I am sooo glad we booked our maternity photos through spotlight studios. Megan was our photographer and she was absolutely AMAZING. She really walked us through the process made it fun and easy. She posed us was told us all the stops to get great photos, professional and just the BEST. We chose Coronado Beach for our shoot I really wanted to get in the water. She listened and delivered. We got an amazing deal through Groupon for a 1-hr photo session. I'm glad we found this studio through Groupon and will definitely be rebooking! For Groupon customers they offer discounts on all packages. Our package came with 2 prints and we received the photos within the same week! Do yourself a favor and BOOK WITH SPOTLIGHT STUDIO! read more

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We love Spotlight Studios! Kyla is the primary contact person, and she is one of the friendliest, most personable people I've ever worked with! We had to reschedule our session several times, and Kyla was always very gracious about accommodating us. She was also quick to contact me when I had questions about our shoot or photos. Kari, our photographer, is an absolute saint! She went above and beyond in trying to get my 6 month old daughter to look at the camera and smile. She was so good with my daughter and the rest of my family. We had such a fun shoot with her! Despite my daughter's very best efforts to be uncooperative, Kari managed to capture many gorgeous photos for us! I was ecstatic when we received our online gallery. We feel blessed to have so many beautiful family photos. Sending a HUGE "thank you" to Kari for her hard work and dedication! read more

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My family and I had a wonderful experience with Spotlight Studios. Kyla was our photographer and she was such a pleasure to work with. She has a warm personality and was so engaging. Most importantly, she has a keen eye for detail as a photographer. She did a magnificent job capturing the attention of our son and dog and keeping them captivated during our family photo shoot.....Now that's impressive because toddlers have such low attention spans and, our dog is starting to go deaf and blind. Our family photos turned out beautiful, we can't stop drooling over them! Ary is the photo shoot coordinator at the studio. We appreciate her excellent communication and accommodating all our requests and needs. We really felt that this studio goes out of their way to make their customers happy. read more

We are new to San Diego and were looking for someone to shoot our son's senior pictures. We found Spotlight through a Groupon. We worked with Kyla as our primary contact and our photographer and she was fantastic. Any time I had a question, I heard back very quickly. She didn't try to sell us on anything - just explained the different packages, got us on the schedule quickly and turned around the photos ahead of schedule. We picked the location and she was ready to go - she knew exactly where to take us to get great pictures and didn't waste a second of the hour session. It was a great experience from the first phone call to receiving the final prints in the mail. I would recommend Spotlight to anyone looking for a photographer. read more

This review is way overdue! I found Kyla 8 years ago from purchasing a Groupon for my oldest child's newborn photos. She is amazing! My walls have been covered in her beautiful work. I have recommended her to all my friends and family. We moved to the East coast for the last 4 years and I was unable to find a photographer that could capture the moments like she could. We just moved back to San Diego and I booked her as quick as I could. She blew me away with so many gorgeous photos from our last session. I am having such a hard time trying to figure out which photos to put on our Christmas cards. My walls will soon be updated with beautiful photos that I will treasure forever. I would highly recommend Kyla for all of your photography needs. read more

They did an excellent job, far exceeded my expectations with a VERY strong willed toddler. Don't hesitate, they are wonderful. read more

Spotlight Studios - Event Photography Near Me

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There are not enough superlatives to describe Kyla. Not only is she incredibly talented and professional, but she also has a beautiful soul who genuinely cares for her clients. Photography was our highest priority for our wedding. After thorough research, it started to get worrisome that we could find very few wedding photographers who stood out to us. One day, we started sifting through some old mail and found we had received an offered for a free engagement session from Spotlight Studios. We looked at their website and for the first time, we found a portfolio that made us feel something. We decided to give it a trial run and see how the engagement photos would turn out. Unlike most engagement photos, we wanted to do it indoors at a luxe Parisian boutique hotel. We worried about how they would turn out, but Kyla exceeded all our expectations. Her artistic direction and her ability to capture incredible moments truly helped transport us and made us feel we were no longer in San Diego. After that, we had no doubt in our mind about her. Over the next year, Kyla became more than just our photographer. With her wealth of experience, she had invaluable advice for all aspects of our wedding. Looking back at all, listening all her advice paid of tenfold and was a huge reason why our wedding went so smoothly. On top of that, she referred us to Kristana Burreece, who we hired to be our day-of coordinator and without a doubt was one of our best decisions. On the day-of, we already knew Kyla was going to bring her A-game having done our engagement photos with her. But even several of our guests approached us and had to give us their praise about her. She was remarkably efficient and professional without compromising her quality and artistry. We could not believe how lucky we got to find her. We cannot compliment Kyla enough. She is an artist in her own right, she is the hardest working photographer we have ever met, and she delivers like it is nobody's business. read more

