# Photography section at Babies R Us



## kass617

I saw a little photography room set up at a babies r us, set up to take family portraits, baby pictures etc.  Most of the pictures I saw didn't really look that great.  Do they just set up equipment (lighting backdrops, etc) and just have the camera on a preset or something, or is it an actual "photographer" running the booth?  Some of the baby pictures, family portraits, newborn stuff etc on the Beginners forum on this site look 100x better.


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## Rosshole

I think that the answer is that you get what you pay for (or who they pay for) in photography (and hired photographers)


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## vtf

On some portrait studios such as those in Kmarts and Walmarts there is usually 1 full time employee and one part time. Those same studio companies have traveling people who do home shots, pet portraits at pet stores and kid shots at various locations including hospitals. Babies are Us could be same deal. These employees are usually not the highest paid. I know some are good at what they do because I've had a few of them as friends but then again you do have new ones rotate through as the rehire rate I believe is pretty high. As far as presets are concerned I would believe most have a certain range they use for simplicity of shooting simple portraits.


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## Robin Usagani

Joe usually bags groceries and run the cash register.  When they have a customer at the studio, he'll be the photographer LOL.. JK


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## Aayria

"26 portraits for 7.99. NO session fee!"


??!??? WHAT?

I came across a board with ladies raving about the babies r us studio. One mom said " I can't see paying a lot for pictures..And the photos I had them do all turned out SO cute!"

*GAH* :banghead:


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## Robin Usagani

Hmm.. im selling all of my gears....  good to know all of you..  Ciao!


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## Gaerek

Aayria said:


> "26 portraits for 7.99. NO session fee!"
> 
> 
> ??!??? WHAT?
> 
> I came across a board with ladies raving about the babies r us studio. One mom said " I can't see paying a lot for pictures..And the photos I had them do all turned out SO cute!"
> 
> *GAH* :banghead:



Should have linked them to a site that showed what paying more could do. Even non-photographers could probably see the difference. You always have to remember that a mother (especially non-photographer) will always think a photo of her child is "SO cute!"


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## vtf

Schwettylens said:


> Joe usually bags groceries and run the cash register. When they have a customer at the studio, he'll be the photographer LOL.. JK


Not quite, most are outside companies that would never allow a store employee to touch their equipment. usually if the studio manager is absent either the part time employee covers or the studio remains closed.
They make their money from the prints and add ons, not the shoot. Its a sales job.


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## kass617

In my limited time with a DSLR, and taking pictures of other people's kids (when they come over my house not on any official "shoot") and then email it to them...I have NEVER gotten a criticism. I've heard things like "you should do this professionally!!!".  Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that I'm on any level even close to a pro...or even an advanced beginner for that matter, and wouldn't imagine charging anyone for pictures BUT I think people just think pictures of their kids/family ALWAYS look good unless there's something terribly wrong with them...and I've tested my theory out.  I emailed a friend of a friend who came over for a BBQ some pictures of their kid.  a couple were pretty out of focus.  and again "Oh my God, these look so great!" 

I would post them but I'm not comfortable with posting pictures of other peoples kids without their prmission.


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## Josh66

Most of those "extra services" you see at stores (portrait studio, salon, fast food chain, eye doctor, etc...) are just there to get you into the store so you can spend money on other stuff.

From what I understand, many of them actually operate at a loss because due to the extra traffic they bring to the store - there is still a net gain.


edit
Knowing that the 'real goal' of the studio is just to get you in the door, hoping you'll buy other stuff while you wait - I wouldn't expect much.

It would probably be very hard to beat the price, but very easy to beat the quality.  Which is more important to you?


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## dak1b

go to a real photographer.


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## vtf

O|||||||O said:


> Most of those "extra services" you see at stores (portrait studio, salon, fast food chain, eye doctor, etc...) are just there to get you into the store so you can spend money on other stuff.
> 
> From what I understand, many of them actually operate at a loss because due to the extra traffic they bring to the store - there is still a net gain.
> 
> 
> edit
> Knowing that the 'real goal' of the studio is just to get you in the door, hoping you'll buy other stuff while you wait - I wouldn't expect much.
> 
> It would probably be very hard to beat the price, but very easy to beat the quality. Which is more important to you?


