Booking your session
Do I need to pay anything upfront to book my session?
Yes, we require a non-refundable retainer for every booking to secure the date and compensate our preparation time spent on your session.
Depending on when you contact us to reschedule and the circumstances, we may offer to transfer your retainer to a new date or offer a credit voucher.
How far in advance do I need to book?
As a general guideline, the sooner you book in for your preferred date the better. Some seasons are busier than others and whilst it is still worth contacting us for last minute bookings, we may not be able to fulfill booking requests for short notice dates.
For your maternity session, we recommend booking no later than 32 weeks along. This is to ensure that we can still schedule you in before you’re too uncomfortable to get through the session. In the case of pregnancies with multiples, even earlier than this would be best.
We then recommend that you also book your newborn session when you book your maternity session. If you have decided to only get newborn images, then it is ideal to book these in by at least 32 weeks gestation. This is due to us only taking on a certain number of bookings per month to cater for early & late arrivals. Although we do schedule newborns in for studio sessions up to 6 weeks and in-home lifestyle sessions beyond this.
Will I hear from you before my session date?
Yes! We keep an open line of communication from when you book with us up until after you receive your final images & prints. We also provide a complimentary pre-session consultation to discuss the items on your booking questionnaire and give you a run down of what to expect and what you should prepare.
I cannot afford the entire session cost as one payment – can I make installments?
Yes, we offer payment plans on all of our sessions. The $100 retainer is a non-negotiable, non-refundable payment that is due upon booking. The remainder of your session fee can be spread out in even payments on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly schedule up until your session date. All base packages must be paid in full a minimum of 24 hours prior to your session time. Any desired upgrades, add-ons, or print packages can be put on a payment plan after your session, that is to be paid off before delivery of images and products.
Preparing for your session
What happens if I cannot make my booked session?
If you have booked into one of our limited mini session dates, then it may not be possible to reschedule you and you will be offered the choice to transfer your retainer onto a standard session booking.
For standard sessions, if you cannot attend due to illness or personal circumstances and have given us sufficient notice, then we will work to reschedule you and transfer your retainer across to the new date.
If you are running a little late to your session (less than 15 minutes), you will need to send us a quick message to keep us updated. For session lengths of 30 minutes or less, we may offer a one-time reschedule to allow you to get the most out of your session time. For sessions longer than this, we have a maximum late allowance of 25 minutes before you will need to reschedule.
If you turn up significantly late, or not at all, without notice to your session then we will consider your session cancelled with the retainer forfeit. The maximum time we will wait for your arrival after not being able to contact you is half your session time, or 25 minutes – whichever is the lesser.
What do I wear to my session?
We recommend that you wear comfortable clothing in neutral tones and patterns. Complimentary, timeless tones work best as they suit all decor types for when you’re looking at printing wall art.
If you are booking a maternity or newborn session through us, you will also have access to our client wardrobe, our exclusive client discount with our partner hire company, and may be eligible to redeem your dress with our dress trade-in program.
Galleries, Images and Delivery
Do I get all the original image files that you take?
No, you will only receive the number of retouched images as specified in your package or add-on details. Nobody wants the images with missed focus, hair in your face, open mouths chatting or with wardrobe malfunctions. As part of our professional services, we take the time to individually check every image for quality.
I couldn’t see the images for one of the poses we did?
Unfortunately not all visions come together well, sometimes the posing will not work out in a flattering manner or we miss focus on what we intended. Othertimes we end up with quite a few good quality images and then narrow down only the best quality ones, meaning a certain pose may be omitted in favour of better quality images. This is where the importance of letting us know your ‘must-have’ shots comes into consideration and we prioritise your proofing gallery images according to this list.
When will I receive my images?
You will see your first glimpses of your session with your sneak peeks that will be posted to our social media pages within 72 hours of your session.
Following this, your proofing gallery will be made accessible 2-3 weeks after your session with your post-session consultation following. The post-session consultation is where you will be able to view your images on our professionally colour-graded monitor and we can guide you through the optimal print sizes and products. This consultation is also your opportunity to enquire about specific edits, that may incur additional costs for complexity or outsourcing, or to upgrade your packages.
What is your editing process?
We do two main rounds of processing your images. When we first upload them to our hard drives, we go through all your images from the session and do the initial cull. This is where we highlight all the best images that we then process and upload into your proofing gallery for you to go through and make your selections. These selected images are individually retouched by hand in-house to ensure that all the details are perfect, even when printed nice and large on a gorgeous wall print.
Our principle is to only edit out the temporary, things like blemishes, scrapes and cuts etc. We may be able to do more extensive edits, however this will need to be discussed, and a complex edit fee will be applicable per image.
Newborn Sessions
I have heard that I cannot have a newborn session if my baby is older than 2 weeks?
The typical recommended window varies from photographer to photographer. We usually see babies within their first 2 weeks of life, but quite often photograph babies throughout their 3rd and sometimes 4th week just as well. Some larger babies may be too big for our props by the time we can get them into the studio, so we adapt and do more poses on our posing bag or in our larger bowls.
Newborns will quite often go through a growth spurt around their 3rd week that will lead them to be more unsettled and want to feed more often. If we are unable to settle your baby within a reasonable time frame to get any shots then you will be invited to reschedule.
What do I need to bring with us?
Your standard nappy bag, a dummy or soother (even if it is just used for easier settling in the session), milk and any accessories needed to feed. We recommended to plan enough milk for your session length plus an additional feed.
If you have any special items or keepsakes that you would like incorporated into your session, please let us know beforehand so we can plan for it.
I have older children that I would like to bring along, am I able to do this?
Of course! We love those cute sibling photos. Mark down on your booking questionnaire that you would love sibling photos included under the ‘must-have’ shots. Please note that if you’re booking a newborn session then there will not be a lot of time allocated to sibling photos. If you would prefer to have the session focus more on sibling and family photos, please book a family session.
Older siblings can get restless quickly if they are not being photographed. If bringing older children, please make sure that you bring adequate entertainment and care for them. We have several parks and ovals within walking distance from our home studio and recommend that one parent takes them out to keep occupied when the sibling/family portion of the session is over. Otherwise we recommend to bring separate cars or make arrangements for the children to be picked up after the family photos to ensure undivided attention is placed on the newborn for their safety.
How can I find out if you do a particular pose that I saw online?
When you book with us, we will send you the newborn questionnaire to complete prior to your Pre-session consultation. Please list or include images of your preferred/desired poses on this so we can discuss it during your consultation. If it is a pose that you must-have, please contact us prior to booking and enquire about the pose/s you are interested in.