Portrait Photographers Rochester NY | Frequently Asked Questions

How do I schedule my portrait session with Dear Blossom Studios?

To schedule a Rochester NY portrait photography session with us, you’ll start by sending us an email (hello@dearblossomstudios.com)! You can also use the contact form on our website to get the ball rolling. We’ll talk about the type of session you’re looking for, solidify pricing, and suggest some possible dates and times. 

Once all that is decided, we’ll send you over a standard contract and model release to sign, as well as an invoice for a non-refundable retainer fee. Your retainer will typically equal half of the session's total cost and is used to reserve your chosen session date especially for you. We’ll also send you a client questionnaire for you to complete in advance of your session, which helps us capture your personality and vision, and well as a client welcome packet to cover any other FAQs. We'll send out an invoice for your remaining balance 1 week before your session to make sure you feel stress-free on the big day! Please note that any sessions scheduled less than 3 weeks prior to the session date require payment of the full session balance at time of booking.

Do all of your Rochester NY portrait sessions take place in the studio?

Like many Rochester, NY portrait photographers, we love our studio space and many of our clients choose to have their sessions there. (It's an especially great option during the winter!)

However, we also do plenty of portrait sessions outside of our studio. Our Rochester photography studio is ideal for headshot sessions and boudoir sessions, in particular. But we’re more than happy to go elsewhere for your session. For instance, our goddess sessions and senior portrait sessions usually take place outdoors. We can flesh out all of those details when we book your session and can provide you with suggestions if you’d like to go elsewhere.

Can you explain the difference between your headshot options? 

Sure! We differentiate between professional headshots (like what a business owner, employee, or job seeker might use on their LinkedIn profile) and performer headshots (what an actor or singer might submit for a film or stage audition). 

Our Rochester NY professional headshot package is more along the lines of what you might use for a website bio, social media, or other business endeavors. Whether you’re a recent college graduate who is venturing into the professional world for the first time or your Teams photo is from a decade ago, this headshot package can allow you to make the right impression in the workforce. Find out more about our professional headshots.

Sammi, our creative director, is an actor and singer, so it was important to us that we also provide something special for Rochester’s community of talented performers. Our actor and performer headshot package is tailored specifically for those who are looking for dramatic, comedic, commercial, or artistic photos they can use for creative endeavors. If you're looking to upgrade your Rochester, NY actor headshots for a big audition, a new agent, or a theatrical playbill, we've got you covered. We also make it super easy for our clients to order printed headshots through their gallery and have them shipped right to their door! Get the details on our headshots for performers in Rochester.

Do you offer family or couples’ sessions? What about team headshots for businesses or headshot fundraiser events?

As much as we would love to capture special moments between you and your loved ones, Dear Blossom is a personal portrait studio. All of our packages are geared towards single clients—like senior portraits, headshots, goddess sessions, and boudoir sessions. We're passionate about providing a personalized experience in a safe and nurturing environment that's all about you.

Because our sessions are essentially customized to each client, we do not currently offer team or group corporate headshots. Headshot/fundraiser events typically require a lot of weekday coordination and don't allow time for the personalized experience we provide at Dear Blossom. We're happy to evaluate these requests on a case-by-case basis, but please note that these opportunities may not be aligned with our mission and availability. Feel free to use our contact form and select the type of headshot that most closely aligns with your needs.

Regarding family and couples sessions: If you enjoy the photographic style we offer at Dear Blossom Studios, Emma offers photo sessions for families (including engagement portrait packages) separately through her own website. Please email her directly through her website to book!

What if I don’t want my photos to be shared publicly?

That’s completely fine! We want to do everything possible to respect your privacy—whether you're still in school, need to keep a low profile for your job, or want to maintain anonymity for other reasons. You’re under absolutely no obligation to sign your model release. Just let us know that you want to keep your session between us!

That said, we do love sharing amazing photos of our clients on social media and our website! If you're thrilled with your photos and you feel comfortable with us sharing them, this is a great way to help us grow our studio. We're always delighted when we get a chance to show off how awesome our clients are! We're happy to discuss how we typically use client photos in more detail via email.

I’m interested in booking a boudoir session, but I’m nervous about it. Do you have any advice?

We completely understand—and we’ve been there! We’ve gotten in front of the camera ourselves for this very reason. 

Here’s a secret: Very few people feel truly comfortable right away during a boudoir session, even if it’s something they’ve wanted to do for a long time! We do everything in our power to ensure that our Rochester boudoir studio provides a welcoming, private, inclusive, and safe environment for all. We’ll blast some music, share some laughs, demonstrate poses, and guide you through the entire process.

Our biggest piece of advice is to wear something that makes you feel confident (rather than something you feel pressured to wear). We promise we’ll make sure you look good and feel amazing! We believe in boudoir for everybody and every body. Feel free to reach out to us with specific questions or concerns.

Do you charge a separate sitting fee or image gallery fee for Rochester NY boudoir sessions or Rochester headshots?

