How to Make the Most Out Of Your Christmas Mini Session
It’s that time of year, again.
Fall is in the air and Halloween is upon us. That means Thanksgiving it on it’s way and, best yet, Christmas is right on it’s tail. That means that now is the time photographers all around the world start offering their mini sessions for Christmas. This gives plenty of time for editing the photos, delivering photo options to clients, time for them to choose which photos they want (hopefully all), place their Christmas card, ornament, album or print order, have the order arrive and, if applicable, send out those Christmas cards in plenty of time for the big day. In fact, many photographers offer their mini sessions as early as August. With TS Gallant Photography, I have found the best time is the first weekend in November.
So, What is a mini session, you ask?
A mini session is just like it sounds. It’s a photo session that is designed to capture several photos to choose from, set around a particular scene (or scenes), but in a very short amount of time; generally 10-30 minutes. Photographers try to set a scene or group of scenes in one area and offer availability to several families, usually no more than 20 in a day. With the the pandemic, we are seeing less people at a mini event, to allow space for social distancing and time to sanitize in between clients. A full session typically lasts 1-2 hours, allows for outfit changes, lighting changes, etc, and an average of 400 photos taken. A mini session, being so much shorter, provides no time for outfit or even many posing changes and usually less than 40 photos are taken. Very often, the same 10-15 photos as a full session will be edited for client review.
Our mini sessions, which are scheduled only around special holidays like Easter, Valentine’s Day, Independence Day (Summer Celebration) and Christmas, are 15 minutes in length. That means if anyone shows up late, those late minutes have to be taken out of their allotted session time. That is why it is really important to show up on time, maybe even early, to be sure you don’t miss out on the full time you have scheduled (and paid for). Since that time can not be filled by any other family (and usually several families are turned away, due to lack of availability, by this point), any missed appointment forfeits the session fee.
Below, I have attached some helpful hints, to aid you in making the most out of your session, to get the best photos, possible. We can’t wait to meet you and create some wonderful work to decorate the walls of your home and bless those you love with Christmas greetings.
