don't mean changing things to make them look different than they are, but just making sure the lighting and exposure and posing and saturation are perfect so the subject looks exactly like themselves but on their most beautiful day.

We paid over $1k for professional fees in '97 for my graduation photos and '05 for four generation family photos. We get the digital copies. The cost of the prints depend on the size but the really big ones turn out great too.

 

We paid a few hundreds for newborn photos for a photographer to come to the hospital to take DS10's day old photos. It included the digital copy, and the photo we picked was printed and mounted in a frame with his 3D handprints and footprints impressions. My in-laws and parents love the gift.

 

ETA:

The ones we hired were all family owned and run businesses.

[tm919]

I got them for both girls at < 1 year old, and paid a lot to own the digital rights to them (>$1000). 

[Rebecca in KY]

We never have professional pictures done anymore. We had a family member who did some when DS was born and again when he was 1.

 

I have a nice camera with a tripod and delayed shutter, so we do them on our own. Most of the time I'm super pleased with he results. We'll probably get some professional photos done in the next few years.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

We're terrible about family portraits.  We did one in 2001, when dd was 4 and ds was 2.  We didn't do another one until 2014.  We spent a small fortune on each of those sessions because we went to the best photographers, paid for special canvas and framing and touch-up, etc.  We may never do that again, as the older dc's are almost all grown up.  

 

I get yearly "school" pictures for the kids, every fall.  When I was doing all three kids, I'd take them to Sears or an equivalent studio, and have them take some individual headshot as well as some group shots.  I'd put together a package containing lots of each, in various sizes to enclose in our Christmas cards, and pay about $150 for the lot.

 

Now that I have one or two in school, I generally take the homeschooled kid(s) to the school photographer.  It's much cheaper, but the schools don't always choose very good photographers, so the quality is hit or miss.  

 

 

 

ETA: Most of the studios I've used will give you the digital proofs if you spend a certain dollar amount on prints.

[AnniePoo]

Annually.  We have a photographer come to our home and try to get shots outside.  It works so much better since we have small kids.  They can go in and out of the house, etc.  She charges $125 and gives me a disk of all the shots.  

[Loowit]

My MIL is a photographer and she takes the kids out a couple times a year, usually, to do pictures.  We haven't had a family photo done since my youngest was in preschool.  It would be nice to get another one I suppose, but I hate getting my picture taken.

[Garga]

If I ever do open a business I'm going to charge a fortune, because by the time you've edited each photo properly it's a work of art.  And I don't mean changing things to make them look different than they are, but just making sure the lighting and exposure and posing and saturation are perfect so the subject looks exactly like themselves but on their most beautiful day.

 

 

I'm like you: an amateur that has put hundreds of hours into learning photography. I'm 5 years into photography. Usually in my day-to-day life I just snap pictures and lightly edit them, but when I pull out all the stops my pictures really are works of art. 

 

I hadn't realized that until about 2 weeks ago.  I took some Senior Pictures for a friend's daughter and after I'd scouted the location and posed the model (many hours learning how to pose people), and shot the pictures in RAW so I could edit the colors just right, (unbelievable number of hours learning how to edit) and as I added extra clarity to the reflected water, etc, my final products were gorgeous. Works of art.  And like you said: I don't smooth out the faces or over-photoshop the people so they don't look like themselves, but I do juuuust enough with flattering colors and lighting that they look like themselves at their very best. 

 

There's a stinkin' lot of work that goes into well-done photographs and a huge amount of creativity to get the shots the client wants. As I sat back and looked over the pictures, I realized for the first time, "Well, dang. Look at that! I'm a real live artist!"  Because photography is an art.

 

For the OP:  I rarely take pictures of my own family because I used them as practice models for so long that they hate it when I take their pictures now.  I haven't used them as models in a year or so, so maybe we can try again soon.  At this point, they don't take "family photos" seriously like other people would.  To them it's just, "Mom is making us pose again."  They take the chance to get family photos for granted.  When I take other families out for family photos, I spend a good 2 hours with them and give them dozens of pictures and they have FUN in the process.  For my own family, they want to be done after 10 minutes.  The prophet is not honored in his own town and all.  :)

 

As someone who adores photography, I'd recommend finding a photographer that will take you somewhere outside for the shots, unless it's an independent photographer with her own studio.  The studios at places like Penny's don't allow their photographers the same level of autonomy to be creative as a private photographer has.

