Your Session

When To Schedule

Newborns: The best time to schedule a newborn session is during your second trimester of pregnancy. Newborns are best photographed within the first 2 weeks of life, 7-12 days being optimal. To best assure availability for your newborn session, please contact me 4 weeks in advance to reserve a tentative time frame. I reserve a limited amount of sessions and my calendar can fill up quickly. Last minute newborn inquiries are welcome and I will do my best to schedule you- but there is no guarantee.
Maternity: Maternity portraits are best taken around 28-34 weeks (we want you to have “popped” but still feel your best.) If you are looking for outdoor pictures, the best time of day for lighting is in the evenings, an hour or so before sundown.
Births: If you are interested in me capturing the birth of your child, it is best to contact me at the very beginning of your second trimester. Due to the on-call nature of births, I only schedule two per month and thus am very limited. In addition, I like to schedule a meeting with all my birth parents in the beginning of the third trimester to go over your birth photography preferences.
Family Sessions: I take on a limited number of family/child sessions. Outdoor sessions are best scheduled in the evenings and I recommend contacting me at least 2-4 weeks before you are hoping to schedule. Studio sessions are usually scheduled in the mornings.

What to Expect & Wear

Your portrait experience will be relaxed and fun! You should always come away remembering a fun experience and images that show the true spirit of your child. As children are different, each session will be as well. I want your photos to capture the true personality of your little ones!

Choosing clothing for portraits can be one of the most stressful part of the process for many folks. First of all, breathe deep, and do not stress. Clothing will not “make or break” your photos.

After you reserve your session date I send a complete welcome and preparation guide with a lot of specific details on clothing recommendations and information that will help you understand what you session will look like.

After Your Session

After photographing a session, the culling and post-process retouching can take around 6-20 hours, depending on the amount of images taken. I shoot my photos in RAW format and complete post-processing on each photo, with some advanced processing on the photos you receive. The total work, including scheduling, planing, event time, and final product can average around 20-25 hours.

For portraits, I will select all the best images from the session (usually around 30+) partially retouch them and post a gallery of images online within 2 weeks of your session. You select which images you would like to receive and any print items you wish to use your print credit on. After you purchase your package, you will receive your digital images and print release immediately as a digital download. Prints and products can take about 2-3 weeks.

What does a “print release” mean?

When you purchase high-resolution images you will also receive a written print release from myself. You can print as many times and any way you like. You can have you images printed on coffee mugs, birth announcements, 11×14 prints for grandma’s wall…how ever you like. I do give recommendations on quality printing services as well. This print release gives you permission to order quality reprints for personal use as much and as often as you like. *Please note that a “Print Release” differs from a “Copyright Release.” All photo copyrights are retained by Blue Daisy Art. Selling/submitting images or using them for commercial purposes without the photographer’s express consent is a serious violation of copyright laws and legal action will be taken. If you wish to post pictures on Facebook or other social media, you are certainly free to but please give credit to Blue Daisy Art photography with a link to our website: www.BlueDaisyArt.com. In addition, a print release does not allow editing of the photos after they have been burned to the flash drive. If you would like photos edited or altered in any way, please contact me so I can assist you. Images from your session may appear in Blue Daisy Art advertising or promotional materials, and/or on the Blue Daisy Art website.

Quality print products

First of all, all photo printing is NOT equal. I highly suggestion purchasing your prints through my professional labs. Prints from Walgreens are not the same quality as those from other print labs. Your images have been thoroughly prepared, therefore any “auto correction” service that a lab might provide should be turned off. I would also advise against home printing. Another interesting issue with digital photos is size or the aspect ratio. The photos I will be giving you will be in a 3:2. This is great if you are printing 4×6 photos, but if you are printing 5×7 or 8×10 or even larger, some of your photo will be cropped. Some photos labs will crop them for you, but do you really want to leave it up to a machine? If you know you will be printing in that size and would like assistance, just let me know. Also, if you have prints made directly from your online gallery I will have the opportunity to assist you with this free of charge. For more on aspect ratio, visit this website.For even larger pictures, canvas prints or special prints I can help prepare files for you— just let me know. I suggest printing on matte paper, but glossy is fine as well.