Children's Portraits

Sonoma | Napa | Marin

Children’s portraits are something I never thought I’d enjoy capturing as much as I do, until I had a little critter of my own. Now I’m obsessed with documenting all the fleeting little stages kids go though as they grow. Having photos like this of my son is a way for me to remember the tiny moments he quickly grows in out of. These photos are quite literally priceless heirlooms to me and only get more valuable the older he gets.

How Much Do Children’s Portraits Cost?

For a photojournalistic style utilizing available light, my children’s portrait sessions are set at $300 per hour with a two-hour minimum. This rate covers the entire session, including all the captures from your photoshoot. These photos will be delivered as web-resolution JPEGs (2000 px on the longest side).

For portraits using strobes and enhanced lighting, or if you wish to acquire high-resolution photos and / or large format prints from your session, kindly check my price menu for more details and options.

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Infant Photography - Children's Portraits

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Infant photography includes every stage of your babies development up until they start walking.

In the earliest stages it’s fun to wrap them up in interesting fabrics and really dial in some great lighting to immortalize their fat little faces!

Since infants change and grow at such a fast rate, I recommend for full coverage you photograph your children’s portraits once a month up to about 2 years old. Even if it’s just photos you capture with your phone for a majority of it, you’ll still be grateful you did 10 years from now.

Once your baby grows to the point where they are sitting up on their own, it’s about the perfect time to document their budding personalities.

Infant photography includes every stage of your babies development up until they start walking.

In the earliest stages it’s fun to wrap them up in interesting fabrics and really dial in some great lighting to immortalize their fat little faces!

Since infants change and grow at such a fast rate, I recommend for full coverage you photograph your children’s portraits once a month up to about 2 years old. Even if it’s just photos you capture with your phone for a majority of it, you’ll still be grateful you did 10 years from now.

Once your baby grows to the point where they are sitting up on their own, it’s about the perfect time to document their budding personalities.

Toddler Pictures - Children's Portraits

Toddler pictures are SUPER fun to capture as this is right when your baby is learning to walk and explore the world! When everything is new and exciting for them, getting great expressions is often the easy part. The hard part is generally getting them to do anything close to what you want them to do.

I’ve had the best results just dressing them in something stupid cute and let them do what toddlers do. This candid approach is often the best and only option because they are so wiggly and generally don’t do what you ask.

It is for this exact reason that I use the latest camera bodies with state of the art auto focus systems. Just a few years ago it was very difficult to capture sharp children’s portraits of toddlers in motion at wide apertures. The auto focus systems on modern cameras allow me to capture sharp portraits of young children in constant motion with an exceptionally high keep rate.

Toddler pictures are SUPER fun to capture as this is right when your baby is learning to walk and explore the world! When everything is new and exciting for them, getting great expressions is often the easy part. The hard part is generally getting them to do anything close to what you want them to do.

I’ve had the best results just dressing them in something stupid cute and let them do what toddlers do. This candid approach is often the best and only option because they are so wiggly and generally don’t do what you ask.

It is for this exact reason that I use the latest camera bodies with state of the art auto focus systems. Just a few years ago it was very difficult to capture sharp children’s portraits of toddlers in motion at wide apertures. The auto focus systems on modern cameras allow me to capture sharp portraits of young children in constant motion with an exceptionally high keep rate.

Mommy and Me - Children's Portraits

Children's portraits of a mom with her toddler baby girl in a bay area oak forest

If you want mommy and me portraits with your child, don’t forget that every children’s portraits session with me also includes hair and makeup services for mom. It generally works best if you come in early by yourself for your makeover as this will take up to two hours.

Then, dad or another family member can bring baby to join us after we’ve enhanced all your features. If all goes well with timing, it may be possible to capture family or generations portraits with everyone before baby melts down.

Timing and planning are important with every kid’s photo shoot, but especially so if you or other family members want to be in the pictures also. Simply put, the more people/combinations of people that want to be in the photos, the longer the photo shoot will be.

Since children have a very finite attention span, this means that if you want family photos at the same time as your mommy and me session, you will likely get less variety of both than if we focused on capturing these as separate events. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something to be aware of so you know what to expect.

The reason I mention all of this is to let you know that I have your back! Remember that a full makeover is included with every session with me. For a small booking fee and your time to meet up for another photo shoot, we can completely focus on your mommy and me session one day and your family photo shoot on another. This will result in more variety and higher quality photos for both sessions.

Children's portraits of a mom with her toddler baby girl in a bay area oak forest

If you want mommy and me portraits with your child, don’t forget that every children’s portraits session with me also includes hair and makeup services for mom. It generally works best if you come in early by yourself for your makeover as this will take up to two hours.

Then, dad or another family member can bring baby to join us after we’ve enhanced all your features. If all goes well with timing, it may be possible to capture family or generations portraits with everyone before baby melts down.

Timing and planning are important with every kid’s photo shoot, but especially so if you or other family members want to be in the pictures also. Simply put, the more people/combinations of people that want to be in the photos, the longer the photo shoot will be.

Since children have a very finite attention span, this means that if you want family photos at the same time as your mommy and me session, you will likely get less variety of both than if we focused on capturing these as separate events. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something to be aware of so you know what to expect.

