Anyone done the Disney Fine Art Photography MK Mini Session?

Mimi Q

<font color=blue>Can't wait to ride it<br><font co
Joined
Feb 19, 2000
Just wondered if this $195 Magic Kingdom session with Cinderella's castle in the background was worth it. 15 minutes doesn't seem like very much time. I would love to hear your opinion on this session if you have purchased it.
 
I do not find Disney photography services worth the money, their portraits are sub-par of what true professional photographers do. And yes, $195 for 15 minutes is extremely overpriced.
 
Wow, that is a bargain actually. We did a one hour portrait session that cost $1795. So, $195 for 15 minutes is relatively great. We got a couple hundred shots, you would probably get several different poses and a couple dozen total shots. Worth it if you want a nice castle shot. If you do it, put effort into your outfit, hair/makeup and maybe some accessories or props.
 


Wow, that is a bargain actually. We did a one hour portrait session that cost $1795. So, $195 for 15 minutes is relatively great. We got a couple hundred shots, you would probably get several different poses and a couple dozen total shots. Worth it if you want a nice castle shot. If you do it, put effort into your outfit, hair/makeup and maybe some accessories or props.

I'm going to guess you at least got professional quality shots? I mean, even their portfolio on their website is painful to look at. So many shots are out of focus, blurry, poor posing, poor editing etc... If the OP really wants that "in front of the castle" shot, they could pay for EMM or a pre-park opening breakfast for the same (or cheaper) price, and just ask someone to take a photo for them. Same (possibly even better) quality, and they'd get a meal and extra time in the park/more rides to boot.
 
I'm going to guess you at least got professional quality shots? I mean, even their portfolio on their website is painful to look at. So many shots are out of focus, blurry, poor posing, poor editing etc... If the OP really wants that "in front of the castle" shot, they could pay for EMM or a pre-park opening breakfast for the same (or cheaper) price, and just ask someone to take a photo for them. Same (possibly even better) quality, and they'd get a meal and extra time in the park/more rides to boot.
Are you basing your assessment of their skills on the website or on first-hand experience?
 


On the website and as my own experience as a photographer. Your portfolio is a representation of your work. The fact that they even use some of those photos in their portfolio speaks volumes.
Okay, so it's your assessment of their website specifically. And you've never used their services?
 
We didn't use this at MK, but we used the service at Aulani on our recent trip. We had a 20-minute shoot and got about 80 images as a result. We were extremely pleased with the photos. Here are a few of the images:

View attachment 330557 View attachment 330558 View attachment 330559

How did you upload your photos? I tried to upload some of mine and got an error message saying the file was to large.

Already commented on another thread, but LOVE your pictures.
 
How did you upload your photos? I tried to upload some of mine and got an error message saying the file was to large.

Already commented on another thread, but LOVE your pictures.

Thank you, Toolulu22! I just clicked the upload file button, though I will say, I was having trouble uploading the other day--there was some tech issue on, may Thursday??? last week. Worked like a charm today, though.
 
Okay, so it's your assessment of their website specifically. And you've never used their services?

No, I have not. Because I will not pay for sub-par services. 99% of people pick their photographer based on their online portfolio. And no, my assessment is not of their website. It is of their photography, which they have displayed on their website. And it is most definitely subpar, and nowhere close to what true professional photographers would do. But to be fair, Disney knows that the majority of the customers do not know the difference between true fine art quality photography and snapshot photography.
 
I don’t think the photos on the site look bad? I didn’t look through the whole site though

$195 is very low for a photo session in my neck of the woods. I wouldn’t expect much from that.

Maybe not what you want for a wedding day, but to a get a few nice family shots in a setting you love and can’t replicate at home, it could be an easy way to do that
 
I'm thinking of doing this with my son. I've lost a ton of weight, and would love a nice portrait of the two of us without all of the people in the background. He can be a bit of a challenge to get to smile nicely if I'm not the one taking the photo though.

