Once again thanks for taking the time to read our blogs. Although it still a few weeks away we thought we’d write a bit about Christmas mini shoots, what they are and how we do ours compared to others.
What are Christmas Mini-Shoots & why choose Lighthouse Creations?
Christmas mini-shoots are designed to be quick, Christmas themed photoshoots mainly for children but our sessions allow adults and even pets get involved too. You generally get a smaller time slot than a normal studio session and a smaller number of digital or printed images.
Our studio is fully equipped with 4 professional studio flash lighting kits along with a comfortable seating area and all of our Christmas backdrops will be ready and our props will be waiting for you to choose from. Along with having a degree in photography & digital design specialising in studio lighting, our lead photographer also has City&Guilds qualifications in Newborn, Toddler & Children photography. These qualifications include all aspects of important health & safety guidance as well as photography experience so you literally couldn’t be in safer hands. We’re also fully insured, have up to date DBS checks but most of all, have loads of hands on experience with these photoshoots and children of all ages - we absolutely love doing them.
How do our sessions work?
From the moment we opened our studio we wanted to offer our best to everyone who comes to us. We also wanted to be a bit different and offer more for your money than most others do. So often we’d see photos of kids placed in front of a pre-made backdrop setup, you get a 20 - 30 minute time-slot and you get a very small amount of photos of the best images, often with kids looking miserable & uncomfortable. Like a conveyer belt, you’re rushed in and out, all of the photos from the photographers sessions are edited exactly the same, you don’t get your own unique look and you’d often be charged anywhere between £50 - £200 for the privilege. We never wanted to be like this, we wanted to give our clients more for their money.
We decided to give an experience rather than just a photoshoot. Our 1 hour sessions give enough time for kids to come in and feel comfortable before we even touch a camera. Every kid is different and wonderfully unique in their own way. We’ve had children with all forms of SEN and kids who are just a bit shy and uncomfortable coming into a new environment; we never rush any of our sessions. We completely understand these feelings as they’re all new to them and we do our best to. make them feel at home before we do any photography.
This years sessions
So this year we’ve decided to give all of our clients the opportunity to create their own unique Christmas theme. We have 10 very high quality, Christmas themed backdrops to choose from which we’ll send to you once you’ve been in contact with us. You have the option to choose 2 of these backdrops for your session, let us know which ones you’d like before the day of your shoot and we’ll have them ready for you when you arrive. We have loads of props which can be mixed and matched and used in any of the backdrops you choose; this gives you the chance to create your own unique look.
Being in a studio can be daunting, especially if you’ve never done anything like this before. We will always guide and pose anyone who gets in front of the camera, we’ll ask you to do simple movements and poses to get some great shots. We’ll never ask you to do anything strenuous or something you’ll feel uncomfortable doing, ultimately, we want everyone to have fun and treat this as an experience, not just a photoshoot. Once the posed photos are done we also take a lot of candid shots of kids having fun, playing with props, and we bring out the snowballs! These are a great way to relax kids, get them full of excitement and it’s where we get the most of our natural photographs. You get to throw them at your kids, they throw them back at you (and us) but don’t worry, they’re only soft and they don’t hurt.
All of our sessions this year offer a minimum of 10 digital images. Those who’ve been to us before will know that 10 is the bare minimum and we tend to always deliver more, the amount differs based on amount of people in the session and how much we can shoot within the timeframe. All of the photos we send to you will be fully edited, formatted to the highest quality, able to be downloaded, stored to any device and shared through any forms of social media. You’ll be able to print them anywhere which has a photo printer (such as Tesco, Max Spielmann or Boots). We can also offer prints for you, we’ll discuss all print options with you during your session and if you’re interested we’ll be able to order them for you.
This year we have set time slots starting every weekend from 4th November - 17th December. This gives us 7 weekends with each day having 6 time slots each. Just let us know what day suits you best and we’ll give you the available timeslots, if what we have left isn’t suitable we’ll do our best to book you in for a more convenient date & time. We did have to turn customers away last year due to being fully booked so we’d always advice to book as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Also, get your session booked in for one of our earlier dates, this’ll give you more time to enjoy them.
Ultimately all you have to do to book your session is contact us either by email, through our social media inboxes or by the contact form on our website. We’ll also answer any questions you may have. Still thinking about it? All of the photos on this blog were taken during last year's sessions and here’s a few of our reviews which might help.
As always, thanks for reading and any questions at all please don’t hesitate to ask.
Chris & Nicola
Lighthouse Creations