Young boy wearing an astronaut helmet sits in front of his family's Christmas tree during a full-length family photography session in Durham, NC.

If you've started looking for family photos in Raleigh, you've probably noticed that photographers tend to offer one of two experiences: mini sessions or full sessions.

Most parents immediately compare the two based on price and length. That makes sense. One costs less, one takes less time, and when you're juggling work, school pickup, soccer practice, and trying to remember whether anyone has clean socks, shorter family photo sessions can sound pretty appealing.

But after photographing hundreds of families throughout Raleigh, Durham, Wake Forest, and the surrounding Triangle region, I really think those are the wrong questions to start with.

Instead, I'd ask this:

What kind of experience is most likely to bring out the best in your family?

Because the truth is, there isn't a universally "better" option. There is, however, an option that's probably a much better fit for your kids.

Mini Session vs. Full Session: A Quick Comparison

Feature	Mini Session	Full Session
Time	20 minutes	60+ minutes
Location	Pre-selected locations on specific dates	Your choice of location, often somewhere meaningful to your family
Scheduling	Limited dates and time slots	Flexible scheduling around your family's routine
Child Warm-Up Time	About 20 minutes	As long as they need
Outfit Changes	None	Up to one outfit change
Weather Flexibility	Yes	Yes
Images Included	5 images with options to purchase more or upgrade	75+ edited, high-resolution images included
Gallery Delivery	You choose your favorites	Every final image is included
Best For	Holiday cards, yearly updates, families with older kids	Young children, storytelling, newborns, neurodivergent or medically complex families, milestone sessions

Neither option is better. They simply create very different experiences.

When a Mini Session Is the Right Choice

I never want anyone to leave this article thinking I don't like mini sessions, because I genuinely do. I offer them every year, and there are plenty of families I'll happily recommend them to.

If your goal is to update the holiday card, just replace the family photo hanging over the fireplace, or capture a few beautiful portraits while your teenagers humor you for twenty minutes, a mini session is probably a fantastic fit.

They're also wonderful for families who honestly don't need a huge gallery. Maybe you only want one or two photos to frame and a few extras to share with grandparents. That's a perfectly valid reason to book a mini session.

I think where parents sometimes get tripped up is assuming that younger kids can only tolerate the shortest session available.

That's the part I gently push back on.

The Biggest Misconception About Mini Sessions

One of the most common things I hear is:

"My toddler only has about twenty minutes in them."

If your family photo experience has always looked like standing still, smiling at the camera, and moving quickly from one pose to the next, I completely understand why you'd feel that way.

But that's not how I photograph families.

My sessions aren't built around getting children to cooperate. They're built around getting to know them.

We're exploring. We're playing games. We're racing through fields, looking for bugs, climbing on rocks, flying around like birds, telling silly jokes, and following whatever sparks your child's joy that day. I'm far less interested in whether everyone is looking at the camera than I am in documenting the way your daughter reaches for your hand when she needs to feel grounded or the way your son absolutely loses it when Dad starts making ridiculous dinosaur noises.

Those are the moments that tell the story of your family.

Ironically, many children who "only have twenty minutes in them" are just starting to forget there's even a camera after twenty minutes.

Why I Usually Recommend Full Sessions for Families with Young Kids

Here's something I tell parents all the time.

If your child is the kind of kid who needs twenty minutes just to decide whether they like a new person, booking a twenty-minute session doesn't solve that problem. It squeezes your entire photo session into the hardest twenty minutes of the experience.

That doesn't mean your child is difficult or shy. They're just human.

Some kids hop out of the car ready to tell me everything they've learned about sharks, Minecraft, or outer space before I've even introduced myself (and if you ever want to know the names of Mars' two moons, I got you). Others spend the first fifteen minutes watching me from Mom's hip before deciding I'm trustworthy. Neither personality is better than the other, and both deserve to be photographed in a way that works for them.

Then there are the kids who don't need to warm up at all.

They're the ones who burst out of the car at full speed. They have a thousand things they want to show me. They want to climb every rock, race through every field, and ask me fourteen questions before I've even taken my camera out of my bag.

I love those kids.

Parents spending time with their three young children during a relaxed, full-length in-home family photography session in Raleigh, NC.

In fact, one of of the families I work with originally booked one of my fall mini sessions last year. They have three boys, who were seven, four, and just under a year old at the time. Dad ended up having to travel for work that weekend, so we switched them to a Signature Session at their home instead.

Looking back, I think his work trip was a blessing in disguise.

