1. What style of photography does Unscripted offer?

Natural, honest and real, we’ll never force a smile. We want to capture your child’s character, all their loveliness and craziness but totally ‘Unscripted’.

2. What are Fine Art Portraits and how is it different from a traditional portrait session?

Fine Art School Portraits are a modern approach to portraits. These are photos destined to be art for your wall, not just a ‘record’ for the drawer.

This is a style of photography which is all about personality, character and emotion, so no formal poses, forced smiles or themed backgrounds. The ethos is simple: obtaining beautiful images because our photographers have engaged with the subject so that they are relaxed, ensuring beautiful, recognisable photos that shine with character and personality.

Our School and Nursery portrait sessions will provide a variety of images, which will include that traditional portrait of your child and their uniform as well as an album of images showcasing the very best of children: honest, relaxed and beautiful.

Of course, we’ll always try for a smile, but a smile does not always make the photo. Children are individuals, and how they feel on the day matters. Not all children are confident or ‘out there’; some are shy and pensive. If a child is not feeling the session, we’d never push it. ’ Ultimately, we want children to feel comfortable and this will always be the priority By having that relaxed approach, we gain the trust of that child, so potentially, when we return a year later, they are more relaxed and a year older and remember the lovely photographer who tried to make them laugh!! Because children do remember, For us, it is important that children have a positive experience, first and foremost.

3. What is the cost of Fine Art Portraits?

There is no cost to have photos taken or accessed within the secure online Gallery. Should you wish to order digital or print images, you’ll find the rates to be competitive and easy to purchase a la carte or as part of a collection. Unscripted Portraits was established on the foundation that parents deserved beautiful photos of their little ones and that school portrait photography should be both beautiful and affordable. Photos destined as artwork on the walls, not as just a record of a uniform in the bottom drawer. The product price list is available upon request.There is no cost to have photos taken or accessed within the secure online Gallery. Should you wish to order digital or print images, you’ll find the rates to be competitive and easy to purchase a la carte or as part of a collection. Claire established this service on the premise that school portrait photography should be both beautiful and affordable..that parents deserved beautiful photos of their little ones, photos meant as artwork on the walls, not as just a record in the drawer.

4. Do you offer different styles of Fine Art Portraits?

Yes, Unscripted offers the following Fine Art Portrait sessions

Classic Fine Art Portraits  – Classic black backdrop

Environmental Fine Art Portraits – Making the most of your setting’s outdoor environment

Day in the Life – available for small settings only

5. What to expect from your fine art portrait session!

Our Fine Art Portrait style delivers a range of beautiful portrait images from gorgeous close-ups featuring long eyelashes, dimples and freckles galore to mid-range portrait shots, so we’re confident that you’ll find something to suit your taste and beautiful artwork for your walls.

6. Will my child be smiling in every photograph?

We cannot promise smiles in every photograph. We do not want to force them. Instead, we want to bring out your child’s true character of that day. Should your child be shy and retiring, then this is how we shall capture her; should your son be outgoing and playful, we will endeavour to bring that out of them. A smile does not always ‘make’ the photograph.

7. How do I access my child’s portraits?

Access to your child’s images will be provided on an A5 size QR card detailing a QR code, a web link and your unique access code. Once the online Gallery is ready and released, the QR cards will be distributed by the school/nursery. Should those with parental responsibility require confirmation of any login details, these can be requested directly with the School or Nursery or hello@unscriptedphotography.co.uk. Should confirmation of identity be required, Unscripted will verify user credentials with the ‘setting’ before providing any login credentials.

Once you have received a QR card with a personal access code, ensure that your phone has internet access and use your camera to go to the QR code OR (again ensuring that you are online) enter the web address provided on your QR card and enter your access code or codes and click on “Open Album.” Note: If you have multiple access codes for your children’s albums, you can enter them all on this login screen for easy access to your albums.