 
I would disagree, they do get you in the store but as they are separate companies they themselves have to be profitable otherwise they go out of existance. For example Picture Me runs the studios in most Walmarts but are not owned or operated by Walmart. Their costs can be low because those are intoductory shots usually wallet sizes. When you go in to pick them up or at time of shoot they will offer you special packages of bigger and more prints that are developed in their labs. 
Look up Picture Me's website or Olan Mills.
They do a service for those who need that low end product.


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## kass617

dak1b said:


> go to a real photographer.



I wouldn't even think of using a service like that.  My wedding photographer, although pricey, did an extraordinary job.  I plan on using his for all my family photography...and have given him countless referrals.


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## dak1b

kass617 said:


> dak1b said:
> 
> 
> 
> go to a real photographer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn't even think of using a service like that.  My wedding photographer, although pricey, did an extraordinary job.  I plan on using his for all my family photography...and have given him countless referrals.
Click to expand...


good to hear! leave it to the pros!:thumbup:


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## Josh66

vtf said:


> O|||||||O said:
> 
> 
> 
> Most of those "extra services" you see at stores (portrait studio, salon, fast food chain, eye doctor, etc...) are just there to get you into the store so you can spend money on other stuff.
> 
> From what I understand, many of them actually operate at a loss because due to the extra traffic they bring to the store - there is still a net gain.
> 
> 
> edit
> Knowing that the 'real goal' of the studio is just to get you in the door, hoping you'll buy other stuff while you wait - I wouldn't expect much.
> 
> It would probably be very hard to beat the price, but very easy to beat the quality. Which is more important to you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would disagree, they do get you in the store but as they are separate companies they themselves have to be profitable otherwise they go out of existance. For example Picture Me runs the studios in most Walmarts but are not owned or operated by Walmart. Their costs can be low because those are intoductory shots usually wallet sizes. When you go in to pick them up or at time of shoot they will offer you special packages of bigger and more prints that are developed in their labs.
> Look up Picture Me's website or Olan Mills.
> They do a service for those who need that low end product.
Click to expand...


OK - I can see your point.  Still, the store would not lease the space to these 3rd party vendors if they didn't think it would bring more business to them.

For example - the local Walmart here used to have a McDonalds in it, lol.  Used to.  The sale of alcohol was recently (maybe a year ago) legalized in my town, so they booted McD's out and now use that space for beer & wine.  They're probably making much more money on that space than they were previously.

Even if they don't operate at a loss, I'm sure their profit margin is on the small side.

But yeah - where there is a market, there is a product.


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## Derrel

Most of the quality of the results on infant and baby portraiture comes from knowing how to pose the child in a safe, age-appropriate way, and the photographer having decent timing. The lighting at places like that is pretty standard industry stuff, typically two large 60 inch umbrellas and a softbox or two as separation/hair lights, and a background lighting setup. In today's economy, the lower-end volume places are doing a lot of business,and can sell print packages at prices people want to pay. if you photograph babies, infants, toddlers,and children all day long, no matter where you shoot, you tend to get pretty good at it. One of the advantages the volume studios have is baby posing tables and wedges, safe and varied props that are age-appropriate, lots of background colors and fabrics/posing rugs, arm posers, etc,etc. Expression counts a whiole lot, and moms are often not super-critical about things like perfect lighting ratios and precise catchlight placement--but if the kids look cute, they purchase!


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## Artrina

My daughter and her family get a portrait done at a place like WalMart or JC Penney every year. She says she knows they aren't the highest quality pix, but, they get themselves and the kids in clean, decent clothes and get the pix taken in an air conditioned store by people who know how to work with the kids in a half way decent way. The pix may not be the quality they want for wedding pix, but, they look nice on our wall. Our walls - and the kids walls - are a nice mix of these pix and ones taken at events.


