Will you come to my house/a park/my school/etc. to take pictures?

Yes. We will travel to anywhere in Springfield or the surrounding area with one note: we are based in Nixa, and if you are more than 20 miles from there, there will be a small surcharge to offset travel expenses. The first 20 miles of each one-way trip are free; past that, there will be a $0.50/mile charge.

Cities that are considered within the 20 mile radius are Nixa, Springfield, Republic, Rogersville, Ozark, Willard, Highlandville, Boaz, Clever, Battlefield, Sparta, Billings, Brookline, Spokane, and Hurley (among others). We will not charge mileage to Stonegate Glass Chapel.

If we travel more than 120 miles to get there or have to spend the night for other reasons, there can be a $125 fee for accommodations. Any requests that involve flying require at least a month of notice. A private jet is always nice.


If you don't have an indoor studio and grounds, where do you take senior and family pictures?

Short answer: wherever you want.

We plan to soon have a small home-based studio that has a few backdrops and props where we can get a controlled indoor portrait if that's what you want. For the most part, we prefer portraits taken outdoors or in a place in which you're comfortable.


How are your prices usually lower than other photographers in the area?

Because you choose where we do the shoot, we don't have to pay to heat, cool, and maintain a studio. But we still have a chunk cut out: we do have significant travel expenses and since we spend more time per session than many photographers, we can't book as many shoots. Because of our business structure, we're still able to charge lower prices.


After you take the pictures, who owns the originals?

By default, we reserve the copyright on all original and derivative images taken by any employee or member of Nellis Photography. If you elect to buy the actual digital images from us, we will give you license to copy and edit them as much as you like for non-commercial use, but the copyright is still held by Nellis Photography. If you would like to buy full copyright, we can talk about it.

We do back up all images taken in case your computer blows up or something else happens to cause you to lose them. We will not print them for anyone else, but we might use them for our advertising. Print prices will be the same as if you bought them during the original shoot. If you have purchased digital proofs and lose them, there will be a $30 charge to retrieve them from our backups and ship a DVD to you.


How do I give you directions?

You can choose to email us directions, but if we can look up the location on Google Maps, that should suffice. We do require a phone number we can call if we get lost. If we're late, it will not encroach on your time; we don't start the clock until everybody is there.


When are you available?

If you would like to book a shoot, just send an email to Reserve@nellisphotography.com with a list of dates in order of preference. We prefer to do shoots during weekends, but other arrangements can be made with enough notice.


What if it rains on the day of my senior or family shoot?

In times where inclement weather keeps us from starting or completing a shoot, we will reschedule a time to finish it without charging you extra. We recommend you plan on doing outdoor photographs before indoor ones during your shoot so if it does end up raining, we can go inside.


When does the clock start and stop?

Basically, the session starts when everyone is at the first location and ready to start taking pictures. If you are a little late or need a few minutes to do a clothing change or final makeup adjustment, we can hold off for a little while. Of course, if we are at all late, the clock does not start. Once the session has started, it will usually go without a break until you are done or we run out of time. Travel time does count.

That all said: if you are very late (half an hour) and have not called us to say where you are, we reserve the right to start the session.


Can we take breaks?

This all depends on the shoot: if we have an adjacent appointment or need to be done by a certain time, any break you choose to take will probably count toward your time. If we're doing a longer shoot during a time that is usually considered a time to eat (noon, 6:00pm), we might take a break for that and not keep the timer running; photographers get hungry, too. You should not expect a break during a shoot two hours or less.

All that said: if there's an emergency, medical problem, or anything else out of your control that makes us stop, we are very forgiving.


If I buy a 3-hour package and want pictures in different seasons, can I just use two hours in one season and one hour in another?

This seems like a good idea and we would really like to do it, but it is just open to way to much abuse. At this time, we will not allow splitting of session time for any reason other than inclement weather.


What are my picture options with a wedding (prints, license, etc.)?

This can be confusing, so let's just look at the different options a little closer:

  1. The traditional route is to order prints from touched-up proofs with the photographer keeping all printing and reproduction rights. With this option, we take a lot of pictures, then show them to you in person or via a web gallery hosted by our print developer. You and your friends and family go online to order prints for a specified amount of time or get together a large order to put through us.

  2. The other method is purchasing license for the original photos. In a nutshell, we sell you a license to all the proofs for a flat fee. With this, you can edit and distribute them as much as you like as long as it's for non-commerical use. We will deliver them via a DVD and will still upload to them to our developer's gallery in case anyone wants to order professional prints. If you choose this option, you will be able to have us touch up the pics for free for 30 days. After that, there will be a small charge.


What and when do I need to pay you for a wedding?

To reserve the date, we will need half of the listed wedding package cost (Intimate, Classic, or Gala). This is based solely on the package cost and has nothing to do with print/license purchases.

The other half of the wedding package and any other expense charges (mileage, overnight stay, etc.) will be due on the day of the wedding. We will have an invoice prepared.

If you have chosen to buy license for the original photos, you can expedite the delivery process by paying the fee on the day of the wedding.


Does the purchase of license for pictures count toward the minimum order?

Yes. The purchase of license always counts toward your minimum order.


What and when do I need to pay you and when for senior or family pictures?

Your sitting fee is due the day of the session. Full payment for all prints orders is required before the order is placed.


What forms of payment do you accept?

We accept cash and personal checks at this time. If there is demand, we might start accepting credit cards in the future, but we aren't big fans of their service charges.


I had a good/bad experience during my shoot. How do I contact you?

Please send an email to Feedback@nellisphotography.com. We value customer opinions and would appreciate any suggestions or compliments.




Your photographer in Springfield and Southwest Missouri