I had an amazing experience with spotlight studios in late August. Kylah, the photographer, couldn't have been more lovely and I'm thrilled with the results of my mommy and me photo shoot with my son! read more

We won a sunset photoshoot engagement session with this company and our photographer Kayla was amazing! She was very professional and personal. You can tell she enjoys what she does and she gave us so many tips on how to make our pictures perfect! She was very engaging and knew exactly what we wanted. The pictures came out stunning and beautiful! If you haven't found your photographer yet, I highly recommend Kayla! She has an eye for photography! *there's difficulty right now uploading pictures :( read more

This review is not coming from a "client" but rather, from a wedding coordinator. I had the pleasure of working a wedding with Kyla from Spotlight Studios last night. I know brides and grooms are often so caught up in the moment, they might not notice how good (or bad) of a job a vendor is doing. As a coordinator, we are on the outside looking in, constantly aware of what is going on. I was exceptionally impressed with Kyla. She was quick, creative with her shots, and an absolute pleasure to work with. She went above and beyond to get incredible dance photos and made my job as a coordinator, and the DJ's job that much smoother. She can easily take control of the crowd, by giving friendly instructions, which really goes a long way to capture all of the necessary photos in a timely manner. By the end of the night it was apparent that Kyla has a genuine love of both photography and weddings. Her enthusiasm was contagious and I'm sure it will show in the photos. I can't wait to see the sneak peek! read more

I purchased the Groupon deal for a family shoot. Overall, I'm happy with the quality of the photos as well as the prints we purchased (our package didn't include prints but we ordered some at an additional cost). Prior to the shoot we scheduled a date, time, and location by speaking with Kyla. You can choose a location from the variety they have on their website, which was nice. You can see real pictures they have done of other families at each location so that you have an idea of the types of shots you would like there. It was a bit tough to get in touch with them since they don't have a full-time administrative person and they don't seem to like to do things via email, so we did some phone tag before connecting. However, once we spoke on the phone Kyla was very professional and spent lots of time explaining what to expect, what to wear, etc. Our photographer, Joanna, was great. She met us at our location and had a lot of creative ideas and poses for us. She kept us moving and tried a lot of different things in the span of the 1-hour shoot so we ended up with a really nice variety of shots. She even ended up staying about 20-25 minutes over the 1-hour mark (at no charge) because she was getting shots and the light was still good. I really appreciated that she went the extra mile for us. She was fun and relaxed, which was great because this was our first time doing a professional shoot and we were a bit nervous. She made sure we got the kinds of shots and poses we wanted, and had lots of suggestions. I think if I had to do it over I might pick a different location - we chose Balboa Park, which was nice but kind of crowded, and I would have liked more natural shots (many of ours were in front of buildings, but this was our choice, not the photographer's). It took a couple weeks before our photos were ready to view. Then we needed to schedule a time to come in (unfortunately by the time we connected by phone their only available time was about two weeks out). When we visited the studio in person, it was very cute - it's an open loft sort of place with tons of photos on the walls (as you might expect!) and nice furniture. We took about an hour and a half to go through the photos on a big TV screen with Kyla, and she helped us narrow our selection down. In retrospect I wish we had gotten to spend more time on our selection, maybe by browsing the photos online at home, since it was really hard going from 200+ pictures to 10. Kyla spent a lot of time going over the available print packages. When we walked in, our plan was to just get the photos on disc and then get some prints done at Costco. However after hearing her explain the options (including the nice print discount for Groupon customers!) and demonstrate the difference between a cheap print and a professional print, we ended up splurging on a nice print package. She's very convincing! Our prints were ready about 2 weeks later and they looked gorgeous. Again, we needed to schedule a time to come in to get them (luckily this time we got in the next day) and Kyla went over the order with me to make sure it was all correct and to our liking. We have some beautiful shots and prints, and I would recommend Spotlight Studios to others. Everyone we worked with was friendly, knowledgeable, and not pushy, which was nice. read more

