Because this is YOUR day, we want you to feel your absolute best!
Sit back and relax before your portrait shoot. I will hand you to the expert hands of a hand-selected team of professionals. And no pressure! We will always stay in line with what you absolutely love.
99% of the women I photograph don’t naturally feel photogenic, so I made it my core mission to become an expert and help you overcome this feeling. I will guide you and pose you to your last finger.
So just breathe…and let me guide you through your own magic!
{A:} First of all, THANK YOU! I take that as a compliment of the highest degree…because…well…. these women are not models. These women, just like you, at one point looked at the photos on my website and thought “Hmm..I know mine won’t turn out THAT good since I don’t look like a model, but I’m wondering how good she can make me look?” The answer is: Modelesque.
I don’t toot my horn about a whole lot, but I am VERY good at this. I know women. I know women SO well, that I know exactly what they will not like in photos. I know exactly how to pose all types of women to look their very very best. I know my camera equipment better than I know my own grey hairs (seriously…where did THAT one come from!?!) and can use it to create beautiful and ultra flattering images of ANY WOMAN. You don’t have to know what you are doing in the slightest. I will direct you every step of the way, from helping to you prepare for your photo shoot with wardrobe tips, to posing every inch of you, to coaching your breathing through the session. You just need to show up and TRUST ME.
{A:} I recommend that women looking to book for glamour, boudoir, birthdays, family or special occasions have their shoot date scheduled for about 2 months prior to needing the finished product in-hand. Also, being a one-woman show, I tend to book up very quickly and relatively far in advance. For weekday availability, you should email me to schedule at least a month and a half in advance. Saturdays tend to be the most popular time slots and book up the quickest. That said, DON’T WAIT to email me! It’s never to early to get on my schedule. Your photo reveal appointment will be approximately 2-3 weeks after your photo session, and your finished product (depending on what you order) will arrive between 3 and 6 weeks after that.
For Maternity Sessions I always recommend booking as far ahead as possible. I have extremely limited spots for Maternity and Newborn Portrait Experiences given the time sensitive nature of these. The earlier the better. Maternity sessions at best photographed between 28-34 weeks. Newborn Sessions are best photographed between 2 -14 days of age once baby arrives.
{A:} The Folio Collections start at $1200 +tax. It includes high resolution digital files on a USB for personal or social media use and the corresponding prints in 8 x 10 size with 11 x 14 matting around them. These will come in a gorgeous Folio Box handcrafted from Italy with a display window to showcase your exquisite images. For Boudoir session you have an option to select an Album option. The Collections are available in 6, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40 image packages. What you choose to purchase is entirely up to you! Clients tend to spend about $4500 (on average) for their session and the photo products they desire. Clients are almost always SHOCKED by how many photos they cannot live without from their session. They think they are going to be the one client that just doesn’t get good photos…and they’re always proved wrong (but with a smile!). Yep, we’re *THAT* good here!
Our packages are thoughtfully built based on our clients most frequent purchases as well as the high demand and limited availability. We do have an incredible selection of additional products that you may upgrade to or purchase separately at your photo reveal appointment.
{A:} Rathaur Portraits is proud to offer in-person (or remote for out-of-state clients) photo reveal and ordering appointments a few weeks after your photo session. We do this for a host of reasons. First, for your convenience. We’ve gotten REALLY good at our little system for helping clients decide between images, showing similar images side by side for easy selection, and assisting clients with getting great variety for their collections and the perfect wall art pieces. Because we do show a LOT of killer images, it can be overwhelming to navigate on your own and we don’t want our customer service to stop at the photo shoot. The in-person photo reveal is much appreciated by our clients and is our favorite part of the whole process!
Second, for security. While doing some sort of online proofing gallery is industry standard for lots of different types of photography, beauty, family, newborn and boudoir can be more sensitive in nature. We don’t want to store your images anywhere online, leaving them vulnerable to being hacked and exploited by anyone but you. We take your privacy seriously, so the in-person photo reveal takes care of this!
Many of our clients travel in from out of state for their sessions, and it just wouldn’t be practical for them to come back in for their photo reveal appointment a few weeks later. We have a little work-around for this and can do a live photo reveal via Google Hangout screenshare. It’s a bit less theatrical than our in-person viewings, but it is a great back-up option for those who cannot return without having to store any of your images online.
{A:} Boudoir portrait photography is one of our primary specialization at Rathaur Portraits. This involves a certain level of undress (either lingerie, loungewear, other intimate apparel, or nothing at all. These images tend to be a little more raw, real, candid, unposed LOOKING (although we do pose you throughout the whole shoot). These are meant to embrace a woman’s sensuality, independence, femininity, and badassness. Because of the posing and wardrobe, these images tend to be more intimate in nature. We do retouch all boudoir images for our clients with standard retouching. The finished product is typically a variety of about 30-40 images with a natural retouch (no special effects other than black and white on some images) that include “detail” shots such as legs, tush, breasts, back and shoulders, lips, as well as full body scapes and imagery that includes the face.
