Mini Sessions for Photography: Pros and Cons

Mini Sessions are a popular option, popping up seasonally throughout the year. I frequently get inquiries from clients asking about mini-sessions. In this post, I give you my take as a photographer on the pros and cons of mini-sessions for photography. You can decide what’s best for your family.

What is a mini-session?

Traditionally, mini-sessions are really brief photography sessions. These sessions last 5-15 minutes, producing 3-5 images for the client. The photographer schedules sessions back to back and at one location. These are usually designed around a holiday or seasonal element (such as flowers or fall trees).

Note: When you see photographers advertising 30+ minute slots with 15+ images as a “mini-session”, that’s not really the type of mini-session I’ll be discussing in this post. I would simply call that a short session. I personally offer some 30ish minute sessions, which I call “Petite Sessions”. These occur in select locations, but they don’t really fit the “mini-session” definition above. Mini-sessions are booked back to back and really just meant to be a taster, resulting in just a handful of images.

When fast is a problem

I certainly see the appeal of a short session when you have young children. I think the brief timeframe often appeals to families when considering mini-sessions. Who knows how long their attention span will last? Would they make it through a full session without a meltdown? Don’t we just want to get this over with?

However, this neglects the fact that a lot of children (most children in my experience) require some time to warm up and get comfortable with the photographer. Even if you worked with this person previously, how long has it been since your last session; 6 months or over a year? That’s a lifetime for a young child!

I have experienced this first hand during mini sessions with my own family. My kids are literal pros in front of the camera. They endure getting their photos taken on almost a weekly basis. I prepped them ahead of time, sharing pictures of the photographer with them. They were give an idea of what to expect from the session as well as my expectations of them. We arrived early so that they could watch the photographer in action with another family.

I honestly expected them to just jump in and nail it. Instead, they surprised me by acting shy and uncomfortable. In the moment, I felt my stress level creeping up. I knew we only had a short session time to capture a good family photo. (In the moment, I reminded myself that we really only needed one decent photo and that I could always do a re-take if necessary with my own camera and tripod.)

When I’m photographing my own clients, while I will start clicking away soon after we meet up, I also know that the best images usually come after the first 10-15 minutes. By then the children are starting to trust me and everyone has relaxed into the session. During mini sessions, the session may be over by that point of relaxation!

When a Set Plan can be Ideal!

Mini sessions generally don’t include must customization or a full client experience either. Sometimes that can be just what you need! There’s not a lot of planning of location or vibe on your part. When a photographer is scheduling 6+ sessions for one day, she may not have time to complete a pre-session or post-session consult.

The whole process of mini-sessions for photography is a little more hands off. This certainly isn’t a problem though if the photographer has planned a set up or props that you like and you know what you’re signing up for. Your family or your kiddos can just jump into an already planned set! Think of Santa photos, a pretty classic mini-session. You pretty much show up; planning outfits at most.

If minimal planning on your part with limited customization sounds ideal, a mini session may work for you! (No judgement. I’m a tired mom too.) However, if your brain is bouncing around a specific vision, book the full session instead.

Appropriate expectations for mini sessions

So when can mini sessions for photography prove the best choice (other then why you’re trying to get a few seasonal photos in a specific set up)? If you children have entered middle childhood or are pre-teens/teenagers, you may be pleased with a shorter session. At this age children can usually follow directions and smile for the camera without much redirection. They may not require as much warm-up time to produce a good portrait.

If you literally desire only one or two portraits, then a mini photography session may be perfect for you. For example, if you really and truly only want one good portrait of your whole family smiling at the camera, book a mini session! Are you really only looking for a portrait of all of your children together? A mini session may perfectly fit your needs. The issue comes when you (or the photographer) try to squeeze too many poses and groupings into a short time frame. You may feel frazzled during the session (which will probably show on your face). You may end up with mediocre photos of various poses (rather than a handful of stunning images of one or two poses).

One more thing: as a photographer who is friends with other photographers, I’ll let you in on something that is a bit of a faux pas in our community. Please don’t start the process of planning a custom session with a photographer and then ask if it can be a “mini-session”. Remember, mini-sessions aren’t just shortened or discounted sessions. They are typically set ups where multiple slots are booked back-to-back, making the planning worth the photographer’s time. Always remember, you aren’t really paying just for the minutes the photographer is clicking a button on the camera. Your session will require time beyond that for planning, organizing and editing. Don’t even get me started on the unseen costs of running a photography business. If you want a mini-session, I recommend booking an advertised mini-session slot that you like the look of instead.

So there you have it! If you are looking for an elevated photography experience in the Chattanooga, TN area, contact me! I love to help busy moms plan a low-stress, stylized session. Learn more about working with me here and see more of my work here.