Preparing for Your Mini Portrait Shoot

a mum poses with her two boys while sitting on the floor

Thanks for booking a mini portrait shoot with me!

Mini portrait sessions offer a short and sweet way to capture beautiful images of your baby or family. They’re ideal if you’re after a few updated photos without the full-length session experience. These sessions are a great fit for little ones with shorter attention spans or for families looking for a simple, relaxed experience with minimal fuss. They offer you a single background and outfit choice along with one family grouping. If, as you’re planning, you find you want to do more than that, then just get in touch to talk about upgrading to a full portrait session.

Just Booked…

You don’t need to make any decisions just yet – we’ll go through your options nearer the time, and I’ll help you tailor the session to suit your baby’s personality and your preferences. For now, just pop your session date in your diary and know that I’ll be in touch with everything you need to know closer to the big day. Of course if you have questions in the meantime, just get in touch and I’m happy to help.

If you want to take a peek at what’s to come though, just scroll down this page and of course, you’re welcome to Browse my Studio Collections at any time.

Planning Inspiration on my Dedicated Client Pinterest Boards

If you love a bit of visual planning,I’ve created a dedicated Pinterest board to help you plan your newborn session with ease. It’s packed with real session examples, styling ideas, prop suggestions, and answers to common questions—all designed to help you feel prepared and inspired.

You can use the board in whatever way works best for you:

Pin your favourites to your own board to build a personal moodboard.
Invite me to your board if you’d like to collaborate on ideas.
Or simply show me your saved pins when you arrive at the studio so I know what’s caught your eye.

There’s no pressure to have everything figured out ahead of time—but if you enjoy planning, this is a great place to start.

Two Weeks Before…

Your photo shoot is coming up soon, and I’ll be sending over your options form the day before your session so you can let me know if there is any particular backdrop or prop you’d like to include. Other than that, there’s nothing you need to bring other than yourselves dressed in your favourite outfit, and maybe a snack or toy to help keep little ones happy and engaged. Comfortable clothes and well-rested children (where possible!) go a long way towards a lovely, relaxed session. Of course if you have questions in the meantime, just get in touch and I’m happy to help.

Got Questions? Just get in touch and I’m happy to help!

Looking for ideas for your photo shoot? Check out my Portrait Gallery!

The Day Before…

You’ll receive your options form today—this is just a quick way to let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to include in your session. Maybe there’s a backdrop you’ve seen and loved, a particular prop you’d like to use, or a certain vibe you’re going for. A mini session offers space for up a single backdrop and outfit to be photographed in along with a single family grouping – so if you come as a group of parents with children, you’ll all be photographed together for the whole session (although obviously we can do different poses!).

Looking for ideas for your photo shoot? Check out my Portrait Gallery!

On the Day…

Getting to the Studio

If it is your first time visiting me, then definitely take a look at the directions before you come. It’s not easy to find if you just head to Turners Hill Road and hope to come across it as the postcode will take you to a neighbouring farm (postcodes are very wide ranging here). The best thing to do is go to Google Maps and put in Sarah Fisher Photography but if you don’t use that, then like I say, just take a peek at the directions. When you arrive, you’ll be parking on a driveway – there’s an A-Frame sign to show you the best place to put your car. You don’t need to go too close to the hedge though – leave yourself plenty of room to get out! The path to the studio includes a few small steps, so if you’re bringing a pushchair, it’s often easier to carry baby on their own or in a car seat instead

Starting your Session

When you arrive, I’ll come down to meet you on the driveway and I’ll take you straight up to the studio to get you settled in. Inside my studio, everything is calm, cosy, and completely geared towards helping you feel at ease and, if you’ve chosen any props, or backdrops, I’ll have everything set up and ready to go. We’ll take a little time to settle in, say hello and talk through any plans we already have. Then we’ll ease into the session at a relaxed pace and I’ll guide you through absolutely everything you need to know to create stunning images. There’s no pressure for anyone to perform or to have had experience – smiles come naturally when things feel fun.

Packing Checklist

You might like to bring along some of the following to make sure your session goes without a hitch and you can get exactly the images you want.

Outfit to change into if you’re bringing along tiny people who can’t be trusted to stay clean if you dress them before you leave!
Muslin or bib – again mainly for the tiny people!
Wipes if you have a brand preference (I have plenty at the studio otherwise)
Water and snacks
Favourite toys for comfort purposes
Any personal items that you’d like to include

Two Weeks After…

Your gallery will normally be ready for you to view about two weeks after your session and so this is a great time to keep an eye on your email (or indeed your Spam folder!) to see I’ve sent you through the info. When it turns up, it’s as simple as clicking on the link, popping in your password and you’ll be heading straight to your gallery. Of course, this information will only be coming to you at the email address that you booked with but you’re free to share it with friends and family if you’d like to.

Mini portrait sessions include your choice of your favourite image from your gallery made available to you as a print quality, digital download and the instructions on how to let me know your selections will be in the email with your image link and password but we can talk about it here as well – you simply add the image you’d like to your Favourites list (the website will just ask you to enter your email address to create it) and then when you’ve finalised your choice, click on the paper plane image and choose to ‘Share with Photographer’. That sends it through to me and I will then get it ready for you to download. When they’re online for you, you’ll get another email that looks just like your Gallery link except that this will allow you to download the images direct to your PC or device.

If you’d like to order more images from your session, all you need to do is click on the shopping bag in the corner of the image (or at the top right of the screen if you’re looking in thumbnail view) and you’ll bring up all the prices and packages so you can add whatever you’d like to your cart. It should all feel pretty intuitive if you’re anything like me and shop online all the time but if you have any questions at all, I’m always here so you can just give me a shout.

If you ever need to access your gallery directly, you can head to my gallery homepage at and enter your personal password.

Useful Articles…

If you’re the kind of person who likes to read more, then here’s a list of some of my main blog content that might be helpful to you when you’re looking ahead to your birthday photo shoot.