Here's the deal. The one previous reviewer may have been exaggerating slightly about the 3-4 hours. Sadly, though, not by much. Do not go on a Saturday!! Found this out the hard way. When they tell you they are 30 minutes behind, that is code for it's gonna be at least an hour after your scheduled time. I sat and listened to them tell each appointment after us that they were 30 minutes behind. Yet, we were 45 minutes past our time. I believe they know they are further behind, but if they say half hour, it doesn't seem so bad, and you'll stay. The bad part is, by the time you get in, these kids have lost their patience. Then I begin to lose my patience. You do feel pressure to get the pictures done, and your kid is now an hour past their nap time. With all that said, the young photogs do a pretty good job at getting some nice shots. Plus, they do work well in teams to help get your kids attention. And they do work well with children. All these studios are the same with the $9.99 special. Just shy of a scam as far as I am concerned. They are all the same. Expect to spend $80-$150. Best value is the $99 package. The best part about this place is that they give you your cd with all the pictures taken in the session that day. Not just the pictures you have printed. It only takes them 15-20 minutes to print out your pictures and give you the disk. Most places make you pay through the nose to get your cd, and wait a week or longer to get your pictures. So that is great. I also wish they would give the employees a better break room to eat in, as they eat in the photo lab. I don't like the risk of getting cheese puff dust on my pictures. Not that it's ever happened. I will go back, but I will never go on a weekend again! Worth it to take the morning off at work to go on a weekday. read more

I have been here twice for family portraits. Once on a busy Saturday last year with my 1 year old and most recently a couple weeks ago on a Sunday morning with a 2 year old and 8 month old. Both times i made appointments online and had a minimal wait time when we arrived. The staff is so patient with kids. Neither of my boys were cooperating for this session but our photographer was patient and still got some really great shots. They do try to upsell you on bigger photo packages after your session but they don't put immense pressure on you about it either which i appreciate. read more

Just had pictures done and I would not recommend. Crappy outdated worn props and photographer was nice but not good with kids and had no sense of how to get them to smile, pose, make sure dress / outfit looked etc. She even had another (what seemed to be inexperienced) girl come in and help who acted like we were a burden, didn't smile or help out at all..had a handful of decent - not great photos of kids.. The large screens to view the photo's on were super low resolution/ blurry and could not make out exactly how well the pictures looked before ordering..how cheap are they, that they can't get better screens?!? We did purchase a package (cheapest was $200) only because it's a lot to get 3 kids dressed up/ready to go and did not feel like doing again somewhere else and needed pics to send out....overall the experience was disappointing. I had a way better experience at JcPenny in Roseville in the past for half the price... Too bad I didn't read reviews of this place before hand! read more

This is the only company we use.. I like that they give digital copies for free with the package my wife always gets.. and they are good with kids, the one guy does a spot on Mickey Mouse impression. read more

Portrait Innovations - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Sterling Heights, Michigan

Best studio around!!!! All of my daughter's pictures have been done here since they were newborn! My girls love going here and always ask to have their pictures taken!! read more

Portrait Innovations - Always get amazing pictures from portrait innovations!! - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Sterling Heights, Michigan

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After hearing several good things about this place I decided to give it a try. I called at 9am on a Tuesday and got a same day appointment for 1:20. We arrived 15 minutes early and they said it would be a 15 minute wait.. no problem. Finally after 30 minutes we were called back. I wasn't really given a choice in the background and they used a strange purple scribble, which I didn't care for at all. The photographer didn't have much of a personality and didn't really do much to get my daughter to smile aside from saying "show me your teeth." It seemed like the other employees were doing a better job of interacting with the children. Most of my daughters pictures came out with strange forced smiles. After about 30 pics we did an outfit and background change to a much better scene, he took about 30 more takes. Five minutes later all my photos were up on the monitor to select. He went through all of the packaging and the 9.99 special, I didn't feel pressured at all to spend more. I chose a 6 pose package with a ton of pictures and the cd for 99 dollars. They didn't do any type of special effects or anything, basically the pictures were all as taken. 15 minutes later we paid and left with our pictures. Overall, i'd say they were just ok. I would possibly go back with the hopes of getting a different photographer... but probably not. For what it's worth, Babies R Us, though slightly expensive was the best photography experiece I've had. read more

I take my grandson there about every 3 months and they take the best pics and at such reasonable rates!

