Portrait session in Epcot - just sharing info

[lorenni]

We had our photo shoot on Tuesday morning, and received the link to the photo gallery yesterday (Sunday) during our flight home.

The photo shoot itself was pleasant, but too long for our 5 year old - we would have been fine calling it at about 40 minutes. It was too long for my parents as well.

We wanted a photo with Spaceship Earth in the background so we started at Japan, which the photographer said was the closest country with a good view of the globe. We then worked our way through Morocco and France. He did group shots (me, DH, Nana, Grampa, DS) and various combinations of the above. The photos were a bit more posed than I am used to and some do look quite fake/posed. The photographer was very patient and friendly. He also does a lot of Disney wedding and other wedding photography - this was definitely not a park photo pass photographer.

Overall the photos are very good. My hope was to end up with one or more really good family pictures that I could blow up and frame, and we definitely got that. We also have really good shots of just our son, him with his grandparents, my husband and I, etc.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions and I will do my best to answer.

 

[lizard1]

Do you have to have a park ticket to do the in park photo session?

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

Do you have to have a park ticket to do the in park photo session?

Yes if you choose a park location, there offer photo shoots at several resorts as well.

 

[GoofyGirl1717]

How many photos did you receive?

 

[tarak]

We haven't had formal family portraits done in a while. In part because it's a pretty painful process by the end. But maybe I could convince everyone to do this for our next trip. Photo shoots are always ridiculously expensive. Based on what I've paid in the past to get the prints, this is a bargain.

 

[Dbktmc]

Do you have any "natural" photos where your family was just interacting with each other? We had such a bad experience at our last "beach" photo shoot that I am nervous that it will looked too staged.

 

[lizard1]

Yes if you choose a park location, there offer photo shoots at several resorts as well.

That's what I was figuring, but was hoping that since World Showcase wasn't open yet, that maybe we could get by without one. Hoping to make our next trip a park-free trip.

 

[lorenni]

That's what I was figuring, but was hoping that since World Showcase wasn't open yet, that maybe we could get by without one. Hoping to make our next trip a park-free trip.

We did have to have park passes, but they also offer photo shoots at resorts, including BCV where we were staying.

 

[lorenni]

No, we don't, unless you count the photos towards the end with my pouting child. and he did have DS jump around a bit by himself so we have a few action shots of that.

It's not what we have been used to, but we also usually only have three of us. I can see how getting everyone to "look natural" with 5 people/3 generations could be challenging. That said, most are not horribly staged, with the exception of a few hilarious photos where he had me and my mom put one hand on a hip and bend one leg. Holy moly. Looks like a prom pose. I might get that one framed of my mom as a joke.

But as I mentioned, we have enough really good shots of the family that I'll have a hard time choosing just one to blow up and frame.

 

[Skjhjb]

We did this in 2014 for our 20th anniversary trip!

We only purchased the smaller session - $150, and it included the flash drive with the photos & release on it.

It was a 20 minute session - and since we don't have littles, we figured 20 minutes would be great to get some good shots.

I'd like to say the 20 minutes was ALL photography - it didn't count the time it took to walk from place to place at the Beach Club to take our photos.

We were completely thrilled with our session, and would totally do it again if we were there for a special occasion!

 

[lorenni]

How many photos did you receive?

122, though this includes two with someone's eyes closed. That number also includes a few that are shown once in color and once in black and white (I assume I could ask for any of them in black and white).

 

[lorenni]

We did this in 2014 for our 20th anniversary trip!

We only purchased the smaller session - $150, and it included the flash drive with the photos & release on it.

It was a 20 minute session - and since we don't have littles, we figured 20 minutes would be great to get some good shots.

I'd like to say the 20 minutes was ALL photography - it didn't count the time it took to walk from place to place at the Beach Club to take our photos.

We were completely thrilled with our session, and would totally do it again if we were there for a special occasion!

I debated doing the shorter session, but wanted to be in Epcot, and wanted the option to retouch. It was HOT even at 9am and Grampa had a bit of sweat showing on the belly front by the end. The photographer assured me that if those were my favorite shots, they could magic those little sweat spots away.

I do think we would have been rushed with only 20 minutes, but maybe others with children who listen would be just fine

 

[thornton0511]

I have a question. For the $399 and the $180 is there a limit to how big of a portrait you can have a picture blown up to say like a 16x32 or is the quality lost at that size? Also I would be curious to know if canvas print would be an option.

 

[lorenni]

My recollection is that the shorter session was limited to 8x10 quality digital whereas the longer session grants a higher quality digital image, so you can blow them up a bit bigger.

You can order prints from the photo company, or order elsewhere. I'm a big fan of photobarn - they do prints on wood, which looks really neat and different. We've also done the canvas prints from a couple of different companies - with a Groupon once. Lots of options for where and what you want to order since the digital images are included.

 

[Skjhjb]

I have a question. For the $399 and the $180 is there a limit to how big of a portrait you can have a picture blown up to say like a 16x32 or is the quality lost at that size? Also I would be curious to know if canvas print would be an option.

The quality of the images on the memory stick was excellent - very high resolution. We have our favourite blown up quite large on a canvas - 16x24" - and it is quite clear.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

The quality of the images on the memory stick was excellent - very high resolution. We have our favourite blown up quite large on a canvas - 16x24" - and it is quite clear.

That's good to know, per their website there is a max resolution of an 8x10 for the $180 session. We'll be doing another session later this month, trying to decide on the location. I really enjoyed the Epcot session.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

I just discovered today that some of my daughter's pics are featured on the Disney photography website. If you look under galleries/senior portraits - she's the 17th & 18th pictures. It's funny because the black and white picture was my favorite.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I just discovered today that some of my daughter's pics are featured on the Disney photography website. If you look under galleries/senior portraits - she's the 17th & 18th pictures. It's funny because the black and white picture was my favorite.

Those look great!!!

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

Those look great!!!

Thank you!