It’s all about you and your social media world

You live in a Social Media world, why choose an old style studio?  Our senior services are built around how you live in the Social Media World: Facebook, Instagram, Vine, SnapChat, Pheed, Tumbler .etc.  We provide you with a DVD of all your images resized and formatted for use on social media sites. Just upload and share what you want with who you want.   We also provide a DVD of all your images full size and full resolution so if your parents, relatives or friends want photos we’ve got that covered too…And if you buy photos from us there no photo package requirements!   Why should you be forced to buy photos you don’t want and need to get those you want?

We’re Affordable.   After year of shooting senior portraits (including our own kids) we recognize that senior portrait are almost a rite of passage for seniors, we also know that most senior photographers in San Antonio price many students out and so seniors use Uncle Fred or mom or dad to shoot their photos.  You might think that with our national exposure and the extra mile we go, we would be very expensive, but we are not. We  love taking senior portraits and senior pictures are not where we make our money.  We are probably the most affordable senior studio in San Antonio and there are no hidden charges, no hidden fees, what we tell you is what you get.

The Essential Difference Between Us And The Other Studios

Virtually all other professional studios make their money selling expensive photos.  Typically they will charge you a small sitting fee, take your photos, give you some proofs to review and then require you to purchase photos in packages.  This gets very expensive quickly and you will find that if you want to buy a certain size photo that it only comes in a package with other photos, so you have to forgo getting some images you want or pay for images you don’t want.

We do not require you to buy photos.  While you are under no obligation to purchase photos from us, we are contracted with a professional lab and if you want to order photos from us we can provide the highest quality for near Wal-Mart prices.  And, if you choose to purchase photos from us there are no required packages, simply choose the images you want in the sizes and quantities you want.  It’s that simple.

Packages and Prices

Our approach is very simple.  Our package prices are all inclusive, there are no additional fees or hidden costs. 

All Packages Include

1. The opportunity to select 25-35 images to be finished. provided to you with a full release on a DVD
2. Professionally finishing of all images (removal of blemishes, skin smoothening, color enhancement, removal of distracting background items, etc) Identical what we do for submission to magazine.
3. A DVD of the finished image re-sized and sharpened for use on social media sides.
4. A DVD of  full sized  hi-resolution images with a full release for making copies.
5. A free web gallery on our site.
6. Senior photo sent to your high school.

Studio or Location Only Package $375

Includes a three-hour session with unlimited wardrobe changes, backgrounds and poses.  A location package includes two to three separate locations.  We shoot at many locations (we can provide you a list and if you tell us what you’re interested in we can suggest locations to match), but if you have a special location in mind, just name it.

Studio and Location Package $525

This includes the Studio Package and the Location Package,  (and you can do the sessions on different days).  The cost is $525.  That’s it, no extra fees and no hidden costs and we offer a 100% guarantee.

Country, Urban, Studio and Water Package ($850) We are offering a $50 discount to any senior(s) who arranges for a session before the end of April (the session can be any time before the end of October)

This is a  full day, often two half day sessions.  We will start shooting in the country and will work  our way into the city where you will have a range of options from a fashion like shoot on the a main street of San Antonio, one of the many city parks, (Tea Garden). one of the Missions, along the River Walk, the Old Lone Star Brewery, Sunset RR station, Guadalupe State Park to various grungy and gritty locations.  We will take a break, give you a chance to get a bite to eat and then freshen up at our studio, change hair styles and make up and then we will take some of the more formal and interesting shots in studio and we will end the  day with a session in or near the water as the sun starts to fade.  The Tea Garden, Missions, Old Lone Star Brewery, Sunset Station are premium locations and an additional fee applies.

Can’t Uncle Fred Take My Senior Photos?

Well, he certainly could.  Uncle Fred, is probably a good photographer and takes great vacation and family photos.  But Fred is not a professional.  As professionals we have invested thousands of dollars in equipment and spent hundreds of hours honing our skills in all aspects of photography.

We asked a couple of last year’s seniors to  send us a “good” photo taken by a relative and below each we placed one of ours.  We think our images speak for themselves.

Why we think it is a bad idea to have Uncle Fred take your senior photos.

1. Often when people see a great photo their initial response is, “Wow, you must have a great camera.”  Actually the camera is the least important factor in a great photograph.

2. What separates non-professionals from professionals comes down to two factors, posing and lighting.  The first is posing.   Posing a subject is the most difficult skill to learn in creating a great portrait.  Every element of the body needs to  be posed.  This is why magazines hire professional models.  Since we shoot professional models most of the year, we can make you look like a professional model. The second element separating photographers is lighting.  No matter how beautiful the subject, no matter how well posed, it is the light that makes the image spectacular.

3.  What do you mean by lighting?  Well, if someone puts you in the shade (hopefully not the sun) and took your picture that would be ambient light (see the two examples above), it would look ok, but you would not be separated from the background, the image would be flat looking and you likely would have raccoon eyes (shadows under the eyes).  He could use the popup flash on his camera which would be bad, or the worst he could put an external flash and attach it to the top of the camera, giving you that DMV look.

4.  We are one of only a handful of studios who balance ambient and flash.  Done correctly the subject pops without that “flashy” look.   Since light should never come from the same axis as the camera, we use radio controlled flash triggers to take the flash off the camera, place it at the correct angle to create dramatic images, soften the light with a softbox and using a 3 to 1 ratio and balance the flash with the ambient light.