Beauty/Glamour portraiture is a bit more polished…with a finished “fine art” look and feel. Glamour portraiture is a great option for a woman who wants a smaller collection of absolutely breathtaking portraits of herself that are wall worthy. This is a great option for women who may be a bit intimidated by the idea of baring all for a boudoir session. Wardrobe for a beauty session can be a ball gown, little black dress, a lace bodysuit, fabric draping, or even nudity. Our beauty portraits always contain the full face and at least the shoulders up. There are more special effects such as fine art textures and extensive retouching done on these images, and the final outcome is roughly 15-20 fully enhanced wall-ready images.
{A:} Rathaur Portraits has a beautiful natural light studio in a barn in Huttonville, which is at the border of Mississauga and Brampton, Ontario! On occasion and if clients prefer, other studios around the city and hotel rooms can be booked to accommodate the style and vision of the clients.
{A:} YES YES and YES!! My specialty is photographing WOMEN–that’s in ANY level of dress or…almost… undress. My style leans towards being able to show without showing. Implied. I can work with whatever your comfort level is to make your portraits look the way you envision.
{A:} This is probably the most popular question I get….and the answer is simple…whatever you feel beautiful in. My signature style is the “effortless” and “minimalistic” look, which, lucky for you, involves things you likely already have in your closet. A bodysuit, an oversized sweater, cropped sweatshirt and high waist panties, a robe, sleep shirt…you get the drift. Some clients opt for a gown or lingerie. I am a master of draping and can work with my in-studio collection of silks, tulles and fabric. In a 2.5-hour photo session, you will typically have time for up to 3 – 4 “looks” or outfits. Do not stress to much about wardrobe. I could (and have!) spend an entire hour shooting a client with no other wardrobe than the bed sheets and completely rock it out. Once you have completed the booking process with me, we will do a full consultation for styling and wardrobe choices that will help you with preparations and outfit considerations!
{A:} We accept shoots 5 days a week, Tuesday through Saturday. My timings are 9 am – 2 pm for the sessions.
{A:} The beauty of being my client is, all of these questions are answered in COMPLETE detail for you in the Rathaur Portrait Prep Guide which is emailed to you shortly after booking your session. This will cover exactly how you should prepare your face, body, and mind for your photo shoot, as well as a complete list of resources for beauty appointments and wardrobe for your photo shoot! No question will remain unanswered. I pride myself on offering a photo shoot EXPERIENCE to my clients…so expect a very informed process that involves a lot more instruction than just showing up to shoot and being done with it.
{A:} This is a touchy subject, but I stick to my gut (no pun intended) on this one. While we make the skin look its best, we keep the “Photoshop” action minimal. I rely on my strategic poses and angles to play down “problem” areas that concern you. We WILL edit out minor blemishes/skin flaws as well as simple things like under-eye circles and small scars (IF you request the scar-removal). My main rule of thumb is, if it’s permanent, it stays.
Many women ask about the retouching of stretch marks. While we firmly believe that your stretch marks are a part of your story and therefore are beautiful, we do also understand many women’s aversion to their own. Our standard skin smoothing process will fade the appearance of stretch marks, but please be sure to request more or less at your photo shoot appointment if you have a different preference. My post-processing techniques are more focused on contrast, skin smoothing, sharpening, etc, rather than body morphing.
{A:} First of all, I doubt that anyone seeing your images at Rathaur Portraits would result in anything other than “DANG GIRL, YOU LOOK AMAZING!”. My shoot style, if you haven’t noticed, is VERY classic, beautiful, and more about the empowerment of woman than oversexed or something to be embarrassed about. HOWEVER, I can TOTALLY understand if you don’t want your images shared with the public! You can rest absolutely assured that your images will never be shared without your permission. As soon as your session is complete, we retouch your images in-house. We do NOT send your images off to an outsourced editing company leaving them vulnerable to being stolen. THEN, you will see them directly during your in-person photo viewing!! If you are coming in from out of town to shoot with me and an in-person viewing is not possible, we will make other accommodations for you for a long-distance viewing that is still secure.
In the event that you are super awesome and proud of your images and do permit me to use them on my blog and website, your real name will not be used and I will NEVER tag you on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. Plus, I am the best secret keeper EVER. I will have you sign a contract that is extremely specific to what and how much you want to give permission to share or not! SOOOOOO…. your secret is safe with me!
{A:} Yes…I DO! I do personal branding/headshots, family portraits and couples portraits as well. For those my style does switch over a lot to GQ, Vanity Fair & Ralph Lauren style which I LOVE for the men!
{A:} I, of course, would LOVE to use images from our session together to show other women your amazing photos! HOWEVER, I also completely understand if you might be uncomfortable to share them. That said, I will not share unless you grant permission. The bottom line is: I will honor whatever level of privacy you would like. Many clients are so proud of their images that they give me full discretion to choose images for my portfolio, some clients prefer that only their faceless images be put in my gallery, some clients prefer to choose the images that are posted, and other clients are comfortable with anything being posted, as long as it’s after a certain date (after they gift the images). Just let me know where you stand on the topic and I will honor your wishes!
