FAQs

• When should I plan on having my maternity portraits taken?

  • We recommend scheduling your session to take place at 32-36 weeks. This allows you to have that awesome, obvious bulge of pregnancy but still feel comfortable enough in your own skin to get in and out of various poses. If you’re already further along, that’s okay, too. We’ve had great success with late-stage maternity portraits. Just keep in mind that babies do sometimes arrive early, so don’t wait until the last minute!

• When should I book my newborn session?

  • We strongly recommend first giving us a heads-up of your due date so that we can start to make plans for you in our calendar. Then, once your baby is born, give us a call, email us, or drop us a line on Facebook as soon as possible — preferably from the hospital! To ensure the best portraits possible, it’s best that we photograph newborns 5-10 days after birth.

• Why do I need to come in for newborn portraits so soon?

  • As a mom of two young boys myself, I completely understand how adding a portrait session to your first week with a newborn can seem like one task too many. But there are several reasons why making portraits a first-week priority can have huge pay-offs. Many of the most beloved B&B newborn poses are only possible with a sleeping baby. During your baby’s first week, we have better odds of catching that super-sleepy and floppy time in his life — and capturing images of your child at his very tiniest.

• What if my baby won't sleep or won't stop crying?

  • Two of the hallmarks of the Bump & Bambino approach are patience and respect. We understand that your baby has her own needs and may need time (sometimes a lot of it) to settle in to our studio and relax. In almost every instance, our patience and relaxed atmosphere have paid off with wonderful portraits. If your little one simply is unable to settle, we offer 50% off a “do-over” session (if completed within a week).

• What is required to book a session?

  • Contact us right away if you’re ready to book a session. We’ll collect a $350 retainer to book most sessions; because we set aside double the studio time for newborns, reserving a newborn session requires a $450 retainer. This retainer will cover your session fee and a $200 product package; the session fee is nonrefundable. Even if you want to book a newborn session and don’t know when your baby will arrive, you should reserve a session at least a few weeks in advance to ensure that we have room for you in our calendar. We’ll pencil you in for a week after your due date. After the baby arrives, call or email us from the hospital to confirm or change your session reservation. We are a busy studio that only accepts a limited number of sessions per week, so please contact us as soon as possible after the birth, even if you know you won’t be able to come in for a week or more!

• What if I need to reschedule my session?

  • We know all about how coughs and colds are a big part of parenthood, so we keep a flexible rescheduling policy. In fact, we ask that you reschedule your session if your child is sick or unusually cranky, out of courtesy to us and our other clients. Besides, if your baby is under the weather, your photos likely will be, too! After you’ve paid the retainer and booked a session, you can contact us to reschedule that session up to 24 hours before its scheduled time at no penalty. Your full retainer will be applied towards the rescheduled session, which must take place within one month. If you cancel by 8am the morning of your session, a $50 rescheduling fee will apply. Beyond that time, only the $200 package portion of your retainer is refundable.

• What happens after my session?

  • First, we’ll need 1-2 weeks to work our Photoshop magic, cleaning up common skin flaws such as baby acne and stork bites, scratches from sharp baby fingernails, and stretch marks on bulging bellies, and then applying B&B’s proprietary photo enhancements. Once the photos are ready, we’ll contact you to schedule a purchasing appointment at our studio, where we’ll assist you in making your portrait selections. Please make sure all decision-makers will be present, which usually includes Dad and often a grandparent or two as well. Because these appointments sometimes take over an hour, we suggest you arrange for a babysitter for small children if possible. After the appointment, you’ll get to take home your CD of images for immediately sharing on Facebook and by email. We’ll also activate your website gallery, where anyone with the password can view your photos and order prints for themselves. Purchases will be ready in 1-2 weeks for loose prints, 3-4 weeks for wall art, and 4-6 weeks for albums.

• When do I have to pick a Baby Plan?

  • We recommend that you select a Baby Plan when you book your first session with B&B. We’ll help you decide which Baby Plan is best for you. If you aren’t quite ready to make that commitment, your last chance to opt into a Baby Plan is during the purchasing appointment after your first session.

• Can I get digital files from my session?

  • Screen-resolution digital files are included free of charge with each session! They are optimized for social media sites like Facebook, for emailing as attachments, and for other digital uses. There is a subtle B&B logo that will appear in a bottom corner. If you’re looking for high-resolution digital files suitable for making prints, you can purchase them at $100/file or $500 for all files in a session, or you can get them for free simply by opting for a Baby Plan! We really believe in the value of bringing your baby in for several sessions over his or her first year in life, and this gift of printable digital files is our way of giving you another reason to do so. Your free printable files will be delivered after the final session in your Baby Plan has been completed. Of course, we still strongly recommend that you make your investment in wall art and albums through us, because we maintain strict quality standards that you won't get from discount photo labs.

• Why are your prints more expensive than those from big-box stores or online labs?

  • Because they are better, of course! It's easy to assume that all prints are the same, so why spent dollars on prints from us when you can get them for pennies at your neighborhood drugstore photo lab? Unfortunately, that simply isn't the case. Print quality can vary widely from lab to lab, and like many things in life, you'll get what you pay for. We've chosen to be a very quality-focused studio, because we don't believe in going cheap on something as important as your family photographs. When you're making an investment that you plan to treasure for years, we want to ensure that the color is vibrant and accurate, the black and whites are pure, and the materials have an attractive surface finish and coating to protect them from fading, color shifts, and other damage. We use a hand-picked set of companies that produce photographic prints, canvases, unique wall art, gorgeous albums, and other products of the highest quality. The best companies only serve professional photographers, and consumer labs don't even try to compete with them on quality.