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## vtf

Artrina said:


> My daughter and her family get a portrait done at a place like WalMart or JC Penney every year. She says she knows they aren't the highest quality pix, but, they get themselves and the kids in clean, decent clothes and get the pix taken in an air conditioned store by people who know how to work with the kids in a half way decent way. The pix may not be the quality they want for wedding pix, but, they look nice on our wall. Our walls - and the kids walls - are a nice mix of these pix and ones taken at events.


When I worked in Kmart a few years ago I made a friends with some of the portrait workers/ managers and learned alittle how they did their jobs. I gave them quite a bit of respect for the way they handled customers and especially children. Now that Im older and hopefully wiser that respect hasnt changed but Im more savy about how they can make it a profitable business and give their clients what they want.  
I would also say its a very good entry/learning experience for someone young wanting to get into photgraphy.


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## usayit

vtf said:


> I would disagree, they do get you in the store but as they are separate companies they themselves have to be profitable otherwise they go out of existance. For example Picture Me runs the studios in most Walmarts but are not owned or operated by Walmart. Their costs can be low because those are intoductory shots usually wallet sizes. When you go in to pick them up or at time of shoot they will offer you special packages of bigger and more prints that are developed in their labs.
> Look up Picture Me's website or Olan Mills.
> They do a service for those who need that low end product.



Correct....   IIRC, one of the people at Baby's R Us said that the studio is actually from Kiddie Kandids.   A lot of the studios around here (in the mall especially) are run by LifeTouch Inc which is probably the largest of the "groups" as they specialize in school portraits sending photographers to schools directly.   I discovered this when I was "suffering" from a long term stint without a job....   I applied and was almost on my way to manning one of these studios but fortunately I found "real" job opportunity.  

One person posted "go to a real photographer".  Oh sure...  I definitely can understand their place but these "mini-studios" provide a certain convenience at a certain price point.  Kinda like the difference between going to a clothing boutique versus Target/Kohls.  



My wife approached me (very carefully because I am an avid photographer) and asked if it would be ok to take my Son to a "Flash!" studio in the mall.   I'm not at all insecure with that sort of thing and I certainly don't have access to a studio.   I said, sure!   I went along but I wanted it to be a sort of experience for Mommy and Son.   I was actually quite surprised how prepared and how coordinated they were specifically to the needs of children.  Our son is extremely active and rambunctious, so they even allowed up to do two very short sessions since he would only cooperate for a very short period of time.  The young lady who took the pictures worked pretty darn hard for those pictures... I wouldn't say she is a professional level photographer but everything was setup and scripted to allow her to produce good work.  Even the software the studio uses is designed for these "scripted" studios rather than the true "Photographer".   They allowed me to play around a little with it and I thought it was pretty impressive.  

The end result was a good two visits to the mall, some shopping, and some decent photos at the same time.  Our walls are still lined with my photos and a couple of the Flash! studio pictures too.   not too bad...  


btw...   Flash! studios is another "LifeTouch Inc" owned store front.   The software is Express Digital (fairly expensive and not really geared towards photographers).  Express Digital - The Platform on which Photography Performs


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## misstwinklytoes

I hope none of the members of the forum work at Babies R Us.


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## ababysean

My best friend gets a temp job every year taking photos at Sears during the Christmas season.  She doesn't even have a camera, she takes all her pictures with her cell phone.  She has worked for them for 3 years now.


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## ababysean

oh and if you've never tried to photo kids in clean clothing, posed a sort of way, after being awake for a certain period of time and drag through the mall, usually to wait 30 to 45 mins AFTER your scheduled appointment time, you really can't say anything.  Kids are damn hard to shoot.


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## Morpheuss

ababysean said:


> My best friend gets a temp job every year taking photos at Sears during the Christmas season.  She doesn't even have a camera, she takes all her pictures with her cell phone.  She has worked for them for 3 years now.



Man if I went there and saw her take out her cell phone to take the picture.... i would get up and walk away....