The reason I mention all of this is to let you know that I have your back! Remember that a full makeover is included with every session with me. For a small booking fee and your time to meet up for another photo shoot, we can completely focus on your mommy and me session one day and your family photo shoot on another. This will result in more variety and higher quality photos for both sessions.

Every Children's Portrait Session With Me Has 3 Main Events

Capturing your child’s portraits involves more than just a camera. It’s a collaborative, thoughtfully planned experience consisting of three main events. Through this process, I skillfully and reliably capture your children’s spontaneous smiles and genuine moments, just as you see on this page. The following is an overview of my dedicated approach to ensuring you receive the best possible portraits of your kids from their photoshoot.

1. Initial Consultation

Family portraits Sonoma County
Family portraits Sonoma County

This consultation happens via zoom and is when we will discuss which images from my portfolio you like most. Knowing which pictures you love will help me determine the best way to approach your child’s session. The initial consultation is a critical step for planing your child’s photo shoot thoughtfully so I can help you get the best portraits possible.

If you want any prints to hang on the wall or an album, this would be a great time to talk about those options as well. Discussing how you intend to view your child’s portraits is important at this consultation because their session will be photographed differently depending on how you want to view the final images.

If you want to schedule a call just to ask questions, I’m happy to do that for you too. There’s absolutely no pressure to book a session for your child at this stage if you’re not ready.

This consultation happens via zoom and is when we will discuss which images from my portfolio you like most. Knowing which pictures you love will help me determine the best way to approach your child’s session. The initial consultation is a critical step for planing your child’s photo shoot thoughtfully so I can help you get the best portraits possible.

If you want any prints to hang on the wall or an album, this would be a great time to talk about those options as well. Discussing how you intend to view your child’s portraits is important at this consultation because their session will be photographed differently depending on how you want to view the final images.

If you want to schedule a call just to ask questions, I’m happy to do that for you too. There’s absolutely no pressure to book a session for your child at this stage if you’re not ready.

2. Your Child's Portrait Photo Shoot

Your child’s portrait photo shoot will typically happen on a date we agree upon during your initial consultation. Kid’s have a pretty low tolerance for having their picture taken, so I suggest to plan on two hours of actual shooting time as a best case scenario.

This might sound like a lot of time, but depending on what you want, this can be a very tight time frame to capture all of the outfit and group combinations you have in mind. For example, if you want a family portrait with your entire family, a mommy and me set, portraits with siblings and solo portraits of your child; capturing all of these combinations will likely be more than your baby can handle in one sitting.

With this in mind, I recommend prioritizing the photos most important to you first, or if budget allows planning multiple photo shoots. As an example, I’ve found that it’s best to capture family photos on a separate day as your child’s solo portraits. Dividing the time like this lowers the stress for everyone and allows me to capture higher quality portraits for both events.

Don’t worry if you’re not sure what’s possible and if all of this feels overwhelming. I will help you develop a good, realistic plan at your initial consultation so we have the best chance of a happy baby. The truth is that your child will ultimately dictate what’s possible the day of the photo shoot. This uncertainty isn’t a bad thing, it’s just something a good plan will help us improvise around when the unexpected stuff happens.

Your child’s portrait photo shoot will typically happen on a date we agree upon during your initial consultation. Kid’s have a pretty low tolerance for having their picture taken, so I suggest to plan on two hours of actual shooting time as a best case scenario.

This might sound like a lot of time, but depending on what you want, this can be a very tight time frame to capture all of the outfit and group combinations you have in mind. For example, if you want a family portrait with your entire family, a mommy and me set, portraits with siblings and solo portraits of your child; capturing all of these combinations will likely be more than your baby can handle in one sitting.

With this in mind, I recommend prioritizing the photos most important to you first, or if budget allows planning multiple photo shoots. As an example, I’ve found that it’s best to capture family photos on a separate day as your child’s solo portraits. Dividing the time like this lowers the stress for everyone and allows me to capture higher quality portraits for both events.

Don’t worry if you’re not sure what’s possible and if all of this feels overwhelming. I will help you develop a good, realistic plan at your initial consultation so we have the best chance of a happy baby. The truth is that your child will ultimately dictate what’s possible the day of the photo shoot. This uncertainty isn’t a bad thing, it’s just something a good plan will help us improvise around when the unexpected stuff happens.

3. Image Reveal

Children's portrait of a mom with her baby on the beach at sunset

This is when you will see your child’s portraits for the very first time and when you will purchase only the images you absolutely love from your child’s photo shoot.

You can choose to have your final images presented as a folio box collection, designed in an album, or finished as wall art.

Your reveal is typically scheduled about 3 weeks after your photo shoot to give me enough time to sort and edit the best photos from your session.

You can pay for your child’s portrait session A La Carte at your image reveal or prepay at your initial consultation. If you’d like to learn more about how much a children’s photoshoot with me will cost, you can view my portrait price menu here.

This is when you will see your child’s portraits for the very first time and when you will purchase only the images you absolutely love from your child’s photo shoot.

You can choose to have your final images presented as a folio box collection, designed in an album, or finished as wall art.

Your reveal is typically scheduled about 3 weeks after your photo shoot to give me enough time to sort and edit the best photos from your session.

You can pay for your child’s portrait session A La Carte at your image reveal or prepay at your initial consultation. If you’d like to learn more about how much a children’s photoshoot with me will cost, you can view my portrait price menu here.