8. How do I order my photos?

Once logged in to your online Gallery, select ‘Order photos’, then select your image and click on ‘Buy photo’.Whilst the photo you have selected pops up larger on your screen, underneath this image will be thumbnails of all your images within your album so you can easily select another photo within this screen. To the right of your image are options for popular products, digital downloads, your package deals, and prints. Click on each to review the drop-down menu options.
**TOP TIP: Packages will always offer better deals when purchasing multiple prints. Package Deals also include your digital album offer for all images within your album
How to order a package, e.g. Just your faves

1. Log in to your gallery.
2. You can now browse through all your photos.
3. When you’re ready to choose a package (e.g. multiple prints or a package of digital files), click on ‘Package’ (you’ll find this towards the top left corner, next to the ‘Photos’ menu option).
4. Select your chosen package, for example, ‘Just Your Faves’.
   • By default, the system will automatically select the first three photos in the album.
   • To change your selections, click ‘View Package’ and then ‘Edit’.On the right-hand side, you’ll see all your images.
   • Click on the image you’d like to change within Product 1, Product 2, or Product 3 and then click on the photo you’d like to replace it with
   • Once you’ve chosen your favourites (and this is the important bit), click ‘Confirm’ to save your selections.
5. Click on ‘Add to Basket
6. When you have placed all of your selections, click “Basket” on the top right of the screen, review your crops and complete your billing information.

9. How can I find the status of my order?

The easiest way is to click the link within your order confirmation email. Alternatively, you can log in with the password and email address you received via email. Once you’ve logged in, your order details can be found under “My Account”.
Haven’t you received an email confirmation? You may have put a typo in your email address, or you may not have confirmed your order for processing. If unsure, just get in touch, and we can review this for you.

10. Am I limited to just one image when purchasing a print collection?

Not. The beauty of our service is that we won’t limit your photo choice. We want you to have a choice of lovely images and not feel forced to purchase multiple packages to get the photos you want. So, select as many different photos as you wish from our collections.

11. How many album photos will I receive?

The number of images delivered will very much depend on your child on that day because some children are, by nature, more expressive in front of the camera than others. We have a “routine” we run through with each child to help showcase their character and hopefully bring out a variation of facial expressions. This works for some but not for all.

We, therefore, commit to deliver a minimum of 5 photographs per album, and hopefully, more, depending on your child’s response to our games and encouragement on the day. If your child is more on the shy side, we are not pushy. We pride ourselves in recognising the signs. We would rather photograph their quiet, thoughtful nature, but please note this may mean we deliver less variation in photos.

For this reason, not all albums are equal in size or variety. We aim to capture genuine expressions, and we will always prioritise your child’s comfort.

So we will endeavour to deliver as many photos as possible within our 3-minute session but pride ourselves in delivering many more images than traditional School photographers. We will never restrict the number of different images but always deliver lovely photos reflecting the child’s true character.

12. Why is there a set price for the album regardless of the number of images delivered?

A set album price, regardless of the number of images received, supports our strong ethos of providing beautiful images at an affordable price for families. We wanted families to have access to ALL their images at a reasonable price without being limited in choice. So whether that’s a single favourite image, a print collection or a digital album, we don’t want to price out most parents from having beautiful School or Nursery photos.

We regularly review the pricing of other portrait photographers, both national and locally based, and whilst their style is a world apart from our natural ‘Unscripted’ approach, our pricing model is very competitive, and feedback has always been positive. They love the winning combination of beautiful photos, over-delivery on our commitment to the number of images received and the superb value price of our digital album.

13. Who chooses the photos?

The beauty of Unscripted is that we do not choose which photos you print; you do!

You will have access to a minimum of 5 (but not limited to) images of your child; this will be a curated mixed selection of black and white and colour images. There is a range of purchase options, which include both digital and print collections.

You will be able to order prints and digital files directly from the online viewing gallery. The ordering process is simple and completely secure. Once orders have been placed, photos will be delivered either to your School or Nursery or your home address as requested, within two weeks from the final order deadline. Digital orders will be fulfilled immediately.

14. How does your pricing compare to other portrait photography suppliers?

We believe that we offer amazing value for the service delivered. Our digital album delivers a minimum of (but is not limited to) 5 beautiful images for just £44. We believe that having a set price for the digital album regardless of the number of images received supports our strong ethos of providing families with beautiful images at an affordable price.

We regularly review the pricing of other portrait photographers, both National and local competitors. Our single digital image is priced at just £19. This compares to an average of £23 for most other national school portrait suppliers. We also don’t know of any other photography companies who offer the digital collection (digital album) as we do at such a competitive rate for digital pricing.

