Newborn Portraits

[czekit7]

Outside of the portraits that are taken at the hospital, how much do you normally spend on a monthly or quarterly portrait of your baby? Where do you normally go? (post as a response). Just researching right now.:bowdown:

[boolady]

We have never done monthly or quarterly portraits. We like having mostly candids of DD, and I take her to Portrait Innovations once a year at Christmastime to get photos taken.

[lilycat88]

We did monthly pics of DD for the first year. We just went to Target and did whatever their basic 9.95 (I think) package was. Sometimes we would buy an extra sheet or so if the pics were great. We'll probably do Portrait Innovations this time just because it's closer and we've had good experiences with them in the past.

[Melaine]

We got the girls first real professional shots done when they turned 3. I am a big fan of candids and my sister takes some great ones. Also, getting my girls to smile for strangers at that age was basically impossible.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Poor ds2 has only had pics done twice, neither before he turned 1 either. Oops! But, we went a lot with ds1...probably too much. I still have lots of extra prints floating around because I bought packages that had too many pictures for my needs. I always looked for free sitting and bought the cheapest package. If my mom weren't along I spent less than $30. With her I usually spent quite a bit more. We liked the Picture People and Sears. I did not like Portrait Innovations and if you do a search on it + my user name you will see that some people have better experiences and you can read up on why I did not like them.

I liked Sears because you could look at the pictures immediately after they were snapped so if there was some fix that could be made, like an untied shoe, you could catch it.

Portrait Innovations took better pictures than Sears but I didn't like their sales' pitch and pushiness compared to Sears.

I never had anything more expensive than these mainstream chains done.

BEth

[infocrazy]

We did 6 wks, 3, 6, 9, 12 months...ish

DS1 we went to Penneys and I probably paid around $25 a time.
DS2 Portrait Innovations went and I definitely paid more periodically, but was also getting brother shots/DS1/family type ones...

DD we will probably go back to Penneys at least a couple times. I like getting the multiple poses and with the frequency don't need as many handouts. PI, is way more if you want more than one pose. We'll probably still do at least one at PI since I'm not into paying sitting fees for everyone. If you stick to the $10 package, it's a great deal!

[okinawama]

For maternity pics prior to the birth of my son and then the newborn pics about 5 days after his birth we paid a total of 500. I was shocked then, but they turned out FANTASTIC and they were worth every penny. After that though we've only done 6months pics (at JC penny) and will do year old pictures (with a photographer, but half as expensive as our first ones). If I didn't have professionals take family pictures, I would never be in any of our pictures :)

[Corie]

I always took my kids to the Picture People. I always had a coupon for a
free sitting and a free sheet. Then, I would only buy one extra sheet.
So, my total cost was about $20.

I have a big album for each child that has all the kids' pictures from birth
until present. I always purchased the 8x10 size.

In the 1st year, I did pictures every 3 months or so and a special one for
Christmas.
After that, I just did an annual picture and Christmas.

[JTsMom]

With DS, we bought a huge package at just shy of 3 months (local chain called Sadies), had more done at Christmas and Easter, then again for his b-day. Now, we go twice a year- bday and Christmas, and usually we go to Picture People.

I will not admit what I spent the first year- LOL, but now I have it down to a science. I think it ends up being around $50 or $60 total/year, and I buy 3 or 4 8X10's each time. They do a lot of coupons, and I also join their portrait club.

With this baby, I'll probably do something similar, although I kind of wish I would have done an every month or 3 months thing instead the first time around.

We take literally thousands of candids every year, but I still like having a couple of posed shots. DH and I are both total suckers for photos.

[AnnieW625]

I didn't vote because we aren't monthly or even quarterly pro. photo takers.

We didn't do portraits until DD was 6 mos. old, and then we did them just after her first birthday with me and her for a suprise fathers' day gift for my dad, and DH. I spent $150 on the 6 mos. portraits because they were also Christmas gifts, plus a nice 8 x10 of the 3 of us. For the fathers day ones I think we spent just about $50 because I wanted one of the collage ones. We went to Target for all of the above. Then for DD's photos this year (just herself) we spent $80 because Kiddie Kandids was having a sale.

We plan on having our every two years professional photos done this year too so we'll most likely skip the store studio shoot in the fall and do baby's first photos then too as it will be close to Christmas. We'll most likely also keep the Father's Day shoot thing too at the studio because both DD and #2 will have spring birthdays, and it will be something fun that I can do with the both the kiddos and be a surprise for DH, and grandpa.

[scrooks]

We do 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 1 year, 18 month (really a Christmas photo) then 2 year...

My DD has a July birthday so her half year falls around Christmas....
I think I will keep getting her a birthday picture as well although this year at Christmas she wouldn't sit...no picture of her! I was so disappointed because this was going to be the first pic of both of them....So we will see if by July she is willing to sit for a picture! DS has had basically a 3 month. We will do another picture of him probably in March or so....

[citymama]

We have never done monthly or quarterly portraits.

This is us. Except we don't do annual portraits either. Other than her hospital newborn shot and annual school pics, we've never had a professional pic of DD.

[czekit7]

Does anyone like the Sears Super Saver card over the JCPenny's Portrait Club card?? We have VERY FEW options in my "neighborhood". Oh, our other options are the Walmart and Target portrait clubs also...

