Studio Portrait Frequent Questions
Why does this section, mainly consider studio portraits?
Studio portraits are a very important part of our business and usually follows a fairly consistent approach, whereas our wedding and other photographic work tends to be far more tailored to the demands and needs of our customers. A high level summary of our other services is given on this website, but please do not hesitate to get in touch for any additional information you may require.
What other services do you provide?
Basically anything that requires a high standard of photography, post-processing production expertise, good inter-personal skills or any combination of all three. In addition to portraiture work, our wedding photography service represent the majority of our other work. That said, we are happy to accept commercial work, can cover all kinds of evening or special events (including the provision of immediate prints), produce model portfolios, can assist to process any old images or special digital images so you can get the very best of them, offer one to one photographic tuition and ....
What style of portraits do you produce?
Our primary aim is to capture the individuality and character of the individuals or groups we are shooting. We seek to produce images of people in a relaxed and natural style. As a result, we try to make every photographic shoot an enjoyable experience and keep any formal posing to a minimum. We do though aim to work with you to get the very best images and of course keep an eye out for detail that can detract from an image if not suitably addressed.
What should we wear for the shoot?
This is entirely up to you although we offer some guidance when confirming the arrangements of your shoot. If desired, you can bring along a change of clothes to help create a wider range of images.
Can we bring along our pets to a shoot?
Within reason, absolutely, they are after all an important part of the family! Our studio can be secured so that pets can be released without any problems or concerns.
Should we bring any props for the shoot?
This is entirely up to you and certainly they can help define a person or add interest to an image. Again, we provide additional advice when confirming the arrangements of your shoot. If you bring along any props, we tend to take images with and without them to give you the widest choice of images to view.
What happens if you are not happy with the images taken at your photo shoot?
There is absolutely no obligation to buy anything following a photo shoot and therefore your exposure to a poor shoot is limited. Further, if you are genuinely unhappy with the images taken, we are happy to refund the fee you paid for the sitting.
The above though is very much the worst case scenario - as evidenced throughout our business and this website, we aim to produce images that please us and delight you. If we are not entirely happy with the images produced therefore, we will always propose a second sitting. Often times, this is due to a young child or children not being in the best mood for having their photographs taken! We can often overcome these difficulties, but if not, no problem, let's just try again.
How long does the shoot last?
We try our best to shoot fast - so we can keep the energy up and maintain the interest of the young ones. We will want to keep things going for as long as we feel the session is being productive! Typically though a shoot will last approximately one hour.
What types of images are taken during a shoot?
We will aim to get a mixture of shots - a combination of different groupings of those being photographed and a range of poses and expressions. Naturally, we will always seek to produce any types of images that our customers are particularly keen on creating. All the images taken will be in full colour, although any can be converted to black and white or have any other digital effect you may want adding to them.
When can I view my images?
There are two possibilities. We recommend that you return to the studio within the next few days to view your images as this gives us the opportunity to sort them out and process them into the best possible state to view. If appropriate, we can also produce a few with special effects to give you an idea of what is possible. Alternatively though, you can view the images as soon as we have prepared them on the computer. This usually takes around 15 to 20 minutes.
What happens at a viewing and how long does it take?
All viewings are entirely relaxed affairs and, unlike some photography companies, there is absolutely no hard selling techniques employed. We hate these in other parts of our lives and certainly don't wish to reflect these on our customers! We will usually leave you on your own to view your images for a period and only offer help when needed. The time a viewing takes is largely up to you and is often dependent on how decisive you are in choosing your most favourite images! Typically though a viewing will last between 30 minutes and an hour.
What products do you offer?
Our main products are typically conventional prints that are either framed or unframed. In addition, though numerous other choices are available including canvases, albums, acrylics and so on. Indeed, if you have anything particular in mind, we will do our very best to source it.
How long does it take to complete my orders?
We seek to use the best possible suppliers and everything we provide is tailor-made for our customers. This means that it can take between 4 to 8 weeks to complete an order, although we believe the wait is worth it!
How much do your products cost?
The normal cost of a standard 5 inch by 7 inch print is £30. A carefully and professionally designed collection of images in one of our top quality 36 inch by 48 inch frames cost in the region of £550. There is an extensive choice of products between these two extremes.
Do you offer Value For Money?
We believe so 100%. We clearly need to make enough money to live, but our primary aim is to entirely satisfy our customers and give them the opportunity to obtain images of their family on more than solely a once-off basis. Our products are of the finest quality which clearly results in a certain cost and in addition we do need to factor in the cost of our time. Nonetheless, we are confident that our prices are remarkably good value compared to that offered by others and we like to think that what we produce will often take centre stage in our customer's homes.
What happens if we cannot afford all of the images that we ideally want?
Unlike some of our competitors, we do not offer financing terms to help you purchase your images out of principlel. We do though seek to offer arrangements that reduce the overall cost where this is important. For example, via our baby and children clubs, our loyal customers schemes and our off-peak special offers. In particular, we offer a 20% discount on prices of all images that are both shot and viewed during the week as opposed to the weekend. We also offer special deals at different times of the year.
Finally, we seek to make a sizeable donation each year to deserving cases. Please get in touch if you know of any deserving causes.
Is there any obligation to buy anything after a shoot?
Absolutely not! In the unlikely event that you do not want any of the images, then please do not buy them! That said, we do put a lot of time and effort into each and every shoot and would therefore respectfully ask you not to attend if you have absolutely no intention of buying!
Can we buy electronic copies of the images taken?
A number of low resolution images may be purchased which can be used on face book and the like. In addition, a selection of high resolution images may be purchased on disc.
Who owns the copyright of the images?
7Oaks Photography retains the copyright to all images taken at your shoot.
What happens to the images after our shoot?
We will retain the images for a number of years so that you can come back for additional prints as and when required.
What experience and equipment do you have?
Having the best equipment certainly does not guarantee good images but it doesn't hurt and is the easier question to answer! We have pro Canon cameras, high quality strobes and the latest post production software by Adobe and Nik Software. In terms of our expertise, we do not have any formal photography qualifications, although please review the images throughout the site and the advice we give to photographers to get a reliable sense of our abilities.