The process of getting your portrait shot by pcPix.com starts with contacting us to arrange a shoot. Normally, particularly with smaller children, we get the best results in an environment familiar to the child, so we prefer to shoot at your home. This may involve a travel charge if your home is further than five miles from our location in Redmond.
If the main person you want photographed is a child, you'll want to schedule the shoot for a time of day when your child is at his or her best, well rested and ready to meet strangers. A pcPix.com photo shoot, if you like, includes the entire family, so pick a time when Dad and Mom can be there too.
If we're shooting at your home, you'll want to have a reasonably-sized area cleared in which we can work, at least 10'x12'. Lighting isn't important, though too much direct sunlight can cause squinting.
The next step is selecting your various options. You start by selecting your package, along with all the options laid out on our Packages and Pricing page. The cost of your selected package must be paid in full at this time (check or cash; we do not accept credit cards). Please carefully look at the questions we'll be asking you at the time of your shoot (they're on the Packages and Pricing page), because we cannot prepare your proofs and then your package until we have all those answers!
Once you've selected all your options, your photographer will get to the real fun, and the real work: Taking pictures. You can expect your photo session to last between thirty minutes and two hours. Several outfit changes and a location change or two are to be expected; also, your photographer will work with everyone present who wishes to be photographed. It's hard to predict in advance, because some subjects get tired and cranky more readily than others, but your photographer will likely take between eighty and three hundred pictures during your photo shoot.
Why do we take so many pictures? Well, we try very hard to capture a range of emotions in each subject. We can get that first fixed smile in the first dozen shots, but long experience shows that as the subject warms to and becomes more comfortable with the photographer, he or she becomes able to display a much wider range of emotions as the shoot goes on. Often we have to take breaks, particularly with children under the age of six; you'll find us both patient and understanding.
The job's only partly done once the photographs are shot. The next interaction you'll have with pcPix.com will be when we provide you with your proofs.
Proofs are simply copies of the images we've shot, provided specifically for you to look at to decide which photographs you wish to be included as part of your package. So while you will eventually receive copies of ALL the photographs pcPix.com shoots on a disc, you'll need to choose which pictures are printed as part of your package.
As laid out on the Packages and Pricing page, you can look look at your proofs in three different ways:
No matter how you obtain the images to examine, all you need to do is go through the pictures we've shot, and decide which images you wish printed in which sizes. The package you've chosen will include a certain number of 8x10's, 5x7's, 4x6's and wallet prints. You'll just need to tell us which images should be printed in which way.
One difference between pcPix.com and some studios is that we charge a package price that includes paying for your photographer's time. All of the images we shoot are given to you on disc, in digital files that allow you to make as many prints of any image as you wish (for personal, non-commercial use). So while your package may include only two 8x10's, you can print as many copies of either of them as you wish. You can also print copies, whether 8x10, 5x7, 4x6 or whatever, of any other image that was shot during your photo shoot. Basically, the only thing you can't do is sell them for commercial use, as described on our copyright page.
The images on your disc are at the full resolution captured by the digital camera your photographer uses during your shoot, so if at any point in the future you wish to print more pictures, you can do that without further payment to pcPix.com.
Once you've gone through your proofs and selected your various pictures, pcPix.com will get right to work on producing your package. This can take up to two weeks, but a more typical turnaround time is three to four business days.
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