When Molly Galo of Oak Park wanted to have her 5-year-old son, Andrew, and 15-month-old daughter, Caroline, photographed last fall, she knew she wanted the pictures taken in black and white by a professional photographer. Enter Oak Park-based photographer Cindy Trim.
“I usually don’t like those formal, posed pictures. The only one I’d ever had done was a formal sit-down baby portrait of my son at a studio in Michigan,” Galo recalls. “Then I met Cindy at my daughter’s preschool. We were chatting . . . and I found out what Cindy does. I saw her portfolio and liked it. And when I called another studio for a (price) comparison, I was told that they would shoot in color and then develop the pictures in black and white. That’s when we decided to use Cindy.”
Trim ended up taking 30 photos of the Galos–some of Andrew and Caroline together, some of each child alone, some of the whole family. Galo was so happy with the results that she bought about $400 worth of prints.
There are myriad photographers in the city and suburbs ready to snap the special moments in the lives of your young subjects. Color or black and white? Plain background or playful prop? Forty dollars or less, or $400 or more? The choice is up to you.
Color portraits with a variety of backgrounds are popular choices at Photography by J.C. Penney and The Picture People (formerly Expressly Portraits). Both businesses have locations throughout the Chicago area, and offer coupons, special package prices and photo clubs that make prices especially appealing.
At Photography by J.C. Penney, for example, the regular sitting fee is $8.95 per person and pictures are $10 per sheet, according to Jennifer Veto, manager at the company’s Golf Mill shopping center store in Niles. One sheet consists of one 8×10, two 5x7s, four 3 1/2x5s or eight wallet-sized photos. And there is no limit on the number of sheets a customer can buy.
“We take five poses. There are no restrictions on the poses the customer orders, but they have to have one special effect (photo) and one portrait pattern taken,” Veto says. Soft focus pictures, profiles and cameo shots are some special effects options. Portrait patterns are photos with things like hearts, stars or clouds in the background.
The company “always has some special going,” Veto notes. “Some we just have in the studio and people don’t need a coupon, and some special packages you can only get through coupons,” she explains. Sometimes, for example, the $8.95 sitting fee is waived, sometimes pictures are priced at $5.99 per sheet. One recent promotion offered a 36-picture package for just $4.99 plus the $8.95 per person sitting fee. That package included one 10×13, two 8x10s, two 5x7s, 15 wallets, six billfolds, four 3 1/2x5s and 6 jewelry print photos.
The company’s photo club is another option for price-conscious picture-takers. A two-year membership, which costs $29.95, waives sitting fees for immediate family members and offers a 10 percent discount on orders of $60 or more. Members receive a free 8×10-inch photo on the day they enroll, and every time they order at least $60 worth of photos, they get a punch on a special member card. “After four punches, they get four free sheets of photos,” Veto says.
Customers select the poses they want after viewing them in color on a computer screen, and can keep a black-and-white printout of the proofs, Veto says. And what they see is what they get, because Photography by J.C. Penney doesn’t offer cropping or retouching services. The company keeps negatives for 90 days, which means customers can reorder pictures for three months from the date they’re taken. “We don’t offer coupons on reorders. They’re $10 a sheet,” Veto says.
Photo packages, props and same-day prints attract customers with kids to The Picture People, according to Johanna Garcia, manager of the company’s Oak Brook Center studio, where the sitting fee is $9.95 per person and $19.95 for three or more people.
“We take five poses: one full body shot, one closeup, one signature/high angle shot, one with a prop and one `crazy’ shot. We can also do whatever the customer prefers–five closeups, for example,” says Garcia, who notes the company can shoot pictures in color or black and white, but does not do cropping or retouching.
Regular-priced picture packages are $40 and include one 8×10, two 5x7s and eight wallet-sized photos of a single pose. Customers can order additional 11-picture packages for $35 per set. Individual sheets–which, like those at Penney’s, have one 8×10, two 5x7s, four 3 1/2x5s or eight wallet-sized pictures per sheet–are available for $15 each. Customers can’t keep proofs, but can pick the pictures up in about an hour, Garcia says.
The Picture People also offers seasonal specials and photo clubs. “Every season we offer different props and different specials,” Garcia says. And anyone who invests $39.95 for membership in The Picture People’s photo club gets free sittings plus three free 8×10 portraits during the first year.
“It pays off in the second visit,” says Garcia, who adds that club members can reorder pictures for up to one year after a sitting. “We keep negatives (for non-club members) for 60 days, but for one year if you’re a member,” she said.
If heirloom-quality pictures by professional photographers are what you’re after, you’ll have to ante up more than $10 a sitting. But you’ll get the expertise of people educated in lighting and other intricacies of the craft. And you’ll be able to have pictures printed in a wider variety of sizes and finishes, and have them cropped and touched up.
At Stuart-Rodgers Photography in Chicago and Evanston, clients pay a $100 sitting fee, which typically includes 40 to 60 shots, according to Holly Rodgers, who owns the business with her brother, Scott. There also is a $200 minimum portrait order for pictures taken in the studio, and a $500 minimum for those shot on location.
Trim charges $200 for a 30-photo session in her home, and no minimum orders are required.
Prices for prints vary depending on the type, size and number of pictures ordered. Stuart-Rodgers, for example, offers photo packages ranging from $325 to $575 plus sitting fee for children under 10. A $325 color package includes two 8x10s, two 5x7s and eight wallet-sized photos or one 8×10, two 5x7s, two 4x5s and four wallet-sized pictures. A $575 black-and-white package includes one 11×14, one 8×10, two 5x7s, two 4x5s and eight wallet-sized shots.
The packages can be split between two poses, Rodgers notes. If anyone in the photo is 10 or older, regular portrait prices apply. The lowest price for an 8×10-inch, black-and-white photo at Stuart-Rodgers is $215 for the first print and $170 for duplicate prints; the lowest-price for an 8×10-inch color portrait is $195 for the first print and $155 for duplicates. Light undereye retouching is included. The highest-quality 8×10-inch black-and-white print at Stuart Rodgers is $385 for the first portrait, $300 for duplicates; the highest-quality 8×10-inch color print is $350 for the first picture, $275 for duplicates. Prices for these museum-quality prints include maximum retouching (airbrushing stray hairs, taking away facial shine and eyeglass glare). Clients also can purchase a book of their proofs for an additional charge.
Trim prints all the black-and-white pictures she shoots on archival-quality paper. Her prices are the same for color and black-and-white photographs: 8×10-inch photos, for example, cost $38 for one print; $32 each for two to six prints of the same image; $26 each for seven to 12 prints of the same image; and $20 each for 13 or more prints of the same pose. Cropping and retouching of small areas (things like stray hairs and drool on toddlers) are included. Clients can keep their proofs for no additional charge, and can order extra proof sheets for $15 per sheet, Trim said.
And there’s never a problem with reordering prints from Stuart-Rodgers or Trim, since they don’t dump their negatives.
