What sets Michael’s Photography apart from the rest?

As a business, we have to pay attention to what other photography studios are doing.  I want to highlight some things that make us different from a lot of photography studios out there–not just for senior pictures, but for families, kids, and any other types of portraits.

• We give you unlimited backgrounds for your pictures.
• None of our regular sessions (not including our all-in-one Economy Package) has a limit on the number of poses taken.  We will take as many as we think are needed, based on your outfits, accessories and props, your wishes, location, and enthusiasm!
• Senior proofs are ready in 2 business days, bound in a hardcover book, and when you pick them up you’ll receive your password for online viewing.
• With us, a separate senior session for yearbook-style formal portraits is only necessary if you’ve purchased an on-location session.  Otherwise, we will gladly do yearbook photos during your session no matter what, with any type of in-studio session you’ve selected.
• We book all of our sessions for a certain amount of time, but we will never push you out the door when time’s up.  We do our best to arrange our schedule so that there won’t be problems if we run over the allotted time.
• We are not a chain.  Lots of studios are regional or national chains.  They choose only the cream of the national crop for the samples in their mailers and websites, which means that not only are the people you see probably not from your area, but that those pictures weren’t taken by the photographers in your area.  Those samples don’t let you evaluate the work of the people who will be taking your pictures. What you see in our mailers, on our websites, and in our studio were taken here or on location by Michael.

Scheduling a Senior Session: Times

Generally, our time slots we use for seniors–especially during the summer–are 9:30 or 10:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 4:00 PM.  We frequently get calls from seniors who want a 12:00 or 1:00 appointment because they don’t want to get up early (they don’t always tell us that…but we’ve been doing this for a looonnng time!  We know!).  BUT, we don’t select those times arbitrarily.  Here are some things to think about:

Between about 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM, the sun is peaking and its light is harsh.  Contrary to popular belief, glaring bright sunlight is not the ideal light for portraits, particularly when it’s coming from directly above you: skin–especially light skin–gets blown out, you have a tendency to squint, and harsh light from above can produce some not-so-flattering shadows.  Plus, in the summer the morning times are much cooler.  It’s hard to stand out in bright sun and sweltering weather trying to look good for pictures (and its not all that  comfortable for the photographer, either).  Girls’ makeup also tends to look freshest in the morning.

Later in the afternoon you’ll also have better light and perhaps milder temperatures.  Particularly later in the summer and early in the fall, our 4:00 appointments can get some really beautiful light.

As I mentioned above, we do have a 2:00 appointment, so we’re not discouraging you from taking that one.  We do have some canopies to help us out if the sun is bright and the day is hot.  We also try to do outdoor pictures toward the end of the appointment, unless our schedule or client requires otherwise, closer to 3:00 or 3:30.

Of course, we will do everything we can to accommodate your scheduling needs, whether you need one of our three main senior times or you need something totally different.

Call the studio if you want to set something up or have questions at (260) 482-2660, or you can email Marta at marta@michaels-photography.com