Marco Island has some of the best sunsets in the business.  But Marco Island beach portraits have a short window of available light.  About 15 minutes before sunset, the light is perfect for a Marco Island photograph of the family at the beach at sunset. Before then, the light is too harsh for a great family portrait.  Here’s what a nice Marco Island beach portrait looks like:

This is really beautiful light, and the sunset makes for a memorable Marco Island beach portrait.

But what to do if you want more than just a couple of shots?  We are fortunate to have a great area at Residents’ Beach to photograph family portraits in a lush setting, although not right on the beach.  Just off the side of the pavilion is a shady area with beautiful lush palm trees and flower gardens on the grounds of Residents’ Beach.  Family portraits taken at this Marco Island location still have the “Florida feeling”, even if they are not right on the sand.

Jeff Carsten is the principle Marco Island Beach Photographer at Southern Light Photography.  Our goal is simple:  100% customer satisfaction.  We want our clients to be absolutely, positively overjoyed with their portraits.  In that regard, we are nothing if not flexible.

Last winter one of our Marco Island Beach Photography clients suggested that we create their family portrait at their home rather than at the beach.  There was a cranky baby in the family, and rain was right around the corner.  So we said “sure — whatever you want is what we will do.”

So we set up lights and brought furniture around to the front of the house, and created this lovely family portrait:

After the portrait was made, one of the men asked if we could take his photo for a head shot.  We said: “sure, whatever you want”, and created this business head shot for him:

The skies started to clear, and the client said, “Gee that was fun.  Can we still shoot at the beach?  So I said “sure, whatever you want” and set out for the beach.

The light was great and the family was comfortable with the process, and we we created this wonderful Marco Island Beach portrait for them:

Which one did they like best?  They couldn’t decide, so they bought wall portraits of both:  one for their home up north, and one for their home in Florida.  The client got what they wanted and more, and we didn’t charge them anything additional for the double session.  I believe that if the portraits are really outstanding, the client will find room for them in the home.  There is no better use of wall space than a family portrait!