One of the most common questions in my inbox sounds simple: should we book a mini session or a full session?
The honest answer is that both are good choices, and they are good for different reasons. As a family photographer in Santa Clarita, I offer both because families need different things in different seasons of life. Here is exactly how I help families choose, with the real numbers and the real tradeoffs, so you can decide before you book.
The short answer
Book a mini session when you need one great photo, fast: a holiday card, an updated family portrait for the wall, a quick milestone. Book a full session when you want a fuller story: more variety, more relaxed pacing, your choice of location, and a gallery you can build an album or a wall collection from.
What a mini session does best
My fall mini sessions are 15 minutes with 8 finished images for $295, held at your choice of 10 locations around Santa Clarita. That short window is a feature, not a compromise. Fifteen minutes is about the happiest attention span of most toddlers, so we shoot while the energy is high and finish before anyone melts down.
You choose from the 10 locations and date and time, and we meet, we shoot, and you get a small, beautiful gallery that covers the essentials: the whole family together, the kids, and a few sweet in between moments. For holiday cards, school year updates, and busy families who just need it done, a mini is perfect.
What a full session adds
A full session gives you time and choice. My Petite session is 20 minutes with 15 images for $325. My Signature session, the one most families choose, is 40 minutes with 30 images for $475. My Story session is 60 minutes with 45 images for $625, and it includes locations across Los Angeles County.
With more time, everything relaxes. Kids warm up instead of performing. We can walk to a second backdrop at the same location, try more groupings, like parents alone, each parent with each child, and siblings together, and still have room for the candid moments that happen between poses. You also choose your location and your date, so the session can happen at the park your kids grew up playing in, or the trail your family walks every weekend. If you want an outfit change, a full session has room for it. A mini does not.
Four questions that make the choice easy
First, how many photos do you actually need? If the answer is one card photo and an updated portrait, a mini covers you. If you are imagining a gallery wall, gifts for grandparents, and an album, you want 20 or more images, and that means a full session.
Second, how do your kids do with new situations? Some kids walk in smiling. Others need ten minutes to study me, my camera, and the strange lady asking them to laugh. Shy or slow to warm kids almost always do better with a full session, because the pressure is off and the real smiles arrive once they settle in.
Third, is this a milestone year? A new baby joining the family, a senior year, grandparents visiting from out of town, the last fall before a kid leaves for college. Milestones deserve the bigger gallery and the slower pace. You cannot redo this season, so give it the full session.
Fourth, do you have a specific place in mind? Minis happen at the locations I have picked. If your heart is set on one particular Santa Clarita spot, or on a location elsewhere in Los Angeles County, a full session is how you get it.
My honest recommendation
If you book photos once a year and your main goal is a holiday card, start with a mini and enjoy how easy it is. If it has been a few years since your last family photos, if your kids have changed a lot, or if you keep wishing you had more than a handful of good photos of this stage, book the Signature session. Forty minutes flies by, 30 images gives you real choices, and families tell me it feels like a fun family outing instead of an appointment.
And if you are torn, here is the tiebreaker I give my own friends: choose based on your kids, not your budget spreadsheet. A relaxed session your kids enjoy will always produce better photos than a rushed one, whichever length you pick.
Ready to book your session?
Fall mini sessions are open now in Santa Clarita: 15 minutes, 8 images, $295, at golden hour locations across the valley. Book a mini here: https://book.squareup.com/appointments/azdzp1rpzwjsgn/location/L8PWJA59K3FF8/services/7GV4LG5MEVBJ4I6WTZY4BNJA
Want the full session instead? Browse my Petite, Signature, and Story collections here: https://www.lianaherreraphotography.com/pricing
Not sure which one fits your family? Email me at contact@lianaherreraphotography.com, tell me your kids ages and what you are hoping for, and I will point you to the right one. No pressure either way, I would rather you book the session that fits than the biggest one on the page.