Photopass photographers are very hit and miss (mostly miss) so I thought i might spring for something a little nicer, dress up a little and have a great keepsake. Would love to hear some actual experience.

Around here, $195 is about the going rate for a mini session like that so it doesn't seem out of line to me.
 
I don’t think the photos on the site look bad?

And see, that's why Disney sells, because (no offense) but the majority of people don't see the flaws in the photos - when you go under their portraits section, several of their photos are blurry/out of focus, have poor lighting, poor composition, very little effort to have everyone looking/smiling (and yes, I'm well aware of just how hard that is, lol), poor edits etc... Even the ones someone posted above, I could list several issues with them, that a true professional photographer would not have made, yet people think those are great. Meanwhile I just sit and shake my head because they clearly have no idea what great photography could actually look like, lol. But again, at the end of the day, most people are just looking at the overall shot (composition and background) and are being distracted by the "Disney!!!", plus have no more experience with photography than your typical snapshots and so to them, it's good. And that's fine. If they're happy with it, I guess that's really all that matters.


As far as the price, I suppose yes, seeing other comments, that depends where you're from. Here, $195 gets you a full blown session with a really good photographer. The wannabe-photographers (similar quality photos as these ones) run about $60-75. So my initial reaction was that this seems overpriced considering what you get for quality. But I suppose for other areas, it's actually reasonable. And there's the "Disney" factor.
 
Thank you, Toolulu22! I just clicked the upload file button, though I will say, I was having trouble uploading the other day--there was some tech issue on, may Thursday??? last week. Worked like a charm today, though.

I'm still unable to upload pictures, so I put a few on my old Wordpress page if anyone wants to look.
https://sharonandanthony.wordpress.com/

We did hire a photographer for our wedding day (park shoot done on a separate day). Thus, we actually have two perspectives, which is nice. The Disney ones are absolutely about the Disney factor. We had the parks almost to ourselves, which was amazing in and of itself.

We are planning an anniversary trip in the summer of 2020 and plan to have a photo shoot session again. Not sure if we'll do the 20 minute resort shoot or an Epcot shoot. We'll see how finances look when we get closer to the trip. I'd love to read about some other experiences with the family shoots.
 
And see, that's why Disney sells, because (no offense) but the majority of people don't see the flaws in the photos - when you go under their portraits section, several of their photos are blurry/out of focus, have poor lighting, poor composition, very little effort to have everyone looking/smiling (and yes, I'm well aware of just how hard that is, lol), poor edits etc... Even the ones someone posted above, I could list several issues with them, that a true professional photographer would not have made, yet people think those are great. Meanwhile I just sit and shake my head because they clearly have no idea what great photography could actually look like, lol. But again, at the end of the day, most people are just looking at the overall shot (composition and background) and are being distracted by the "Disney!!!", plus have no more experience with photography than your typical snapshots and so to them, it's good. And that's fine. If they're happy with it, I guess that's really all that matters.

As far as the price, I suppose yes, seeing other comments, that depends where you're from. Here, $195 gets you a full blown session with a really good photographer. The wannabe-photographers (similar quality photos as these ones) run about $60-75. So my initial reaction was that this seems overpriced considering what you get for quality. But I suppose for other areas, it's actually reasonable. And there's the "Disney" factor.

Blurry is not acceptable, but all of the stuff you mentioned takes longer than 15 minutes especially when dealing with a group of people.

I think I did the cheapest First Communion pictures I could find with a reputable photographer and it was $175 for the session which was about 15 minutes and then $200 for the images. Something like that. You couldn't get anyone to do that for $75 around here. The most you are getting for $75 would be a short sitting at Target or JCPenney

For $195 at Disney, if I got one good image that I loved (let's say a nice family shot where everyone is smiling and looking at the camera lol), in a unique Disney setting that I couldn't replicate at home, I would be happy with that. Now if it was blurry or something, I would want my money back
 
Does anyone have a link to the sample photos we're talking about? I think this might be perfect for some grad ear photos in 2019.
 

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