I purchased the deal on Groupon - and I'm giving two separate grades - 2 stars for whatever secretarial system they have in place, but 5 stars for Kristina, the photographer that we worked with today who was exceptional. Her kindness, as well as her eye for scenery & positioning were dually noted, and my boyfriend and I were very pleased (particularly with her patience, since we had our kitty shoot with us). Her response was very prompt when I texted her further details about getting to our condo, and she was fluid, and flexible when it came to what we wanted with the shoot. She was open with recommendations and I never felt uncomfortable or awkward. Kristina was relatable, easy to work with, and even impressed one of our complex security guards, who requested a business card for his own family portraits. I would definitely agree that the scheduling system is troublesome, particularly when first contacting Spotlight Studios - phone tag is entirely inconvenient (it took about two weeks to nail down a shoot date). When they return your phone calls, it's always after 6, not between 9am-5pm which is the standard for most businesses. I asked if this scheduling could be done by e-mail, but apparently they prefer the thrill of phone tag lol. I think the business would definitely benefit from the addition of e-mail since their daily schedule was not typical, one of the phone calls I received was around 7-8pm, and I was at my anniversary dinner and unable to answer. It was several days after that I finally reached someone again. Just be prepared to wait... but if you have an option, I highly suggest requesting Kristina! And maybe just communicate directly with her, lol. read more

Capturing the essence of marriage 5 stars all the way. the initial meeting, the pricing, the engagement session, the secret boudoir session, and the actual wedding pictures. Kyla and Julio are a team to reckon with. Julio has amazing talent to capture the actual feelings and emotions of the moment. When we saw his work we knew he was the one for us. he incorporates mother nature's gifts and the energy that we wanted to portray and treasure for the rest of our lives. read more

I can't tell you how impressed I was with the professionalism and quality of their work. I have been to countless studios in San Diego and LA trying to get decent professional head shots for my work. In my line of business, it's imperative to look the part. Kyla did an outstanding job. I had no idea how much work and talent it takes to take such great shots. I was so impressed, I even booked my wedding with them. I would highly recommend anyone looking for an outstanding photographer to give them a call. read more

My bf and I had our photo shoot back in September and after a few hiccups with scheduling we met up with Kayla in PB. She quickly put us at ease in front of the camera and the hour flew by. While many photographers will send you a link to view your pictures, Kayla opts for the more traditional and personal face-to-face viewing. Although the pictures were ready after a few days, we were out of town so we saw them a couple of weeks later. When we went into the studio to view the pictures with Kayla, we were blown away. The pictures far exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend Kayla to any one looking for a professional, friendly, reliable, and super talented photographer! Her turnaround time is remarkably fast and this is a big plus when it comes to important pictures which you want to share with your family and friends. This was totally the best Groupon I've purchased to date :) read more

My wife and I had a photo shoot with Kayla a few months ago and have been meaning to place this yelp review for some time. Working with a pregnant woman and a sleep deprived paramedic Kayla was extremely professional and engaging and our hour with her flew by! I have to say I appreciate her hands on approach to customer service very much (Kayla had us come to her natural light studio in person to choose our photos), and our photos turned out great! If I had anything negative t say at all about our experience is that the printed photo we bought seemed kin of pricey (we had a Groupon for initial photo shoot) but would recommend her services to all family and friends and to all of you. read more

Sarah Zimmerman is an amazingly gifted photographer that I plan to hire again and again! I simply can't say enough good things about her. She did an amazing job incorporating the light and other natural elements into the photos. She was also incredibly sweet and fun to work with - making it easier to relax and look natural in the photos. I did a maternity session with her and my husband came along - he was also very impressed and commented on how much he liked her photographic style and her ability to capture dramatic, stunning images. Ahead of the session, she asked for inspiration images to get to know my personal taste and it was clear from the photos that she incorporated this into the end result. You'd be silly not to hire her for your photography needs! read more