Photographer was great. But we ordered Christmas cards. Went to pick them up today and there were no envelopes. They said it was a policy that started today. We told them there were no notices or anything posted that envelopes were not included. Spent $80 on cards with no envelopes. Will never go there again read more

This place has been a total 100 % turnaround from how it was 3 years ago. I think they are under new management and they have draaaaamatically decreased a persons wait time and have taken us within 5 or 10 min of our arrival time vs the old management who told us that they were running 2 or more hours behind. As a mother with 2 little ones.....it is so stress relieving to know that this new team of staff respect a mother's efforts and consider all the hard work of getting kiddos dressed / hair curled / clean clothes staying clean.... And they've finally found a manager or ans staff who cares about the process we put into preparing for the photos as well as understanding that toddler time can be so short lived before the tears and tantrums starting before we even get into the photo room for pics.... And the issues I faced for many years before have finally been addressed and *knock on wood* eliminated. I'm not sure what has happened over there now that didn't go on before but overall waittimes have dropped from 90 min wait after appt time was scheduled to literally 5 or 10 min Max and once or twice I was even taken in early. The staff seemed happier and enjoyed what they were doing as opposed to a few years back. I once spent 10 bucks everytime on every session.... Feeling I was rushed and the photos were just meh.... But now I have a hard time not spending my entire paycheck. Whatever or whomever or however the changes are or were.... They saved me not only stress but gave me the new-found enjoyment of looking at my pics that I take home and having actually happy warmfelt memories of the experience while they were taken. It is great to look at my wall of pics and photobooks with a sense of pride vs the resentment of bad experiences. The costs have raised a little bit.... But I compared it to local studios in areas around and nearby and for the amount of stuff I take home with me at portrait innovation I cannot find any one else in even a close ballpark price range. But I always spend more than I did the last time..... But it is just a heck of a lot better experience, quality and photography then it once had. A++ on the turn around from how this place once ran. Proud to recommend it .... Feels great not to complain about something as well. Thank you to Samantha who took my hellions pic and Erica helping her get the most real smiles and a big hug and thank you to the manager who is currently there.... for making your place run so much quicker and Whatevr else magic you've done to get a team to work together and actually look to enjoy themselves as they do it ... As a business owner and a mother I appreciate the changes that must have been implicated and the efforts that it must have taken to grab the issues by the horns and flip the entire place/experience from the once deaded task to an enjoyable fun outing. Great Job to The Lakeside mall, MI location! read more

Would be 0 star if it wasn't for the nice photographer and shop personnel. We bought a 3 portrait and 50 Christmas card package that cost more than $130. If I had wanted the rest of our photos merely put on a disc it would have cost $330! So, for that price we must be paying for something extra like convenience or service. Wrong! Portrait Inovations takes appointment times. Apparently that's for their convenience, not the parents of a 7 month old baby because we were still made to wait the better part of an hour. Portrait Innovations claims your portraits will be ready in minutes. Maybe that's where the expense is. Not so. They said it would be 45 minutes after we paid the cashier. We elected to return later, at which time we were informed that the machine was down and we would receive a call when the photos/Christmas cards were printed. So two trips, hours wasted, $130 down, and a day later I finally had 50 cards and a measly 3 prints to show for it. It was difficult enough getting a 7 month old to sit through one photo shoot once, otherwise I would have asked for a refund and told Photo Innovations to keep the cards. I really would not recommend going here unless you're in a bind and literally have no other choice. Get a private photographer at a natural setting. You'll thank yourself later. Customer service hotline did offer me a $25 gift card towards future inconveniences but I have no intention of repeating the experience. Bottom line: expect exhorbant prices, few photos, and lots of inconvience. read more

