Everything Photographers Should Know Before Offering Mini Sessions | Christa Rene Photography

Every year since the start of my business almost 5 years ago, I would announce a mini session day! These have become such special times, and have allowed me to continue photographing families even though I’ve shifted a lot of time from family portraits to weddings. I’m sharing everything a photographer should know about hosting a mini session day from start to finish, and sharing all my secrets I’ve learned over the past 4+ years! (So yes, there’s a free E-book at the end of this!!)

Why mini session days? The reason I have one day for mini sessions and don’t offer them year round is because this is a shorter time (20-30 minutes). So it’s more profitable for me to book these back to back and have multiple clients at once! This way I’m not spending more time driving to and from the session, and my costs go down doing several at once! It also speeds up my workflow by culling, editing, and exporting these around the same time, so the time I’m spending on each session goes down as well than if I photographed single mini sessions on random days through the year!

Needless to say, these are really profitable for me. But it’s a lot scheduling multiple sessions, reserving times, not double booking, making sure I get all the combinations necessary, and the list goes on and on!

How to choose a location: I keep two important things in mind when choosing a location: Shade and parking. Since I line up several mini sessions in a row, they can’t all be right at sunset when there’s a soft glow. So for me personally to keep my light and airy style, it’s important to have a place to shoot other than harsh light! I choose locations with trees or a large structure like a barn to be sure I have shade during the session.

It’s also important to choose somewhere your client can easily get to. I never do these downtown since it can take 20 minutes just to find a parking spot. Choose somewhere with sufficient for your clients that’s easy to get to. It’s also great if there’s room for little ones to run around!

What date to choose: Only offering these on specific dates makes them a bigger deal! Choose a date strategically. I’ve learned around October or November is a great time since families want pictures for a Christmas card! Where I live, it gets into the mid 90’s regularly in the summer, so that might not be the best time for families! Just like a date in the middle of January might not be the best for young kids. I normally plan mine around fall when the leaves are beautiful and during the spring.

If these tips were helpful, this is only 10% of everything in a new E-book I created just for you photographers wondering where to start when it comes to mini sessions.

I go into detail about what to charge, how to advertise, organizing payments and contracts, and even include 2 FREE email templates I send to clients- the first when they inquire, and the second one-week out from their session so you’re sure they have ALL of the details! I also put the combinations I try to get at every session, and my tips for offering an exceptional experience to keep clients coming back to you years into the future!

If you want to learn more, all you have to do is sign up HERE to get your free mini session E-book right to your inbox! Absolutely free, so you can conquer your mini session days while offering an exceptional experience to clients!

 

As always, if you have any questions, contact me at christa@christarenephotography.com, or fill out a contact form here!