So impressed with the customer service and photos received from Spotlight Studios and Kayla in particular. She accommodated 3 different families for family group pics, the complete group pics, individual pics, just the grand kids pics, couples pics, mother-daughter pics, generational pics and even headshots for business cards/websites. Kayla was so helpful when choosing our photos even during the holiday crunch time. She continues to be a resource long after our outdoor photo session. I will definitely return to her when we are ready to update our family portraits. read more

Spotlight Studios - Event Photography Near Me

We just loved Spotlight Studios and our amazing photographer, Kristina! We got rave reviews on our engagement photos and could not say no to working with Kristina again for our wedding. She put us at ease and made our pictures turn out so sweet and authentic. We love how she captured our laughter and joy. Our wedding picture sneak peak brought back all the wonderful memories from that day. She captured the moments and details beautifully. The studio was so easy to work with and really helped us navigate the stresses of wedding planning. Could not recommend Spotlight Studios any higher! read more

Spotlight Studios - Event Photography Near Me

My husband and I had a "trash the dress" session with Kyla, and it was fabulous! She spent a good 20 minutes on the phone with me answering questions, giving ideas and advice on what we should do/where we should go. We came from Phoenix to do it and she scheduled us in no problem and showed them to us the very next day! The actual shoot went great, she made us feel very comfortable, which is kind of hard when there's a bunch of strangers watching you, and she welcomed any ideas that I had. We went to the studio to view the pictures and it was such a cool set up. She helped us narrow down the pictures very easily. It woul have been a huge task if she didn't help us as much as she did. I would definitely recommend her, she went out of her way and worked around our schedule to book us. And even though we had a groupon she didn't treat us any different than she would have a full paying client. We just had a great experience! read more

We won a free shoot from one of those bridal shows, booking went fine. Once it came around to confirming our appointment, I mentioned that we already hired a photographer and the person I spoke to (forgot her name) made a comment along the lines that the free shoot is typically for couples that have not hired a photographer yet (which is NOT mentioned on the voucher for the free shoot). But we ended up doing the shoot anyways - they gave us a list of locations that we were able to choose from and we chose La Jolla since it fit our theme, our photographer, Valerie, was great ! About a week or so after the shoot, we had to go into the studios to choose our photos - which wasn't an issue since they're located close to us. BUT - that comment about the shoot being for couples who did not hire a photographer for their wedding came up again and it made us uncomfortable. We ended up purchasing 10 digital files for almost $300 (with tax). Even though we love our photos and our photographer, the person going over the photos with us made us feel uneasy and bad for using our free shoot... it wasn't like we didn't spend money on their services. If we didn't feel so uncomfortable, we would use them again for our milestones but it kind of left a negative vibe for us so we wouldn't use them again. read more

Spotlight Studios takes great photos for my business. Check out the photos on our firm's web site - www.boschan.com. If you own a business in Southern California, great photos are key and Spotlight delivers at an affordable price. Highly recommended! So glad that Spotlight serves Los Angeles as well as San Diego. read more

I originally purchase the section from Groupon. My family decided to do La Jolla beach and the photographer was nice but the quality of the pictures are terrible. The photographer flash did NOT worked broke down, but he said that the sun will do. I tried to print out some of the shots and are just terrible, the quality is so bad and is not competitive with any of the pictures you see in their website. I tried to call and let them know, but that was a dead end congratulations. That's very sad because they lost a great costume. read more

I've worked with Kyla the last few years for work events. She is so generous and outrageously talented. We love working with her. She is creative, always has a great attitude, and is willing to do what it takes to get great shots. If you're considering Spotlight Studios for your wedding, I would highly recommend! I've only ever worked with Kyla, but I trust her judgement and know anyone on her team would be killer. read more

Mattie just took some photos of us this past weekend and she showed me a preview of some of the pictures and I am SOOO excited to see how they all turned out because they were coming out beautifully. She was there when my boyfriend proposed and she made it very special for us and also captured the moment as best as she could because it was a surprise even for her! thank you Mattie!! you guys are amazing with amazing service. :) I would love to use her for future photos of us. read more