We had a great experience here. We went on a Saturday and only waited a few minutes for service. The photographer was wonderful with my 2 young granddaughters and the pictures are beautiful. This was our first time using Portrait Innovations and we would definitely go back. read more

So now that we have a little one- we had to do the dreaded search for a place to get his Christmas photos taken. There is no shortage of advertisements for Sears or JCPenney or wherever offering a package for only $10 - but I had been warned by others that those packages are often only of the first pose that is taken. Furthermore, you have to go back a week or so later to pick up your prints. (Although I think you can pay more at Sears to take them home sameday) Enter Portrait Innovations to solve my problems. They were also offering a $9.95 package with my choice of pose, no sitting fees ever and they always have same day printing. Our Christmas picture package included 1 10x13, 2 8x10's, 4 5x7's, 4 3x5's, 32 wallets, and 6 greeting cards. In addtion, we also purchased three other poses with three sheets of photos each, got a free "specialty" 10x13, and got our photos on DVD. The total ended up being more like $70 once we added on those extra photos. That was because we wanted so many darn pictures. So on to the experience itself - we purposely scheduled a first-in-the-morning weekday appointment as we were already a week into December and knew they would be busy. It started on a bad note as they told me the printer was down and someone was working on it- but we might not be able to pick up our prints until later in the day or the next day. I started to get angry, but did some deep breathing techniques. We only had to wait 5-10 minutes to have our portrait session, and they had a cute little Christmas scene set-up. The photographer was very friendly and captured quite a few adorable poses. They use digital cameras and can move around to capture different angles rather than being restricted to the old-school tripod method. The one thing that is super weird, is that their little holiday set-up room is open to the waiting room. So if your kid is shy -they might not appreciate an entire waiting room full of people staring at them... you might also not appreciate it if you have a baby and you are making weird faces and noises and dancing around to get a smile. You forget that there are people watching you, and once you turn around - you might be a little embarrassed. After taking a few dozen photos in the "Christmas" room, they had us take additional photos with plain backdrops. All in all we had about 75 pictures taken. After a few minutes, they set us up at a giant screen to help us weed out the bad pictures and decide on the ones we liked. Again, you are sitting where everyone can see the screen and there were actually weirdos behind us pointing and commenting on our pictures. Dude- go pay attention to your own kid and leave us and our cute baby alone. The girl who photographed our kid was the same one who took us through the prints - and while she made us aware of all the options, I did not feel pressured to purchase more than I wanted to. The screen also constantly shows you the running total of your selections, so you are not surprised when it is time to pay. Luckily!, the printer was up and running by the time we were done. They were a little back-logged with the previous nights printings, but the photos were ready about 20 minutes after we selected them. All in all it was a good experience and I would use them again. read more

If I could give it zero stars I would. We have been to this location twice for family portraits and have had to wait over an hour each time. Poorly managed. Photographers standing around, and open studios the whole time. The thing that really gets me is If we are a minute late they will cancel our reservation, but don't mind if they are an hour late. The advertising is misconceiving also. They tell you a price, obviously you need to figure in tax, but there is a handling fee.... We are picking it up and there is still a handling fee... Oh if you want it shipped to your house it's an extra $15. Not happy with anything about this place. Never going back. read more

Visited for family portrait. In-laws love this place. I found it slow and the photographer was not impressive. Pricey and over rated.

I would sit here and write a long post of what happened to me but I'd rather not worst place to go for pictures!!!!!! Unorganized, rude, and they rush you !!!! I repeat find somewhere else to go !!! read more

So truly disappointed!! I have been here the past 4 years for holiday photos. This will definitely be my last. Pictures were more than double the cost and they were not ready when promised without any compensation. I am so disappointed!!! read more

They take great photos. The staff takes a lot of time with each client and they work hard to get great shots. Where they lose me is in the sales process. The staff is incredibly pushy and makes you feel like you're wasting their time when you don't by a $700 photo package. They made a great experience crummy by pushing expensive shots I didn't want. read more

