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Chances are, if you’re looking at our website, you already know the answer to this question, but here are our thoughts anyway…
When you commission Chris Watts Photography & Design, your portrait is expertly crafted with great attention to detail and a high degree of personal service throughout the process, whereas mall or store-based portrait studios tend to offer a “mass produced” or “canned” experience, repeatedly using limited poses, backgrounds, and other resources. The result is a unique, meaningful, custom portrait with a personal touch, as well as a continuously growing range of products and a high degree of quality and service that mall or store-based portrait studios are hard-pressed to match.
Our goal is to form a lasting relationship with you and to fulfill all your portraiture and photography needs now and in the future.
On top of all that, we’re just more fun!
For more information, including pricing, and/or to book your portrait session, simply contact us. After our initial contact, you’ll be able to pay your session fee online. Your session payment is required (in full) to reserve your session date and time.
Portrait sessions are generally scheduled on weekends to better accommodate your schedule. We usually try to schedule sessions for early morning or late afternoon when the light is at its best.
Your portrait session will take place at a location of your choosing, such as your home or favorite park, utilizing (when possible) natural light. We LOVE natural light! If you don’t have a location in mind, we can offer suggestions. Be aware that a travel fee may apply for locations that require excessive travel.
If inclement weather becomes a problem or you have some sort of other scheduling conflict, just let us know in advance so we can reschedule.
Portrait sessions typically last 1 to 1-1/2 hours; mini-sessions are a bit shorter; newborn or baby sessions tend to be a bit longer. Your online gallery will typically be available within 1 week of your portrait session. Unless otherwise stated, print orders are normally fulfilled in 2-4 weeks, not including shipping (to you) time. Products that require additional design time, such as custom-designed Greeting & Holiday Cards, can take longer.
While every portrait session varies, you’ll typically end up with 30-60 images (proofs) to choose from in your online gallery. We do our best to remove unusable (blinks, sneezes, etc.) or duplicate images to make the selection process as easy as possible.
Absolutely! Once you book your session, we’ll provide you with a list of tips to help you get the most out of your session. Here’s the super short version… Darker colors are more slimming; subjects should complement each other, clothing-wise; and try to avoid busy patterns.
Traditionally, photographers tend to offer portrait packages that include certain quantities and sizes of prints. We think that’s a bit restrictive, so our “packages” are a little different. We offer portrait sessions in three tiers, each including a gift card good toward whatever prints and other products (from your session) you like. Higher tiers include a higher-value gift card but also offer more cost savings for you.
While we don’t offer portrait packages in the traditional sense, we do understand the need for quantity discounts. Quantity discounts are available when ordering five or more copies of an image in some of our more popular sizes - perfect for ordering several copies of your favorite image to give to family members and/or friends, for example.
Portrait sessions start around $200 and include a $75+ gift card, depending which session you purchase. Feel free to contact us for complete pricing details.
Yes, you can upgrade your portrait session right up until (and including) the day of your session. We can even take payment (credit card included) at your portrait session - isn’t technology grand! Please be aware though that once you’ve purchased your portrait session, you cannot downgrade.
Accepted forms of payment include cash, check (payable to “Chris Watts Photography & Design”), or credit card (MasterCard or Visa).
Aside from our standard photographic prints, we offer a number of other products created using your portraits. A few examples are…
Refer to our products page for all the details. Looking for a certain product and don’t see it on our website? Let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.
Professional retouching such as removing blemishes, minimizing stray hairs, whitening teeth, and softening facial lines is included with all finished portrait products. The only exclusions are proofs and proof books. More advanced retouching such as removing braces, changing hair or clothing color, and head or face swaps is also available.
Absolutely! Please refer to the following guides for some tips…
While not a standard product, due to our desire to maintain tight control over the presentation and quality of our portraits, print-ready digital files (including artwork/retouching) are available at various sizes and costs, depending on your needs. Contact us for details.
For each image you order, you’ll receive a screen-optimized digital file for use on Facebook, your personal blog/website, etc. at no additional cost. Screen-optimized files look great on your iPhone (or other mobile phone), iPad, or desktop computer as well. These files can also be purchased separately if you choose not to order any other products from a particular image. When you receive your screen-optimized digital file, it will have our logo and website address overlaid at the bottom of the image. Please do not make any attempt to remove or crop out said logo and/or website address, as doing so is a violation of our copyright.
All of our images are protected by copyright. Images may not be reproduced, printed, altered, or otherwise used in whole or in part without prior consent. Scanning of prints and other products is also a violation of this copyright. You are, however, welcome to share images posted on this website or provided to you as digital files on personal websites such as Facebook, MySpace, your personal blog/website, etc., as long as the CW logo and website address overlaid on the photo remain fully intact. Please do not make any attempt to remove or crop out said logo and/or website address. For any other purposes, please contact us.
Yes, we offer a variety of commercial photography services as well. A few examples are…
If you’d like to discuss a project, please contact us.
If you have any further questions that aren’t covered here, let us know.
713.398.7310 ∙ .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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