Policies

All our photoshoots require non-refundable payment in full at the time of the shoot. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, even Diner’s Club. Wedding payments are made in the following way: $500 retainer, 1/2 within 30 days of retainer payment, final 1/2 due 30 days before the wedding date. Commercial payment is made as negotiated in the proposal.

The photoshoot fee pays for the time and talent of the photographer only and does not include any finished portraits unless specifically mentioned.

We require at least 24 business hours (1 full business day) advance notice to reschedule all photo sessions (i.e. If your session is scheduled for a Monday, you would need to contact us no later the end of business hours the Thursday before your session). If it is less than 1 full business day, you will, unfortunately, incur a $50 fee. So please, please, please be very sure that this date works for you and/or your children, family, etc… If you reschedule within the 1 business day requirement, no problems.

If you have a sick child on the day of the photoshoot, please call to reschedule. If you try to keep the appointment, we will most likely request that you reschedule if we notice your child is sick. Sick children do not like to be photographed and we know that you will not love your portraits nearly as much as if he or she was in good health.

We know that his time is valuable, but so is YOURS! One thing that bugs us is how some professional businesses charge fees for rescheduling, but don’t return the favor if they have to reschedule you. So if Mark, for whatever reason, has to reschedule your session, you will receive an extra hour with him at your newly scheduled session.

Please arrive on time! We have a very full schedule and want to have a special time reserved for each client. Starting late sessions has a snowball affect and causes other client’s appointments to run late as well. Out of fairness to everyone, if you arrive more than 15 minutes late for any appointment you will be asked to reschedule. No exceptions!

If you “forget about the session and don’t show,” you “show up late and we don’t have time to shoot,” or for some silly reason “you decide that you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to shoot with Mark anymore,” you will charged the full amount of your photoshoot fee. Sorry, it’s just not cool either way but we just gotta.

Okay, you. Well, if you’re the one the photoshoot is for, then yes, you need to be there. Otherwise, please bring only the people to be photographed or in the case of children, parents are of course welcome. We do ask that if other members of the family or friends are brought to the studio that they wait out in the lobby so that distractions in the camera room are limited. This is especially important with children, as we need their full attention on us rather than looking at other members of the family.

Because of some photography business practices, a lot of people now expect access to their images IMMEDIATELY following a session. We do things a little differently. Instead of burning the images he just shot onto a CD or flash drive and saying, “see ya’ later gator,” we actually take the time to sift through your entire shoot with a fine-toothed ‘editing’ comb. We narrow down your images, sharpen, color balance, smooth skin tones, tweak and retweak all of the images to look the way we want them to look…which just so happens to be…fabulous! Digital photography, when done correctly, requires time in a digital darkroom to make the images look their best. We are all about quality. We never let an image leave our studio that doesn’t meet our standards… and our standards are very very high. It takes time, time, time to work on these images in order to make them perfect. So be patient. It will be worth the wait.

You will view your portraits in our preview room approximately two weeks after your portrait photoshoot. We do not have proofs or contact sheets to give out at the appointment for you to take home with you. Please be sure everyone who is involved in making the final decision in your portrait investment is present, as only one preview appointment is available without incurring an additional fee. You are welcome to bring other family members to the preview appointment so that they may place their order. One note: children are always welcome in our studio, however; they may become restless during the preview appointment, which may last up to an hour. Please plan accordingly for your child, as only you know how they will handle this time.

While we do capture many images during your photoshoot, you will see only those images deemed selected by Mark for previewing. Each image is carefully rendered by Mark’s artistic eye to ensure maximum artistry and technical perfection. Images with eyes closed, heads turned, duplicates, etc. will not be shown and are removed from our archives permanently after the artist rendering is complete. We always strive for excellence!

Due to the custom nature of our work, payment for your order must be placed in full and is subject to a 50% cancellation fee should you change your mind about an order after it is placed.

All images are usually kept on file for a period of 2 years. Orders placed more than 60 days after the preview appointment, require a minimum $100 re-order.

Please allow 1 to 2 weeks for your order to be completed. Add an extra week for our custom framing. Some orders may take longer. Your portraits are an investment and an heirloom that should not be rushed. You will be notified by telephone when your order is ready for pickup. If you are unable to pickup your order, we can ship your order to you for an additional charge.

If you are using high resolution images you have purchased from us and getting them printed elsewhere – we can’t control how other labs print. We, unfortunately, CANNOT and DO NOT guarantee the quality of their work. Printing beautiful digital files is an extremely complicated process to achieve when not working with a specific lab. Every lab is different. If you go somewhere to get cheap prints, then that’s what you’ll get… cheap prints. Some labs aren’t necessarily cheap, but have their system set up completely different than what was intended, and the prints will end up looking washed out, too contrasty, green, blue, red, etc… (you get the point). It’s important to know that Mark Umstot Photography cares about the quality of your images dearly. We guarantee top-notch quality with our prints but understand that there are circumstances you want to use another lab. And if you’ve purchased the digital images and copyright release, you’re free to do so, but we just wanted to make sure you understand what’s up.

We photograph intriguing, unique fun, and most importantly, ARTISTIC photographs. We DO NOT shoot photographs that look like mugshots, driver’s license photos or class pictures. When we say this, what we really mean is that Mark Umstot Photography has a definite artistic style of posing, lighting and composing photographs (the way the subject ‘fits’ into the camera’s viewfinder just before the photographer clicks away). When we are shooting a MEDIUM to CLOSE-UP shot of a subject, this style will pretty much always include CROPPING THE TOPS OF SUBJECT’S HEADS OUT OF THE FRAME. In our humble opinion, this is part of what makes our photographs rock! If we were to keep the tops of subject’s heads IN the frame in these shots, they would NOT have the Mark Umstot Photography look and feel. We have had to add this bit to our Policies recently due to some confusion over the absence of tops of heads. If we were to frame the shot to include the top of your head, it would end up looking like a mugshot or a cheesy class picture that would go in a high school yearbook. It would be boring. And we do NOT do boring. It’s important to understand that we are in the business of artistic expression. And that expression is subjective. Not every person likes every type of art, so please look over our portfolio and make sure you like what you see and understand what you are seeing. If you like our art and are ready to have it expressed with you or your kids in the actual images of our cameras, then please continue on. If you still have concerns, please give us a call for a more detailed explanation. This is how we choose to “do it’ and it has seemed to work pretty well for us. In our opinion, the ‘top of your head’ is not as important as how the photographs AFFECTS you when you look at them for the first time. And we want that affect to be of pure amazement at how handsome or beautiful you are.

If there happens to be one of those rare, out-of-nowhere, technical malfunctions during the session and the images become unsalvageable or the shoot cannot continue, a free reshoot will be offered and scheduled as quickly as possible. We do not offer reshoots for any other reasons.