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FAQ Answers: Frequently Asked Questions

List of Questions (linked to the answers)


What's makes an XPortraits photo unique?

In short, the very best photo quality and shopping convenience available anywhere.

XPortraits pro photographers take full responsibility for all aspects of shooting, post production and printing. We use professional photo gear and shoot only in raw format. Doing so gives us the digital negative required to extract the highest quality for every print: we custom crop, color-balance, and sharpen each photo and use a lab-specific color profile to print on Fuji Crystal Archive lustre paper.

XPortraits programs its own web site and hosts it locally on a dedicated high-bandwidth server at Sonic.net — instead of depending on the large shared server farms at national photo web sites like PrintRoom, Shutterfly or PBase. What this means for our customers is faster previewing of larger, high-quality on-screen photos that more closely represent the final product quality.

XPortraits makes it easy to quickly find your athlete's photo. We sort each photo gallery into a logical order, usually by player number, position or similar action. That means you can quickly skip over photos to get to just the ones you want. Our Flash-based photo viewer, downloads all the images in the background, so moving between photos is very fast — just use the arrows on your keyboard.

Finally, XPortraits relies on PayPal (owned by eBay) to handle your credit card transaction and private data. XPortraits does not store any of your confidential information on our web site, for your protection.

How does XPortraits decide what games to cover?

XPortraits photographs primarily on a request-basis. Occasionally, XPortraits will free shoot the action at a game or portion of a game at its convenience.

How do I ensure that XPortraits takes photos of my athlete?

XPortraits covers games that receive three or more photo requests — a process which ensures that we know your athlete's number and position before our photographer shows up at the game.

The best way to ensure that you will get great photos of your athlete is to organize three parents (from either team) to sponsor the same game by completing a Photo Request Form and selecting one of our pre-paid products, listed below

XPortraits photographers will complete the pre-paid orders before they free shoot the action. Free shooting may or may not result in a good action photo of your athlete. A pre-paid order via photo request ensures that you will get from 8 to 12 photos of your athlete, selected from a custom gallery of 12-18 shots.

Once XPortraits receives a request for a game, XPortraits will email out a PayPal link and expects the parent to complete the payment prior to the game. If all parents have not completed their payments or XPortraits cannot make the game for any reason, XPortraits will refund your prepaid purchase amount or apply it to a future game.

How long does it take to get my photos in the mail?

Generally about a week to ten days. XPortraits will gather all pending orders once a week to process them and send them to the lab. XPortraits usually mails the photos out to it customers on Saturdays.

How can I get a discounted price on my photos?

  • Complete a photo request, select an XPortraits' pre-paid product and save up to 24%:
    • $90.00 for XPortraits Combo 12-Pack (Twelve 5x7 Professional Prints + low resolution digital files)
    • $62.00 for XPortraits Combo 8-Pack (Eight 5x7 Professional Prints + low resolution digital files)
  • Choose from the following packages with prices listed on any order form
    • Wallets Package - Four 2.5 x 3.5 wallets (all of same photo)
    • Bronze Package - Four 2.5 x 3.5, one 5x7 (all of same photo)
    • Silver Package - Four 2.5 x 3.5, one 5x7, one 8x10 (all of same photo)
    • Gold Package - Four 2.5 x 3.5, one 5x7, one 8x10, one 11x14 (all of same photo)

Does XPortraits require permission to photograph public games or events?

No. XPortraits requires league or team permission for field/court access, but any photographer has the right to take photographs of any event open to the public. Full details are available here. Right-click (ctrl-click on Mac) the link to download this pdf file to your computer.

Does XPortraits take team photos?

Yes. XPortraits can photograph as many team photos as you wish in a standard custom session, described below.

What other photo products does XPortraits offer?

Posters (16" x 20" & 20" x 30") are now on every order form. XPortaits also sells anything that one can order from Cafe Press. If you are interested in posters, coasters, mugs or other fun stuff at Cafe Press, please email us.

Can I hire XPortraits for a custom photo shoot?

Yes. You can email us to request a Custom Session for any open evening or weekend day.

  • $275 session fee covers up to three hours of setup and shooting. Additional time charged at $75 per hour.
  • All individual prints ordered at the session qualify for a 50% discount.
  • Travel over 30-minutes one-way (from Petaluma, CA) is charged at $50 per hour.