Studio portrait
A controlled-light portrait for a profile, a press kit, a book jacket or a wall.
What’s included
- 20 retouched photographs
- Two lighting set-ups and two backgrounds
- Selection made together at the end of the session
- Private online gallery within 48–72 hours
- Print release for personal use
Portfolio
Studio portrait portfolio
A selection of studio portrait shots to inspire your shoot.
Book Studio portrait in your city
Available in 20 US cities and destinations. Choose yours.
About this session
What to wear, and why it matters more here
- $250
- 60 min
- 20
- 20
A studio portrait is the one session where the clothes do more work than the location, because there is no location — there is a background, a light and you. Bring two or three solid mid-tones, plus whatever you actually wear to work rather than what you think a portrait calls for. Fine stripes and small checks interfere with the sensor and shimmer on screen, and no amount of retouching takes it out afterwards. Long sleeves photograph better than short ones for a simple reason: bare arms are brighter than a face, and the eye goes to whatever is brightest in a frame.
The session runs an hour, which is enough for two lighting set-ups and two backgrounds without anyone getting tired of their own face. The selection is made together at the end rather than sent as a contact sheet the following week — you see what there is while you still remember how each frame felt, and that produces a better choice than a hundred thumbnails on a Tuesday. Twenty retouched photographs, delivered to a private gallery within 48 to 72 hours, with a print release for personal use included rather than sold back to you.
The two lighting set-ups are not decoration. One is broad and even, which is what a company directory, a conference programme and a press page all want; the other is harder and directional, which is what a book jacket or an album sleeve wants. They are different photographs of the same person, and most people leave preferring the one they did not expect. Saying at booking which of the two matters more means the hour is spent on it rather than split evenly out of caution.
What a studio cannot do is make you look like somebody else, and the honest version of this service is that it makes you look like yourself on a good day with the light under control. The frames people choose are almost never the ones where they are trying hardest — they are the half-second after an instruction, when the face has stopped being arranged. That is why the session is an hour rather than fifteen minutes: the first ten minutes are stiff for everyone, including people who do this for a living, and they are not the ten minutes you will see.
Frequently asked questions about Studio portrait
What should I wear to a studio portrait session?
Bring two or three solid mid-tone tops and whatever you actually wear to work. Fine stripes, small checks and dense patterns shimmer against a digital sensor and pull the eye away from the face. Long sleeves photograph better than short ones because bare arms are brighter than skin on the face and the eye goes to whatever is brightest.
How long before I get the photographs?
A studio portrait gallery is delivered within 48 to 72 hours of the session. You choose from the full edited set; there is no per-image charge and no upsell after the fact, because the number of photographs is agreed before the session rather than sold afterwards.
How many photographs do I actually get?
Twenty retouched photographs from a one-hour studio portrait session, and the number is stated here rather than described as "a selection" because that is the figure most often left vague. There is no per-image charge afterwards and no retouching sold separately — the twenty are edited, delivered at full resolution, and yours to print.
Can I bring somebody with me?
Yes, and for many people it helps considerably. A studio can feel like an audition when you are alone in it, and somebody whose opinion you trust sitting off to one side changes how the first ten minutes go. They are also useful at the selection stage, because almost nobody is a reliable judge of their own face on a screen.