My husband and I had our portraits done here last week. We were really happy with the experience, the price, and with how the portraits turned out. We'd never had portraits done before. The lady who set our appointment on the phone was very friendly and gave us lots of info before we got there. (She suggested we bring several different outfits, solid colors might look best, and we were welcome to bring any props we wanted to use). She also told us about the specials that were going on.
We were the first appointment of the day. Although it was difficult for us to try to look cute at 8am, it ended up being nice because for much of our session we really had the place to ourselves. Our photographer, Rachel P. was full of ideas for interesting poses, she came up with so many cute ones. She also did an expert job of quickly deciding which backgrounds would look best with what we were wearing.
After the photos were taken, Rachel took us to a computer with a giant screen. She quickly but methodicaly helped us to narrow down the 60+ photos she took to a few favorites. Per company guidelines, she did try to sell us larger and more expensive photo packages than we wanted. Her approach was informative and not at all pushy. And guess what, we did actually spend more than what we were planning. The quality, selection, and sheer number of photos we recieved were so great that we didn't mind. Another thing that I LOVED was that they will customize your package for you! For example, we had no need for wallet sized photos, so she took those out of our package and added extra 5x7's instead! (If price is an issue for you, don't worry, there really are a ton of choices. You can spend anywhere from 15 bucks on up, depending on how many photos and poses you want) Our photos were ready the same day, and they turned out better than I ever would have imagined.
The only thing that would keep me from giving Portrait Innovations 5 stars is the dumb CD that we got with our package. It's meant to contain every single photo that was taken in our session. It's implied but never stated that you would be able to print your own photos from this CD. I had read reviews elsewhere that were pretty unanimous that the CD is garbage, and I agree, it really is. However, since it came with the package I liked anyway, I didn't feel TOO ripped off. The CD did not work at all in our computer, and it asked me to install 20 different things in order to run it, including a yahoo toolbar and a some games. (what?) I began the process because I wanted to look at my pictures. Then I figured, why should I install all this crap on my computer that I don't want or need? You're not the boss of me, Portrait Innovations. I un-intstalled everything and threw the CD in the trash.
The good news is that Portrait Innovations sends you an email the same day with a link to the website. And the link lets you see all of the pics that were taken that day anyway. You can also purchase additional things besides prints from their website with whatever photos you want anytime. Mugs, calendars, etc. From what I've read in other reviews, the CD, if you can get it to work, is low-resolution anyway and you have to go to the website to get additional high resolution prints. So it's not like the CD gives you any extra benefit.
Bottom line: Make an appointment for when the studio opens in the morning, or for whenever they recommend would be a slow time. Do not take the CD into account when selecting your package. Overall a great experience, and I'm sure I'll be back. read more