Could not help but feel misled by this studio. We purchased a package that included a handful of digital photos and in person was told we would receive 2 photo canvases (even shown samples of the canvases plastered on their walls). Evidently, we lost our original printed invoice and asked for a copy only to find the receipt was changed to reflect two 8x10 prints. Did not notice this blatant change until we received the prints by mail and not the actual canvases. I would never recommend this place to anyone. Ease of scheduling the shoot was the only positive with this experience. read more

I have used Kyla and Spotlight Studios multiple times over the last few years. Every time the shoot is smooth (even when we have been late) and relaxing. I have recommended her services to many, many people. When I 'show off' the completed pieces all I get are compliments and rave reviews. I absolutely love Kyla and her talents.... Thank you for your continued talents! read more

Our photographer was nice and did the job that we needed/paid for. The individuals in the studio will push expensive packages...or lack thereof. And I thought their email communication was rude. Not worth the money. read more

First and foremost Reed was amazing! Most personable,professional photographer. We have a one and a half year old who was melting down through 90% of the photo shoot. Reed took his time and regained my sons attention with ease. Im so elated i bought this groupon and cant wait to invest in our family's most beautiful pictures yet. read more

What a joke. $27 a picture and you get a whopping discount of $2 if you buy 10 for $250. Next time I'll just hire a freelancer.

Kyla is awesome and my husband and I had a great photo session at Balboa Park a couple of weeks ago. Kyla made us feel very comfortable and took beautiful photos. I am so happy with the photos that I ended up getting more photos than I planned. :) I can't wait to get my cd with pictures to show them to my friends and family. Thank you Kyla! read more

We used Spotlight Studios on our vacation to San Diego. Simply. Amazing. Our photographer was Kristina. She was sweet with my boys, patient, and the pictures were amazing. Went to the studio for a viewing, they had them up on a big TV screen for me to see, with some music playing in the background. Brought me to tears. Kyla was amazing to work with in choosing our photo package, worked with us to make sure our needs were met, and made sure we were happy. This is a beautiful company. Wonderful service and very talented photographers and editors. Just one more reason I wish I lived in California, so we could use them every year! read more

Kyla is the most fun and energetic photographer ever. We are so happy that we choose Kyla to capture our wedding!! The sneak peak photos that we saw are amazing and we cannot wait to see all the rest! Kyla is such an organized and nice person. Your wedding day will go smoothly with her as your photographer. She also listened to me when I told her my vision and what I wanted my wedding photos to look like. I would not change a thing, and we are so happy to have such beautiful memories. She did our engagement shoot, wedding and in the future we would love for her to capture our pregnancy shoot also! Thanks Kyla! read more

I used their Groupon deal to book a family photo session. I've been very impressed with their professionalism and quality of work. There are 2 things I would like to review: 1. Photographer - Joanna was our photographer. Absolutely sweet and very patient. She did a great job with the kids, and was enthusiastic about getting our pictures right every single time. She had lots of great ideas and was open to ours as well. My husband was getting tired of posing for pictures, but Joanna was full of ideas up until dusk (ours was the sunset package). I have to admit, the last set of pictures were the best! 2. As for the Groupon deal - Spotlight studios will give the selected 10 images on the CD, BUT with the watermark on them. They will upload any image/s from the selected 10 images to your choice of online printing site, but you would have to go through them for that! They do, however provide the watermark free images to you if you were to buy one of their print packages - the cheapest one being $100. For the quality of these pictures, I would not mind paying the extra $. In fact I ended up buying 20 images since it was really hard to eliminate! Kyla was absolutely great to work with, and I will use Spotlight Studios again! read more

Can I get a witness!?! These guys are great!! The process was really simple and everyone we dealt with was completely interested in us having the best experience. The photos came out amazing and we got a great deal! Thanks Spotlight! read more