Unlike other School portrait photographers, we don’t limit our collections to a single ‘pose’ or limit our product selection to just packages. We wanted to offer choice, so whether that’s a single favourite image, a print collection or a digital album, families can choose a-la-carte from across their album by selecting any of their images. By delivering your album of images, we hope to deliver you an album of favourites!

And when it comes to group sibling images, we include these FOC within the eldest siblings’ album. So, if you purchase the digital album of your eldest sibling, you’ll receive the images of the group siblings images completely FOC…we don’t know of any other supplier offering this! Again, ensuring that those with more than one child are not priced out of School portraits…well, you shouldn’t have to pick your favourite!

Our print collections only include the most popular prints that parents have told us they want. We see no value in offering multi-print family packs of unusable small-size prints that end up in the bottom drawer.

Our collection is very much based upon beautiful photos that you’ll want to get on the wall – that’s it!

15. Can siblings be photographed together?

Yes, absolutely! We will need to ensure this is arranged with the School or Nursery in advance to ensure we have enough time allowed in the schedule, and we would need the setting to assist in facilitating this.

16. Do you offer class photos, and in which format?

Yes, if requested by the School or Nursery and able to be completed on the same day as the Fine Art Portraits. HOWEVER, class photos represent a ‘posse of personalities’, so class photos cannot replicate that natural portrait style that is achieved with our 1-2-1 portrait sessions.

Unfortunately, we do not offer a digital format for class photos, only a print format.
A single parent/carer can only provide parental consent for their child’s image to be made public; however, they cannot provide parental consent for all children within a class photo. And so, control of a digital class photo cannot be handed over to one person. Unfortunately, we live in sad times, where digital manipulation is a huge concern and a safeguarding issue for children, so hopefully, you can appreciate why we don’t offer the digital format for class portraits.

17. Being photo ready: Elasticated ties, turned-up colours, stickers and pasta for lunch!

If you want the best out of your photos, help us by sending your children to your School or Nursery ready! Look at this as a great opportunity for a professional photo shoot and beautiful school photos.

But we get it…The way you send your child to school on photo day may not end up with the same well-presented child in the photos; however, we aim to do our best to avoid this.

With the assistance of the Teaching staff/aides present, we’ll do our best to tidy up hair, faces and uniforms; however, we only have approximately 1-2 minutes per child, so fixes like a complete hair re-do may not always be feasible within the allocated time. In addition to this, we heavily rely upon the teaching staff and their knowledge of how the child usually presents and what is normal and what is ‘smart’.

However, we will endeavour to relocate stickers/badges (although, we always ask children first if its okay to relocate their ‘well done’ stickers for a short time), hide/remove marks and stray hairs and also have a tonne of wipes for those who have been swimming in mud at breaktime!

18. Why should I pay for beauty editing?

Your school and nursery staff work wonders getting children ready for their photo session — tackling muddy knees, pen marks, snotty noses, wild hair and the occasional lunch stain! But as you can imagine, photo day moves quickly, and even with the best efforts, not every mark or little imperfection can be caught or corrected in time.

Behind the scenes, there’s often a frantic hunt for a “spare” jumper, a quick wipe of faces after snack time, and a few attempts to smooth out that post-playground hair. (Restrictions on sharing brushes — or the absence of one entirely — doesn’t help!)

Our photographers, too, do their best to notice the obvious things — like asking children to move hair from their faces or brushing off visible marks. But as they don’t personally know each child, they have to photograph them just as they’re presented in that moment. That’s why we always promise beautiful photos, not perfect ones — all captured within our quick 1–2 minute portrait sessions.

If we were to chase absolute perfection, we’d spend hours retouching — and our pricing would need to reflect that! Instead, we embrace the Unscripted look: natural, honest portraits that capture a child exactly as they are. Because those so-called imperfections? They’re part of their real story — and that’s what we love most.

19. Do you offer both a colour and a black-and-white version of the same image?

Claire curates images for the album based purely on which format creatively works best for that particular photo, this may be black and white or colour and may depend on the natural light at the time which all lends itself to the beauty of the image but she also aims to offer a great variety of images; close-ups and a range of poses, so to achieve both goals, we cannot always provide an image in both formats without then limiting the range of images in the album.

