Use our platform to book your first mini sessions
By Paige Cerulli
Halloween mini sessions are an opportunity for families to capture special holiday memories, and when taken annually, they can chronicle children’s growth. Professional photographers share tips and tricks to help you make your Halloween mini sessions spook-tacular additions to your photography session lineup.
Halloween mini sessions are short themed shoots lasting about 10 to 15 minutes. The sessions give you time to capture an individual child or even a family posing together in costume or seasonal outfits. These sessions can be highly stylized with props and an eerie setting, or sessions in which kids dress up may focus more on the costumes. By scheduling mini sessions back-to-back, you can use the same backdrop and props, don’t have to worry about travel, and can quickly complete many sessions in a single day. Families pay a small investment for the shoot and photos, and you can be highly productive and profitable.
The photographers we spoke with charge from $110 to $225 for a Halloween mini session. Mini sessions often include a certain number of digital images, though you can vary this depending on your session length and pricing. Offering families the option to purchase additional images can help increase your profits from each session.
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Images by: Little Photos & Nickie Graybill Design
Southwest Missouri photographer Sabra Teel, owner of Sabra Teel Photography, explains that while her typical style focuses on interaction and movement with the subjects, that can be difficult when subjects are wearing full costumes or holding props. “I really encourage the women who do these [sessions] to channel their dark feminine side, and those are always the best shots because you can tell the moment they feel powerful and, honestly, a little evil.”
Nickie Graybill, owner of Littles Photos & Nickie Graybill Design, is based in South Jordan, Utah. Kids in costume are often the subjects of her Halloween mini sessions, so she takes a different posing approach. “My goal is to have the poses of the kids match their costume and imagination,” she explains. “If a child is dressed like a witch, I’ll ask them to do their best witch [cackle] or their best evil witch face.” Similarly, if a child is in a Sonic the Hedgehog costume, Graybill will ask them to do their best Sonic pose. “I will also have my assistant pull up poses on my phone so I can show kids some different ideas of things they can do to really get into the character,” she says.
Halloween is a particularly fantastic subject for your mini sessions, because there are nearly endless prop opportunities. “I’ve used several different props over the years, but some of my favorites have been pumpkin heads (they’re just so Instagrammable), athames, cauldrons with smoke bombs, and this past fall I even had two clients bring real skulls with them,” says Teel.
With so many props to choose from, it’s easy to go a little overboard, and the props could overwhelm the subject or clash with their costume. As a result, Graybill takes a more minimalistic approach. “I like to keep props very simple but instead have a classy and a little bit eerie look to them,” she says. “Because costumes can often be colorful and busy, I work to make the kids and their costumes stand out.”
You can use many potential props for your Halloween mini sessions:
Pumpkins
Jack-o-lanterns
Halloween garlands
Cauldrons
Halloween candy
Skulls
Ravens
Headstones
Ghosts
Skeletons
Cobwebs
Smoke
Dramatic lighting
Scheduling Halloween mini sessions in the beginning of October gives you time to hold the sessions, edit photos, and send galleries to families so they can select and purchase photos to have before Halloween.
Be sure to leave plenty of time to market the sessions, too. Teel finds that social media marketing has been highly effective when promoting her sessions. I’m in some local groups with my target audience where I advertise, and Instagram has always had my back with these,” she says.
Graybill also uses social media, posting images of past sessions on Instagram three to four times so that parents know what to expect from the sessions. “I send out three newsletters letting families know about the upcoming session and how to book,” she says.
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Images by: Sabra Teel Photography
Kids often wear their Halloween costumes for these sessions, and Graybill notes that movie character costumes are very popular. Teel has also had session subjects wear costumes, including ghost costumes made out of sheets.
“Those are very fun, but for the most part my clientele is very big on feeling gorgeous and something about flowy skirts, wide brim hats, and black on black just makes these girls step out of their shells,” she says.
To get the best shots, Graybill varies her lighting to fit each child’s costume and overall look. “I’ll bring it more to the side for intense shadows, or bring it more to the front for a softer look for smaller children,” she says. “I definitely get many full-body shots so parents have a fun gallery of the whole outfit. Then for sure, a close-up to get beautiful catch-lights in their eyes.”
Graybill also uses a wide backdrop that helps her to get a wide variety of shots. “This helps so I can get full-body shots of siblings together – they usually have to be cropped square,” she notes.
Teel highlights the importance of experimenting and getting creative during sessions. “Lighting and understanding your camera are always crucial aspects to getting a good shot, and are closely followed by instinct and experimentation,” she says. She also recommends photographers communicate with their subjects the entire time and keep them as comfortable as possible. “This goes for all sessions, not just Halloween sessions,” says Teel.
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Written by Paige Cerulli | Photographers Sabra Teel Photography | Littles Photos & Nickie Graybill Design
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