Family Sessions: Mini or Full


Trying to decide between a mini-session and a full-session this year for your family photos? It can be a tough decision and usually comes down to cost because the investments can vary greatly. There are pros and cons to both, and we can make both work for your situation. Being an experienced photographer in Spokane, I read cues and can move quickly if required and still capture the essential moments and desired family combinations before a little one has a meltdown. Or, if time allows we walk the park and utilize all of its beautiful backgrounds while capturing candid moments and creating all possible combinations with the members of your family.

While I don’t offer mini-sessions on the regular and you will not find them on my pricing page, I do offer them for Black Friday deals as well as social media promotions.

I’ve made a list of “Pros” for each mini and full session to help make your decision process a bit easer.

Mini-Session Pros:

  • Smaller price tag
    • Since I try to shoot more than one mini-session back-to-back, I can cut costs by working with more clients in the same timeframe.
  • 20-minute length for short attention spans
    • Small children aren’t used to being asked to “stand still and smile” for more than a few minutes, so they can become our hourglass if we don’t work quickly. I’ve learned that children under the age of 5 can give us a solid 15 minutes of great interaction. After that, who knows what we’re going to get! Dads tend to enjoy the shorter sessions as well 😉
  • Less walking and scouting the location
    • With mini-sessions, we typically find one or two backdrops and shoot the entire session there. Walking and searching for great spots takes time and energy which can deplete our little one’s attention span, or make it difficult for elderly family members to join us.
  • Fewer delivered photos
    • This may sound like a negative, but you can sometimes be overwhelmed with the decision-making process when you receive too many photos you like. Choosing your favorite out of 50-60 great photos may be too large of a task. If you prefer a more concentrated choice of photos, I promise to deliver 20 photos for a mini-session

Full-Session Pros:

  • 1.5-Hour length for all the combinations
    • Having a full session allows us to corral the entire family and make an evening out of it. We have the opportunity to capture all of the different combinations of family members like siblings, siblings with mom, siblings with dad, grandparents and grand babies, individuals, just mom and dad etc. No picture is left not captured.
  • Ability to explore our setting
    • Since we aren’t on a time crunch, we can usually walk around our setting to find the perfect lighting and great textures to mix up the backdrops rather than only have one or two scenes
  • More delivered photos
    • While I promise approximately 35 images to purchase product from, if all goes smoothly, I usually deliver around 50-60 images from your full family session

These images are from a mini-session in mid-October at Finch Arboretum

spokane photographer

spokane photographer

spokane photographers

spokane photographers

spokane photographers

spokane family photographers

spokane family photographers

spokane family photographers

spokane family photographers

spokane family photographers

spokane family photographers

Crystal@CrystalMadsen.com

 



Family Sessions: Mini or Full | / Posted on | Family Sessions, Shoots

All Photography and Original Text © Crystal Madsen Photography