We hope we have a great balance of photos and thus enough to suit most people’s tastes and enough to find your favourite! However, we do appreciate that it’s such a personal choice, which is why we do offer images in an alternative format as a separately chargeable request. The original image is sourced from raw file archives, hand-edited, and the charge for this add-on service covers the additional admin and editing time required to support the request.

Clients requesting this service should get in touch via email, providing the filename and format required. We’ll provide a BACS invoice for payment, and once paid, we’ll manage a task through to completion, keeping the client updated.

20. Glasses and other ‘accessories’ – to wear or not to wear?

As a standard, we would normally never ask a child to remove things such as glasses or hearing aids that children may wear. For the benefit of this document, we’ll refer to these devices as ‘accessories. ’ For Unscripted, these ‘accessories’ are part of them and who they are right now, so it’s not a question we would ever choose to ask.

However, some children during their photo session will ask the question: ‘Should I take this/these off?’ either because of uncertainty because this is what they did with previous School photos or simply because their parents have requested such. If they ask, our response will always be: ‘However, you feel more comfortable. ’

We have no idea which children wear their accessories full-time or part-time. However, we also understand that children can have mixed feelings about these ‘accessories’, sometimes having a love-hate relationship with them as they grow up. Other children may also have concerns about their appearance, but we ALWAYS encourage children to like their accessories and ‘embrace their individuality.’
We feel strongly about helping children overcome these issues, and wherever possible, we will show them a couple of digital images during the session to help them realise just how amazing they are.

The only time we would ever prompt you to remove your glasses is if there was an issue with glare during the photo session, and under those circumstances, we would do our best to take photos with your glasses both on and off.

21. Which size of print should I order?

It is a personal choice, so completely up to you, it may depend on that space on the wall that you are planning to fill or a specific frame you’d like to use but the print sizes offered on our portrait price list are the most popular and most requested sizes but we’ve ‘gotta’ say.. this fine art portrait style..especially a gorgeous close-up, looks amazing in a larger size print.

22. What is ‘Cropping, ’ and do I have to crop my photos when purchasing prints?

A crop is the preview of the picture that you will receive when the image is printed.
The physical width and height ratio of a picture cannot be changed; it cannot be shrunk or stretched, so when reviewing a crop of an image, you are restricted by the proportions of the image, which can be different with differing size prints that are ordered.

And yes, like any other online app, when purchasing any prints, you should always review and amend your ‘crops’ when ordering prints to suit your personal preference. And be aware, regardless of any crops applied, that when printing any image, you will lose a tiny bit of the outline of the image.

The image you initially see within your online viewing gallery is the image in its entirety, it is not cropped. A default crop is applied by the online Gallery software application once a print size is selected. Because most of our images taken are portrait, Our Gallery software is set to default the crop to ‘top-down’ cropping, which will suit most of our images; however, you can crop the image to the middle, left or right, depending on the image, to achieve your best image. Once photos are selected and print size options are selected, and before finalising your order, you will have the option to edit the crop of your image. Always review this before finalising any print orders, as this cannot be changed once an order has been processed.

Want to know more about cropping and exactly how to do it within our Gallery software? Check out our handy ‘crop guide’ on our website:
https://unscriptedportraits.co.uk/crop-that-pic/

23. Why should I order the prints through Unscripted?

We recognise that photo printing facilities are available cheaper in some high street retailers, but just be aware that the print and paper used when printing does matter and affects the quality of colours and depth of the photo, so we’d always recommend using a professional print lab to get the best results.

We use a professional lab to process our prints, and our portraits are printed in a classic lustre finish using Fujicolor Professional Lustre photographic paper. Its matte surface means the light won’t reflect and obscure the image, and it retains its colour to create beautiful, vibrant images.

24. How long do I have to place any orders?

Once the online Gallery has been released, you will have access to the gallery for 4-8 weeks, depending on prevailing School / Nursery holidays. In our experience, this provides enough time for those keen to purchase photos to make their selection.

We also encourage families to take advantage of the FOC shipping to the School or Nursery by ordering within the batch order deadline. Galleries are generally archived after 8 weeks. Once archived, if you require access to your online Gallery, there will be a small admin charge of £25 to reinstate your gallery online. By not paying for expensive online storage, we ensure we keep our costs low and pricing competitive.