[daniele_ut]

I didn't vote, because we rarely take our kids for professional pics. For DS, we did newborn pics at Target, 6 month pics, then maybe yearly after that at Kiddie Kandids. With DD, we had a pro photographer take her newborn pics at home ($200) and we did 1 year pics at Kiddie Kandids. Since they closed, I will probably just wait until spring to do family pics with our pro photographer and do ones of both kids alone then as well

[elliput]

The only "professional" pictures we have had taken of DD were done at daycare or school. DS has never had professional pictures taken.

[bigpassport]

Ugh. We STILL haven't had any professional photos of DS taken. I should probably go now (7.5 months) and then start doing every B-day (June) and Christmas.

[mecawa]

We did 6 week, 3 m, 6m, 9m, 12m, 18m, 2y. and once or twice a year after that (xmas and bdays). With DD1 we did Picture People, JcPenney and a local professional photographer. With DD2 we have done Sears and JcPenney. We usually end up spending between 100-125.

[lizzywednesday]

Does anyone like the Sears Super Saver card over the JCPenny's Portrait Club card?? We have VERY FEW options in my "neighborhood". Oh, our other options are the Walmart and Target portrait clubs also...

I've used Penneys in the past (to get the one and only photo of my sibs & I for Christmas for our Dad ... 10 years ago) and signed up for the Portrait Club because it saved me a sitting fee for the 4 of us.

The only reason I didn't go with Sears was they didn't have appointments on a schedule that we could all make before Christmas. (We'd also used Penneys for the photo before that one ... in 1994. Our first family photo was done at Sears in 1987. My grandparents still have that one hanging in their living room.)

My BFF liked Walmart for her DD while my SIL has used Target (BIL works for Target) or taken her own snapshots & gotten prints thru Shutterfly.

For our LO on the way, we'll be using our wedding photographer, but that's only because he's a friend of the family and we have a "lifetime" sitting arrangement!

[vludmilla]

We have never once purchased photos of our daughter. I much prefer candid photos and with digital photography, I find it much easier to get great photos.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We do 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 1 year, 18 month (really a Christmas photo) then 2 year...

My DD has a July birthday so her half year falls around Christmas....
I think I will keep getting her a birthday picture as well although this year at Christmas she wouldn't sit...no picture of her! I was so disappointed because this was going to be the first pic of both of them....So we will see if by July she is willing to sit for a picture! DS has had basically a 3 month. We will do another picture of him probably in March or so....
:yeahthat: maybe a newborn (not w/DD, yes w/DS1 and DS2), then 2m, 4m, 6m, 9m, 12m, 18m, 2y at Portrait Innovations. On the 2,6,12m sessions, we buy a full-body and a few different facial expressions that are characteristic of them. Seems a little much, but we don't print the pics on our computer.

When DD was little and I was trying out different studios, I happened to also get a 4m at JCP (on the tummy naked shot holding head up + one with me), then sitting up at 7.5m with a stuffed animal someone gave her, then 10.5m with a dress my step-mother found of mine. Soooooo.....I felt sort of obligated to do similar shots with the boys. It really is SO much fun to flip through the 8x10 album (like Corie mentioned) and literally SEE when hair came in, when they could do different things or made different faces or whatever. I realized we go a little overboard, but trying to get a candid shot that shows as much is just hard. I can't stand the distractions that are often in "around the house" pictures as our place is a mess.

It slows down considerably after the first year when they stop changing so quickly. And when 2nd and 3rd DC enter the picture, getting pics of all of them together just become a crazy game. We've actually tried to use the same photographers at PI because our DC remember them and vice versa. They do SO much better there because they know what to expect.
I answered $60-75. That may include pics of the older DC as well since we get their 1/2 year and birthday pics at the same time as the baby's pics.

[Gena]

Looking back I think we did way too many professional pics during DS's first year:

8 weeks: pics with his older cousin as a gift for MIL
3 months: DH & I had our first anniversary, so we did family pics and some of just DS
8 months: Christmas pics
10 months: Easter pics
11 months: I did special pics of DS as a birthday gift for DH (special outfit & background)
1 year: First birthday pics

These were done at a variety of places and some of these were really cheap (or free) and others were more expensive.

[jgenie]

We had newborn pics done by a professional photographer when DS1 was 3 weeks old. We had 3 mo., 6 mo., 9 mo., 1 year photos done at Penneys and will have a yearly picture taken going forward. We plan to do the same with DS2. We also have a family picture taken every fall.

[thomma]

We've had ds and dd's pictures done once....when they were a year old. Okay...that's a lie! It was few months after their first birthday! :)
However photography is a hobby of mine and I've taken thousands of pictures in the past 6 years...a few of them are pretty good too.

We're currently looking for a photographer to take family pics some time in 2010.

[ThreeofUs]

We never found anyone who took better pictures than us, so we're at the very low end. We take our own pictures and upload to print.

[melrose7]

We do a lot the first year even though I vow to take a picture (at least) of them every day at home for their first year. I do a monthly picture for the first year, plus a baptism picture (around 2 months), Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. We had our first family picture was taken when DD2 was 14 months old. All of these were taken at pennys except a couple, bought with the package coupon for about $8. One baptism one was taken at Picture people for their free 8x10 or 10x13 and bought an extra for my parents. My best friend also got married a year and a half ago and we went to try portrait Innovations with their package and bought more than we have spent anywhere, about $60 (split with my mom). I already have the Easter picture appointment set for 2 weeks after baby is born. That should be interesting.