[Ivey]

We've had professional family photos taken twice, in 2002 and 2012. So, once every 10 years? 

 

Dh and his stepfather are both pretty decent photographers, so we do have lots of nice photos. 

[SKL]

Never.  :P

 

The only time I bought a "professional photo" was when they did Christmas photo cards at my kids' horse riding place.  They decorated and rode horses for the Christmas parade.  The photos ended up taking forever to arrive, and we almost missed sending them in the Christmas cards, so I might not order again.  :P

 

Really, with an iphone, I can take a pretty good photo of my kids (and delete all the bad tries) for free.  I personally have no desire to be in any photos.

 

I too don't buy the school photos.  Nowadays they give you an option to order online if you change your mind after you see the photo.  I did that once when the girls were 3 or 4.

[FaithManor]

We have had studio family pic exactly twice since dd was born though we did get baby pics at six months or a year for each child and one time we did it just with the four kids together with props when the youngest was four. They came out great! We used groupon for the family photos and paid $100 for a small picture package.

 

Other than that, the only other pro photos were dd's graduation photos and her wedding. Since then, I purchased a really good dslr camera and got good with it. I took both of the older boys senior pictures and have been very happy. We hwve the enlargements done at Walmart and this saved a bundle which we put towards family vacation.

[tammyw]

Sorry - I can never answer these threads without pictures, so...

 

I'm a serious hobbyist, and have been working on a 365 this year, so pretty much every day, lol! I do hire another photographer every two to three years, to get the types of images I can't do with just a tripod.

 

I got this image back from the printer today for my wall in a 24x30 size.

 

 

This is one I took with my tripod for our family Christmas card last year.

[rebcoola]

I am not a pro picture but my we have done them as pressured and paid for by MIL.

[Alice]

We've done it twice. Once was actually as a gift for a SIL from another SIL. The gift-giver coordinated that all the family would be willing to dress up and go to the studio to do a photo for the other SIL. We went along with it but didn't purchase photos from the session. The other time was sort of on a whim. A teenager at our co-op was looking to take photos to make some extra money. She was actually very talented and the photos are lovely. I bought them as presents for my Mom who is also more into the professional posed photos. 

 

In general, we just prefer more candid shots. I find that even the professional "candid" shots look posed to me. Dh is a good photographer and other members of the family are also fairly good so we have a lot of photos and don't really like the more formal look of the professional photos. That's not to put them down, I do see how they are really an art form and it takes quite a bit of talent. It's just not our style. 

 

I do buy the school photos that our homeschool co-op does each year. They are quite inexpensive and it's fun to have the record of each year in the same type of photo. 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Sorry - I can never answer these threads without pictures, so...

 

I'm a serious hobbyist, and have been working on a 365 this year, so pretty much every day, lol! I do hire another photographer every two to three years, to get the types of images I can't do with just a tripod.

 

I got this image back from the printer today for my wall in a 24x30 size.

 

Wow, Tammy, those are really nicely done! You have a lovely family :D

[Garga]

Sorry - I can never answer these threads without pictures, so...

 

I'm a serious hobbyist, and have been working on a 365 this year, so pretty much every day, lol! I do hire another photographer every two to three years, to get the types of images I can't do with just a tripod.

 

I got this image back from the printer today for my wall in a 24x30 size.

 

This is one I took with my tripod for our family Christmas card last year.

 

 

 

Very, very nice!  So lovely.

[Mommy22alyns]

We have been doing just the girls on their birthdays (they're 3 days apart, so they go at the same time).  I usually spend just over $100 and get physical pics and a disc of all the pics.

 

But now I'm not sure what to do, because we don't really have anyone to give pictures to.  I'll have to take them someplace cheaper and just buy individual sheets.

[prairiewindmomma]

We've paid a professional a few times, but the standard rate for a semi-professional (part time mom who does seasonal work) session is a $500 sitting fee + prints are extra.  The "professional" people (who have studios) have $750 sitting fees and prints start at $250.  

 

I ended up getting a DSLR camera, a tripod and some sweet lenses instead. :)