25. I’ve not received an email confirmation of my order. Why is this?

This could be for one of two reasons:
1. The payment must be confirmed before your order can be processed. Please ensure that the order has been submitted from the online Gallery and also confirm (if required) if two factor authentication has been completed for the payment to be processed.

2. Email communications relating to orders rely upon the email address submitted by the customer within the order section. It may be that there is a typo within the email address, and thus your order confirmation email has not been received. If this is the case, get in touch, and we can review this for you.

If you have used multiple email addresses when accessing the online Gallery, you may receive communications from our Gallery software that may not be relevant to you. For example, an automated email encouraging you to complete an order when you may have completed an order using a different email address. To avoid this scenario, please use just one email address to log on to the online gallery.

26. How do I pay for my photos?

Payment is made via the online gallery using Stripe (Google Pay, Apple Pay, credit/debit card); however, for those seeking an alternative method, payment can be made via BACS using the following details.

Name: Unscripted Photography Ltd
Bank: Monzo Bank
Account Number: 96175345
Sort Code: 04-00-03
Ref: School/Nursery name/Child’s name

Note: For those wishing to pay via BACS, get in touch at: hello@unscriptedphotography.co.uk and ensure your online basket reflects your intended items for purchase. We’ll liaise with you and raise a BACS invoice, and once paid, we’ll progress your order and keep you updated.

Unscripted Portraits Ltd ceased trading on 31 January 2026.
The business now trades as Unscripted Portraits under Unscripted Photography Ltd.

27. When and how do I receive my print order?

This depends upon whether you have paid for shipping or not, if you have placed an order and opted for Batch shipping to your setting. This order will be processed the day after the batch order shipping deadline and will arrive at the setting within 7-10 working days.

For those opting for direct shipping, this is quicker (approx.. 4-7 working days) and is automatically processed as soon as the order is submitted.

Print orders delivered to the setting (school or nursery) as part of the FOC batch order delivery are distributed directly to the child in school, so please be aware that multiple orders, whilst individually packaged, will go home with the child (wherever home is on that day. If this is not suitable depending on your family circumstances, please pay for direct shipping or contact the school or nursery for alternate arrangements.

28. Co-parenting and Online Gallery Security

Log-in details for the online Gallery are unique per child’s album only. Login details will be distributed to all parents/carers of that child, and those persons may share login details with trusted individuals. Whilst clients with access to secure login details can access the same album photos, they should access the gallery using their email and thus can select their favourites and place separate orders.

There are no issues with receiving numerous orders for the same child, as orders are individually packaged. HOWEVER, please be aware that orders placed for delivery to the School or Nursery will only be distributed directly to the child to take home that day. Please note that schools or Nurseries may not be aware of individual family circumstances, so if you are not comfortable with this method of distribution, please ensure you opt for paid shipping to your nominated address or contact the setting to make alternate arrangements for collecting your prints.

29. How do I receive my purchased digitals?

If you’ve purchased digitals via the online gallery, you’ll receive an email with a download link to your photos within minutes of placing the order, this is part of an automated process. However, if you’ve paid via our alternative payment of BACS and advised us of this, then as soon as payment has been confirmed, we will send you an email with the download link.

Files are in a JPEG format; however, multiple files are delivered as a ZIP file – zip files will need to be unzipped to allow access to your multiple JPEG files.

Our online Gallery allows you to download your photos onto any device including a computer, IPAD, iPhone, IPAD or tablet as multiple files are delivered as a ‘zip file’ However zip files cannot be opened on an IPAD or mobile device as standard without a zip file opener such as the files app on google play. This application comes pre-installed on many Android phones, and later versions of iPhone (iOS 13) support zipped files.

Be aware that mobile devices can be limited by storage and signalling issues, so please leave enough time for your photos to download and utilise WIFI wherever possible. If you are still experiencing issues when downloading your files, then please use an alternative device. Please also note that customers using ‘work’ devices may also encounter company restrictions when viewing and downloading images.