We aim to make our Rochester boudoir sessions and Rochester NY headshots as accessible and transparent as possible. Unlike many other Rochester boudoir studios and headshot studios, we do not require clients to pay a separate fee to gain access to their digital photo gallery. Your headshot, boudoir, or other portrait session fee covers your entire session, access to our prop + robe closet, and your full digital image gallery (which includes all downloadable portraits). Clients always have the option to order printed products (like physical albums or large-scale prints) directly though their digital gallery; printed products are priced a la carte (some may even be included in your package) and can be delivered right to your home!

Can I bring a parent or friend to my session?

While we always want our clients to feel as comfortable as possible, we've found that even well-meaning significant others, family members, and friends can unintentionally disrupt a session or actually make clients feel more nervous or distracted. We want to make sure you get the most out of our time together and ensure the focus is on you!

Senior portrait session clients are more than welcome to bring a parent along. Otherwise, we ask that you not bring anyone else along to your session without discussing it with us beforehand. If, for example, you’re feeling nervous about boudoir and would like some extra support, we can chat more ahead of time about whether bringing a friend to your session will make for a more positive experience. We're happy to address concerns and may be able to accommodate +1s on a case-by-case basis. Please note that because of the size of our studio, we reserve the right to ask unexpected guests to wait elsewhere for the duration of your session.

I have a clear conceptual idea of what I’m looking for with my session. Can we collaborate on this?

Absolutely! We LOVE working on conceptual projects (like with our Dear Blossom Goddess Sessions!). We want you to feel excited about your session and we’d love nothing more than to bring your vision to life. We’ll do everything we possibly can to make it happen, from your ideal location to any props you might have in mind.

Feel free to reach out to us about your idea, even if it doesn’t totally align with the packages we have on our site. Please note that while we are happy to create something unique for your session, pricing may differ for highly customized shoots (especially if we need to source special props or create a “set” to bring your vision to life).

I don’t feel especially comfortable in front of the camera. Can you help?

You’re definitely not alone—and yes, we can absolutely help you! Emma is especially gifted at helping people feel confident in front of the camera. And between the two of us, we have roughly 30 years of on-camera posing experience! As long as you’re willing to play around a bit and have fun, we’ll take care of the rest. Our top priority is ensuring your comfort and confidence.

Am I able to get assistance with styling, hair, and makeup on the day of my session?

We provide basic styling assistance for all of our clients, which means we'll provide guidance on wardrobe selection before or on the day of your session. Even if your session comes with only one outfit change, you can feel free to bring a bunch of options. We’ll help you decide what looks best on-camera and which choices will help you send the right message.

We know not everyone feels totally comfortable doing their own hair and makeup for professional photos. However, we want your photos actually look and feel like you! Our style is all about bringing out your natural beauty. You're welcome to change up your look halfway through your session (ex: by shaving a beard, switching a lipstick color, etc.). However, we generally do not work with hair stylists or makeup artists as part of our session packages.

After my session, how long until I receive the edited photos? How much editing do you do? Can I edit the photos myself?

You'll receive your image gallery 3 weeks after your session date. If you need them sooner, please let us know when booking your session and we may be able to accommodate your request with a small editing rush fee. The number of photos you’ll receive will depend on what’s stipulated in your individual session package.

As far as editing style, we like to keep things as light and natural as possible. When you receive your gallery, the photos will generally be edited for lighting, contrast, and color consistency. We try our best to avoid the need for additional edits during your session. However, we're happy to offer more detailed retouching for things like blemishes, flyaways, visible clothing lines, wrinkles, etc. for an additional fee, priced per image. We encourage you to take a look at our website images to get a good idea of what you can expect with your final gallery.

Clients are not permitted to make edits to their photos or utilize an outside editor to make changes to delivered images. Please contact us with any editing needs you may have to preserve the quality of your photos!

Do I own the final images? Can I buy physical prints? What do I need to know about sharing them online?

As part of your contract, your session photos are available for personal use. This means you can hang them in your house, upload them to social media, submit them to casting agents, etc. And yes, you can absolutely buy physical prints from your session! It’s easy to do right through your digital gallery.

With virtually any kind of personal photo session, the photographer retains copyright—meaning that, in this case, Dear Blossom Studios owns the full rights to the photos. Clients are not permitted to use their images for commercial purposes (e.g., anything you or someone else could personally make money from) without explicit permission. Third parties (like magazines) are not permitted to share images from your session without explicit permission from us, either. If you're looking to use your photos on your book jacket or in an advertisement for your business, for example, we'll need to put a commercial contract in place. Please get in touch to learn more!

When sharing images, we always appreciate you crediting or tagging Dear Blossom Studios if you feel so inclined. We'd ask that you refrain from editing the photos yourself; adding filters or making edits can degrade image quality and aren't representative of our work. Please contact us if you’re dissatisfied with the editing style of your photos. We want to make sure you love the final result!