I have been to this location several times. I almost always come out with cute photos, but sadly have never had a good experience while at the studio. They are always short staffed, over booked and running way behind! After this last time, I probably will not be back. The waiting area was filthy! There was tons of garbage and food on the floors, under the seats and I wouldn't let my daughter touch the block table. It was super sticky and looked like it had never been cleaned. We went on a mid-week morning and still waited 50 minutes after our appointment time before finally getting called into one of the studios. I went solely for the purpose of having my daughters 1st birthday photos taken. I told the photographer why we were there. They insisted on taking a bunch of Easter photos first. Well, between waiting 50 minutes and screwing around with Easter photos, my daughter was crabby and had had enough by the time they got around to starting her birthday photos. So, we did not get any birthday shots at all. Wasted trip. I had a coupon for a package, but was treated very rudely when I didn't want to buy any other photos than the one shot in the package deal. I know that is how they make their money, but these photos did not turn out well this time around and were not what I asked for. I left with a mediocre easter picture package, not a single birthday shot and a crabby baby. Timing is crucial when photographing children, this studio really needs to start booking appropriately. read more

Went to do photos with all of my cousins while my out of town family was visiting. Myself, and five cousins(something of a tradition we do, when all of us get together every few years). The woman taking photos wanted to take family specific photos and my aunt explained she was only interested in doing photos with all six cousins. The photographer explained that she will do a few of each and do additional photos of all six. When my aunt tried to explain that no photos would be purchased without all six cousins so there was no need, the photographer responded saying that if my aunt had not been arguing she would have already been done with the photos. Very rude. At that point of disrespect myself and my cousins quickly decided we were no longer interested. Hopefully we can get a quality photo on a camera on thanksgiving since visiting this establishment is not worth our time. I would not recommend this place due to the poor customer service. Best of luck with an IPhone. read more

Nearly all portrait studios are deceptive and Portrait Innovations are no different. I was under the impression that this was the JCPenney studio because this store is what came up when I made that search but they are not affiliated. They gave me a quote over the phone for $100 because I was only interested in a family portrait with digital rights. They are really good with follow-up with ease of setting up appointments on their website, reminder emails and phone calls but on the day of the pictures, not very friendly staff for nervous picture takers, hesitancy to explain the process, prices, or anything. We took the initiative to break the ice after which our photographer was a tad bit friendly with us and then with some sort of a discount, we managed to spend $400. Fool me once, shame on me. I'll just take some family pictures with my tripod and iPhone or canon T5 and just call it a day. I have other photographer friends that don't charge like this and it's not worth the hassle. read more

I have heard some decent things about this studio and decided to give it a try. I wanted some family pics with our 5 month old daughter. From the moment we walked in the staff warm and welcoming and seemed very cold towards us. There was no guidance while posing and the moment my daughter began to fuss they asked us if we wanted to reschedule. They honestly seemed completely bothered by the fact of stating "no I would like to see what I can get." After all I just spent all that time coordinating outfits and getting ready. I felt completely rushed through the process and they made me feel uncomfortable. Granted my daughter had just started teething a few days prior and was not 100% but she was still in a manageable mood. They just did not seemed happy to be there and it was quite disappointing. I saw the same staff do well with some toddlers after and they were quite enthusiastic then. I was able to get 2 pictures that turned out cute and that is why I gave them 1 star. Based on my experience today, I would give the staff 0 stars. I feel they did decent with older kids but would highly recommend another photographer if your child is under 2 yrs or are looking for great family pictures. As a manager of a business that deals with children myself, I recommend the manager here puts his/her staff through some enthusiasm and customer service training. read more

We absolutely love this place. We have gone 3 times in 4 years. Every time it has impressed us. The staff is fun and easy to work with. The kids and entire family laugh so hard the entire time. And the pictures turn out great. The process is quick, easy, and reasonably priced. We will only go here for pictures! read more