The best portrait studio in San Diego! Kyla is simply amazing. I found Spotlight Studios 2 years ago while pregnant with my first child. I really wanted beautiful maternity pictures, and that is exactly what I received. We had never had professional pictures taken before and wasn't sure what to expect. Kyla was wonderful at letting us be natural and enjoy the moment while giving directions to get the best shots. We loved the experience and pictures so much that when I wanted family photos this year I knew exactly who to call. We again got an amazing session, this time with our 1 year old. She was patient, efficient, lovely to chat with and just such a great photographer. She really knows the areas that she shoots at and even brought a stuffed monkey for distracting our little one. Did I mention she had scrabble tiles for adorable photos..Kyla thought of everything! I feel so lucky to have found a photography studio that can capture in a picture what I was feeling at the moment the photograph was taken. Anyone can take a picture, but it takes a true artist to be able to portray that emotion through a lens. read more

Pros: Great photography, the photo shoot didn't take very long ( a plus ) and the photographer knew a lot of different angles and knew what she was doing Cons: I was made to feel extremely uncomfortable when it came time to pick up my prints, mainly because the owner was clearly offended that I wanted to take home digital copies - which, in my opinion, is a normal expectation. It would have been helpful if we were warned beforehand that we are NOT allowed to print out our own photos outside of Spotlight's preferred print shop (very expensive!!!!) or at an "approved" print place. You're barred from posting your own photos on Facebook or anywhere else to share with your friends and family. Basically, you are only allowed to take home these photos if Spotlight prints them... had I known all that, I would've chose a different studio. The owner treated the business like it was an art studio, not a photography studio. The impression we got was that every photo was a piece of art that bore their name on it, not that the photography was about us or sending us home happy. There are PLENTY of photographers in SD who will happily let you take your own photos home (digital copies) and don't mind if you show them to friends online. After all, it's 2013 and that's what you pay for. read more

I have no issue with the photographer or pictures. The shots came out great. However, we purchased a Groupon for $69 - which included the following: The Deal *$69 for a one-hour sunset family portrait session for up to six, including an on-location shoot and 10 digital images (a $400 total value) *Additional people or pets may be added for $25 each *Complimentary photo viewing in the studio *Images are edited and put onto a view-and-share CD (Makes you think you get to leave with usable digital images, right?.... wrong.) I truly believe this to be blatant false advertising. When you go to select/pick up your CD, they (only then) inform you that all the pics have their watermark on them - therefore unusable... UNLESS, you do your printing thru them, which is very expensive. OR, they'd be happy to remove the watermark/copyright with any purchase of prints - and the lowest priced purchase you can walk out with is $100 for 4 5x7 prints. Yes, you heard that right, 4 5x7 picture (or 2 8x10s) for $100. Crazy. At the end of the day, my $69 photo shoot and CD that I thought I was getting cost over $200. BUYER BEWARE... There is no possible was to get anything for $69 - except having pictures taken that you cannot use in any way - unless you pay a whole lot more. Serious false advertising. To Spotlight Studios, you might want to check out California law code. What you are doing is illegal: In California, a claim for false advertising requires proof that the defendant, in connection with the sale of a product or service, made an untrue or misleading statement regarding the product or service.[1] Under California Business & Professions Code §17500, a statement can be true but still be misleading withing the meaning of the statute.[2] read more

We just had our first EVER photo shoot with our 17 month old daughter in the neighborhood we lived and built our life around before her . What a wonderful experience! Each location had a memory that was significant and special to us. It was so much fun and I can't wait to see our photos! I am a small business owner who used Groupon as a tool to find clients and build my business 6 years ago. I respect the quality of work provided for such a nominal amount earned. Kyla did such a fantastic job that we will continue to use Spotlight Studio to capture ALL of our special moments going forward. Thank you so much! It was such a lovely experience. With so much gratitude, Elisa read more

Kyla from Spotlight Studios is the most animated and talented photographer you'll meet! She makes the shoot day enjoyable and fun, without any awkward posing or direction that you can get from others. She works extremely well with all of your other vendors for bigger shoots and events like weddings. And the final product... the edited photographs are just beautiful that it's hard to choose which to frame and put up as you'll want every image wall size! What's also so great about Spotlight is that you can find other services that you may want and need from event planning to videography. Whatever photos you need captured - this is the place to go with! read more