30. Notes about print quality

Our images are ‘edited for print’ – by this, we mean that the photographer will edit your images on their screen, which has been calibrated to match our professional print lab printers. This means that when you order prints through Unscripted Portraits, your prints will be the same as when viewed within your online Gallery. However, as we have no control on which device you are viewing your digital images on or which supplier you may use to go on and print your images, please be aware of the following: For digitals only, As the ‘habit’ is that people will have their brightness on their phones and laptops turned up bright…digital images may appear overexposed, however simply turn down the brightness on your device to view the images as they were edited! As for printing with alternate suppliers – many high street prints..print darker than pro lab printers, please consider this when deciding which print lab to use if printing your images.
Want to know more?  Have a look at our latest blog post:

https://unscriptedportraits.co.uk/editing-for-print/

31. Will the watermark be present on my purchased digitals?

No! Once you’ve purchased any digitals, the file for download will provide you with non-watermarked digitals.

32. How long do you keep my child’s photos?

Whilst we’d love to keep galleries open forever, these come at a cost, and as part of keeping our prices low, we believe that a 4-8 week window is ample time for clients to view and download their purchased images. So, once the gallery has expired, the images will no longer be available.

However, if you do require access to your photos after the gallery has closed because you have misplaced them or did not download your images whilst the gallery was open, there will be an admin charge of £25 to reinstate your photos from our offline archives.

33. Here is some advice for storing your digital images.

We encourage you to consider safe storage of your digital files and consider using a storage solution such as Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive. Please note that your laptop and or phone are not a safe permanent storage solution, so if your photos are important to you, please consider a suitable backup option.

34. Who owns the copyright to the images?

I (Unscripted Photography) retain the copyright to all my images. If you purchase digitals, then you will be granted a license to reproduce the images for your personal use. You are not permitted to enter the pictures into any competitions or to sell them to third parties such as stock libraries.
35. Advice when attending different types of Sessions

a. Nursery Session Advice

This photo session is an amazing opportunity to get beautiful photos from a professional photographer at an amazing value. So to get the most out of the session and get photos of your favourite little people that will adorn your walls and that of Grandma’s, of course, then please follow our guidance regarding ‘what to wear’ and ‘parents’ attendance’ at the session.

b. Advice for parents who attend the sessions
(Applicable if your Pre-School or Nursery has arranged ‘drop-in’ sessions)

You know us, parents…we just can’t help getting involved and shouting ‘smile’ at our little ones when they’re getting their photo taken. However, years of experience have taught us that children are more often distracted by parents and sometimes confused, especially if they’re attending their Pre-School or Nursery outside their usual day. So, wherever possible, we ask parents to stand back or keep out of the room whilst their little ones are getting their photos taken.
Ideally, if the staff can bring your child through and you say goodbye to them as you may normally do at the door, it may make your child feel more settled.

If sibling photos are being taken, especially with babies, we appreciate that you will need to be present. We respectfully ask you to allow the photographer to be the leader of the shoot and not to distract you from the ultimate goal of getting you the best photos. Claire, the photographer only has a few minutes to build a bond and capture your child’s true character – with an audience and distractions, this becomes much harder than when it’s one-to-one.

Rest assured that we only want to get the best out of the photo session and the best photos, so your understanding and cooperation are appreciated.

c. Classic Fine Art Portraits

Classic Fine Art Portraits feature a plain black backdrop only as your child is the photo!

Wherever possible, try and avoid really strong primary colours as, unfortunately, these can come across as garish in colour photos. Large prints and big-branded tops can also detract from the overall composition, so keep the clothing simple whenever possible. Now, we appreciate that this may not be feasible, especially if your little one loves his favourite red top with the large green tractor! So there is nothing to be gained by putting them in something at big odds with their usual day wear (unless they are so inclined). Please take these as broad suggestions and guidelines, but above all, do not make them uncomfortable… red eyes and stressed children do not make for great photos.

d. Seasonal Fine Art Portraits

Seasonal Portraits feature a sparkly LED-lit backdrop with tactile decorations for the younger ones to touch and play with. These sessions work best if the children are dressed in complimentary seasonal clothing. By that, we mean something cosy, warm, sparkly or possibly dressed in their favourite smart outfit or party dress. We have found that summer clothing like t-shirts and shorts look out of place against our seasonal theme.

36. Unscripted Contact Details:

Best way to get in touch:

email hello@unscriptedportraits.co.uk (we’ll get back to you within 24 hours)

Prefer to call? Tel 077303 56222

Website: www.unscriptedportraits.co.uk

Flexible Working: Our Team works flexibly, so while it may suit us at times to email outside of normal working hours, please be assured that we do not expect a response outside of your normal working hours!