How long do we want a photographer in our yard

Candid photography takes much longer, sometimes a week or up to two weeks of morning visits to your service. Whilst working with a backdrop system with skilled professionals can compress the same-sized service down to one to three mornings.  

Before Covid in 2021 School Portrait Art offered the candid style of photography and it required up to twice the amount of time being at the centre. 

Since implementing the studio style with a stationary backdrop we noticed many positives, including time efficiency. 

A centre with under 70 children/day can be photographed in one morning, starting at 7.30 am the team usually leave before 11am.

For larger centres, we schedule multiple mornings photographing from early until just before lunch to ensure we are out of the way for your most hands-on part of the day.

Do we have space for a moving candid photographer, or a stationary backdrop

If you choose a candid photographer your educators will need to assist in keeping children away from areas in the yard so they don't appear in the subject child's background.

This can be a super tricky task for both the photographer and your team, I could tell you some stories! haha
Keeping children inside is definitely not an option since this style of photography takes longer with the time the photographer and each child move around.

As studio-styled photographers, once we set up the team can use barricades to encourage children to keep away naturally.

We require solid shade so usually, our team set up down the end of your veranda, which doesn't impact the children's play in the yard.

What style would our families prefer, do most formally dress the children for portrait day

Do your families love the down and dirty action-packed kinder photographs?
Then you suit working with a candid photographer. We love this style too.

However, we noticed that most parents dressed their children in crisp outfits that looked odd when we placed them into yard action. Our photographer had to hunt for a suitable setting which added more time. It became tricky to decide who should dig and who should just sit by the flowers, if there was any.

That was the next hurdle of candid childcare photography, finding suitable places in the yard as the light changes throughout the morning. One spot that worked might not an hour later when the sun had changed.

That's another reason our team and your families love the studio setting, consistency!
Consistently gorgeous no matter how casual or formal the children are dressed.


Instead of worrying about the background and lighting, the team can focus on connecting with each child to bring out their personality and capture a variety of expressions.

Would families like one or more photographs to choose from

How many photographs are provided for families to choose from is where you will find the largest disparity in what photographers offer, and this correlates directly with price and time at your centre. 

Photographers who take a single studio-style photograph spend less time at your service and tend to offer the least expensive package options, whilst keeping their flow and packages very simple.

Photographers who spend more time in the yard with each child capturing a variety of locations and poses tend to have the most expensive options. This doesn't mean they don't have budget options too, it generally means they have more variety in product options and therefore a more complex package structure.  

The two mentioned scenarios are of the extremes and there is a whole scale in between with how many photographs the photographer present's for families to choose from.  Since this factor is so closely related to time spent with each child you'll have to deeply consider what overall is the most important consideration, variety vs time.

We offer as many photographs as we can whilst managing efficiency and taking the time to see each child shine, that's why we provide 10-15 photographs per registered child.

Does the photographer do siblings

Taking sibling photographs requires an extra level of posing skill, particularly for certain age ranges, like tiny infants. 
This can be quite time-consuming and slow down the flow of photography on portrait day. 

Families love this option and if provided, there are always those who take the opportunity to bring in children from outside the service.

However, some photographers prefer not to add this disruption, and some centre managers prefer not to either! 

It is fair to say it does add to the peak hour of portrait morning, however for us, we know how much families appreciate this service so we say yes to offering sibling portraits of children within and outside of the service. 

However, we respect the directions from management and work to your request on this one. 


This is where pre registration is helpful and families can communicate this request directly with the photographer.

Do families need to register

A registration system helps the photographer to manage their time while at your centre.  It is disappointing when after all the work 40-10% of the children's galleries have not even been viewed by the families. 

Gallery non-opens can happen when there is no family contact email provided, or they were just simply not interested in photography in the first place.
Consider the time and resources that are wasted from capture, production, editing, loading and... nothing. No open.  

By having a list of families who have registered the photographer knows who to spend a little more time with as they know the family is actually interested in pictures.
Some photographers don't work this way and more time is spent at your centre capturing more children than necessary, whilst others strictly only photograph those who have registered.

Be sure to consider if you want group composites. That's a single print compiled with all children and educators from the room.  

We work on a pre-registration system so we know who to spend a little more time with however all children are still photographed to ensure everyone is included in the group. 
Those who haven't registered we know are not interested in photography, however, they won't miss out on feeling included. A full collection for a registered child is 10-15 images, whilst a non registered child has 1-3 images.

Do families pre-pay or buy after portrait day

Like some school portrait companies, some kindy photographers prefer to manage their calendar, finances, and team by asking for prepayment.

A financial commitment from participants offers security in knowing the job is definitely going ahead and the team can be confirmed.  Prepayments also encourage a commitment from families to open their galleries and keep an eye out for communication with the photographer, a financial commitment is one of the biggest incentive motivators.

Sometimes this will just be a small sitting fee that is on top of the product package and compensates the photographer for their time, in this instance, you'll notice the photographer's product pricing might be slightly less than others.

For the photographers who take a pre payment, or also known as a booking fee, offer this as a credit linked to the child's gallery and ready to be used towards products creating a minimum spend scenario, ranging from $50-$100. These photographers have the lowest gallery non-open rates in the industry. 

Here at School Portrait Art, we don't ask for a deposit, we ask for a verbal commitment in the form of pre-registration. We like to think that when families see how gorgeous the photographs of their child are they will choose to buy them all anyway!

This means we don't need to handle any refunds when children are absent on picture day, or if they refuse to be photographed.
These situations are a part of the process and we like to keep the paperwork as simple as possible. Our motto is,  come look and buy what you see and love, no obligations.

What budget range do our families have

Oftentimes when we make financial decisions it's founded on our money mindset and reflects more on our own conditions and ideas about money.

Thinking your families want the "cheapest option" can be narrow reasoning. A demographic area does not always influence families spending on photography, it actually comes down to individual values and what's important to the family. 

We have also discovered that for some families professional photography is not usually accessible for them so having studio styles portraits of their child is an absolutely unique experience.  These families truly value what's on offer and take advantage of the larger packages.

It really is challenging to make that decision for somebody else so we suggest finding a photographer that caters to all budgets. 

We pride ourselves on making professional photography in reach for all families no matter what their financial position is, that's also why we do not have a minimum spend. 

If a family chooses to purchase a single $15 print even after we have spent extra time and care with their child, we understand that's just part of what we do and they will treasure that one beautiful memory with all their heart.

You also don't want to limit other families who are thrilled to bits and want to send pictures to all of their family, hang portraits on their walls and celebrate their children's milestones with portrait photography.

What products does the photographer offer

Do we receive any team discounts or product benefits

Does the photographer do staff portraits and group composites

Is the order system user-friendly, online or paper

Does the photographer work with our sized centre

How does the photographer communicate with us and our families

Is the photographer a specialist in this field, how much experience do they have managing a large number of families