I'm glad I have the knowledge I do now... So when my gf wants to take me to walmart to get some pictures done.... I can go there ahead of time and ask them about the camera they use the lens they use and the lighting they use and see if they are actually decent... I'm leaning towards finding a real photographer. It just makes me feel disapointed with walmart and all those walk in photo places....


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## vtf

I find it really hard to believe in retail that this studio has not had its share of compaints. Everyone is quick to complain about most anything in retail so I doubt she has done that. 
Sorry, but I wont belittle people that pick up a camera daily and take care of business.


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## usayit

ababysean said:


> Kids are damn hard to shoot.



OMG.. you are so right...  Never realized how hard it is until I had my son!   I can see these child photo studios placing a higher value on an employee's ability to work with children than their photography skills.   

Being in the mall actually helped...  we could take him for a quick snaps... then go shopping or to the playground.. then return a little later for more.


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## usayit

Morpheuss said:


> ababysean said:
> 
> 
> 
> My best friend gets a temp job every year taking photos at Sears during the Christmas season.  She doesn't even have a camera, she takes all her pictures with her cell phone.  She has worked for them for 3 years now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Man if I went there and saw her take out her cell phone to take the picture.... i would get up and walk away....
Click to expand...


I think ababysean meant that her personal camera is a cell phone.   When you go to Sears, the whole studio is setup with their equipment and preset so the photographer doesn't have to worry about anything but working with the clients.  They don't expect photographers to provide own equipment.  

When I applied for a job, they were actually quite taken by the knowledge I had in regard to photography.  They mentioned that their business model assumes no photographic knowledge and I would have to understand that I would need to operate within those guidelines (meaning don't try to change the studio to my own preferences).  Stay on the scripted process.   That's fine since I understood that I'm not the only one working in their studios.



> m glad I have the knowledge I do now... So when my gf wants to take me to walmart to get some pictures done.... I can go there ahead of time and ask them about the camera they use the lens they use and the lighting they use and see if they are actually decent... I'm leaning towards finding a real photographer. It just makes me feel disapointed with walmart and all those walk in photo places....



You might as well just go to a "real" photographer and save the hassle.  Most of those shops aren't going to be up to your specs I can say that for sure.   The Flash! studio I went to was equipped with an Old (but still good) Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n with a Tamron zoom lens.   IT IS A BUSINESS catering to the typical (not photographer) family with certain expectation of price.  You can't expect these studios to fork over that type of cash for equipment, keep it updated year to year, and expect a good return on investment.  I can say that you can see a decent investment put into the studio itself (strobes, computers, backdrops, props).   I think this is proper as these are the equipment that actually makes a big difference in a studio environment.

With that said, there have been many discussions on studio lighting versus camera+lens.  If the studio lighting is done properly, most "normal" lenses will perform and deliver good results.  Its the LIGHTING that is important.  We've seen many examples (the Iphone one comes to mind) of this here.   

Now if you were shooting sports (moving objects, bad lighting), natural lighting (low light, high contrasts, high specular highlights, CA etc..) where lighting conditions are less than ideal, that's were expensive/exotic lenses obviously will out perform.  This is simply not the case for studios where light is controlled (hopefully).


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## usayit

Oh forgot to mention one observation at our local mall.

There are 5 studios at our mall (can't believe there is that much business to keep them all open).  Flash!, Sears, JCPenny, Picture People, Glamour shots.  The people working Flash! and Picture People seemed most keen on baby's, toddlers, and infants.  Glamour Shots seems to focus on older children, and young teens.  Sears and JCPenny seem to be really marketed towards full families.   

The best equipped seemed to be Picture People.  They were actually using older Hassy's with digital backs last time I checked.   On the other hand, their pictures seemed very bland.. very typical... mostly white backdrops.  We chose Flash! because of the variety of props and backdrops they used.


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## ababysean

The thing is, most people do not know about the technical side of photography, so if you get everyone smiling and looking at the camera, they think wow what a great picture, even if it is a bit out of focus, or under/over exposed.
Places in department stores are set up to catch the smile, get the baby to smile, snap the pic, and the proud parents go gaga over the picture.


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