The two older boys have ADHD, autism, and enough energy to power a small city. The first part of the session wasn't spent taking family photos. It was spent following them around the house while they proudly showed me their favorite toys, made me laugh, and invited me into their world. They needed the freedom to move before they were ever going to slow down enough for the quieter moments.

If we'd been trying to fit that session into twenty minutes at a busy park, I think everyone would have felt like we were constantly trying to catch up with them. Instead, we let them lead.

They got the wiggles out. They laughed. They played. They, quite literally, bounced off the walls. And once they had, slowing down for a hug with Mom or climbing onto Dad's shoulders happened naturally because nobody had spent the previous twenty minutes asking them to calm down.

One thing I don't think parents realize is how much pressure a time limit creates.

Not because kids can tell time, but because they're incredibly good at reading the adults around them.

When a toddler decides they'd rather inspect a pinecone than look at the camera, parents in a mini session often feel like every minute they're spending comforting their child is a minute they're losing forever. They start apologizing to me. They start negotiating. Everyone gets just a little more anxious because another family is walking up in a few minutes.

I don't blame them one bit. I'd probably feel exactly the same way.

A full session feels completely different.

If your daughter wants to spend five minutes putting rocks in her pickets or your son wants to find the best flower in the field, that's not time we're wasting. That's time we're investing. We're building trust, burning off energy, following curiosity, and creating the kind of relaxed environment where genuine moments can happen.

More often than not, those little detours end up leading to the photographs parents treasure most.

Sometimes the Best Photo Happens After the Session Is Over

Young boy in an astronaut helmet playing behind curtains during a relaxed, full-length family photography session in Durham, North Carolina.

One of my favorite photographs I've ever taken almost didn't happen.

I'd just finished an in-home maternity session in Durham and had already started packing my camera bag. Their five-year-old had spent the morning proudly showing me his favorite toys and making everyone laugh with the collection of dad jokes I'd taught him throughout the session.

As I turned to leave, I noticed him disappear behind the living room curtains. A second later he burst back out wearing a full astronaut costume and replica helmet.

I laughed and asked if he'd do it one more time.

He popped back through the curtains, and just as he did, the lights from the family's Christmas tree reflected perfectly across the visor of his helmet.

I clicked the shutter.

It's still one of my favorite photographs I've ever made, not because it's technically perfect but because it's perfectly him.

Nobody planned that moment. It wasn't on a Pinterest board or a shot list. It happened because there was room for childhood to unfold naturally.

Those are the moments I'm always hoping to find.

Real Life Doesn't Always Fit Into Twenty Minutes

I photographed one family two years in a row.

The first year they booked a spring mini session at Joyner Park in Wake Forest. Their little boy wasn't interested in family photos. He wanted someone else's ball. He didn't want to walk with Mom. Sitting on Dad's shoulders was completely out of the question.

We worked through it together, but just as my next family was walking up, something shifted.

He was ready to cuddle, read books, and snuggle with his parents beneath the pecan trees.

Unfortunately, our twenty minutes had run out.

The following year they booked a full-length signature session because, over the course of that year, they'd learned something really important about their son.

He simply needed more time and an environment that feels safe for him. And that's okay.

I've seen versions of that story play out over and over again. Kids aren't trying to make family photos hard. They're just being kids.

When we stop asking them to fit into our timeline and instead give them the freedom to settle in, amazing things tend to happen.

Mini Session vs. Full Session: Which One Is Right for Your Family?

A mini session is probably the right fit if you...

Want a quick holiday card update.
Have teenagers or older children who warm up quickly.
Only need a handful of beautiful family portraits.
Prefer a shorter, more structured experience.

A full session is probably the better fit if you...

Have toddlers or preschoolers.
Have a child who is neurodivergent or is considered medically complex.
Know your kids need time before they fully relax.
Want photographs that tell the story of this season instead of simply documenting what everyone looked like.
Want a complete gallery without having to choose which memories you get to keep. (I actually wrote an entire blog explaining why I include all the best images in Signature Session galleries, and you can read it here:https://www.devindesjarlais.com/blog/how-many-photos-in-a-family-session-raleigh.)

My Advice as a Raleigh Family Photographer

If I could leave you with one piece of advice, it would be this: choose your photo session based on who your kids actually are, not who you're hoping they'll be that day.

If all you need is a beautiful updated family photo for this year's holiday card, a mini session may be exactly what you're looking for. Check out my upcoming Raleigh fall mini session dates.

If, on the other hand, you're hoping to remember what this season of your life actually felt like a full-length photography session will give us the time to find those moments together.

And if you're still unsure which experience makes the most sense for your family, I'd love to help you think it through. You can always reach out through my contact page, and I'll point you in the direction I honestly think is best for your family—even if that's a mini session.