After two glowing reviews of Portrait Innovations, I decided to make an appointment for my son's two year pictures. The customer service rep on the phone was fine, I scheduled my appointment and thought all was well. We scheduled a mid-morning appointment and were greeted with instant chaos the moment we walked in the door. It was wall-to-wall people, shoved into a tiny strip mall studio and waiting area. There was nowhere to sit even! Anyway, I checked in and was told to have a seat (if I could find one). There were only 2 studios for taking pictures, and one was directly open to the waiting area. That already made me nervous as my 2 year old is too active without any stimulation - how was he going to sit for even a second in that studio if we got that one? Well, luckily (or unluckily) for us, after about 15 minutes of waiting past our appt. time I checked the front desk to see how much longer the wait was going to be. "Oh, we're about 20 minutes behind" was the reply. Then I asked how many families were ahead of us to get into a studio. Three. Not sure how that would all be accomplished in 5 minutes. So the lady at the front desk flat-out lied to me. She didn't apologize, didn't say a word. So I told her we were cancelling our appointment and took our business to SEARS, where we were taken within 10 minutes as a WALK IN. What horrible customer service! Why would they book appointments so close together? My time, just like everyone's, is valuable and the whole point of making an APPOINTMENT is to be seen at the appointed time. I will never go there again. Sears is my favorite place for pictures, we've gone to multiple locations and have always gotten excellent customer service and adorable pictures. read more

Avoid if you can. It's not worth the package deal. They over book like crazy and the pictures are terrible. My daughter wears glasses and it was glare city in all of the photos. I don't know the photographer we had because she never told us her name but she was cranky. We're not picky people when it comes to our pictures. As long as our kids are smiling and looking at the camera and she couldn't even make that happen. Never going here again! read more

My girlfriend called the store at around 930 am on 1/17/13 and was able to get an appointment that afternoon for our 8 month old daughter. The girl on the phone, Tracy explained how the whole process would work and an approximate length of time it would take for our photo session from the actual photo taking to selecting our package. When we arrived, they were not busy and we were able to start our session about 5 minutes after arriving. The girls who did the session were fantastic. I was expecting my daughter to cause some trouble as most kids do when being photographed in studio. But the girls there made my daughter feel very much at ease . They took over 80 pictures in a bunch of different poses and two different outfits. We didn't have much say in the backgrounds but my gf and I aren't picky. During the package selection, it was a bit overwhelming but what do you expect when you cant pick every single picture they took. We ended up spending more than we thought we would but for what we got, I was very happy with the purchase. I see some reviews that say pricey and over-rated....... compared to what? Been to sears, wal mart babies r us for photos and this place is more than competitive with much more value to their packages than anywhere else. We'll be back. :) read more

My son is 2 years old and I have been going to PI by lakeside since he was a newborn. We recently went there for his 2 year old pictures. Normally happy with the pictures and the photographer (we requested a certain person who recently quit) this time we were not. I will NEVER go back to this place again. All of the normal people that have worked there over the last two years no longer do, I wonder why? I requested the first appointment of the day on a Saturday knowing from experience how busy they get. The person on the phone said he gave me the first appointment of the day 8:50am. We arrive and the place is already a zoo and we had to wait. Yes my son is 2 and yes there is a thing called the terrible twos, but when it was our turn, the 2 people assigned to take my sons pictures did NOTHING to help make him feel calm or help him to want to smile. My husband and I were taking out the props while the photographer just sat there making faces at her assistant like great another bratty kid. After my husband and I tried for 20 mins to get my son to calm down and take his pictures, we left. NO ONE there tried to stop us. They were not even worried about loosing a sale, just moving on to the next appointment. After the HORRIBLE experince we had, we went down the road to the Kidding Kandids at Babies R Us. We had a completely different experience. Yes my son will stil nervous and clingy, but after 10 mins of the photographer playing with him, he started smiling and playing and we got some great shots for his 2nd birthday. We have another baby on the way and I am going to start shopping around, PI will never have my business again although I may call and ask where the girl we used to request left and went to. Maybe she knew something the rest of us didn't?!?!? ! read more

DISAPPOINTING! Everyone gets lured in by the $9.95 package but you always spend more. Their props are old and beat up. The photographers are not well trained. I brought my 3 year old in for pictures and the photographer didn't even try to keep her attention. I have never seen someone so bad with children! That should be a prerequisite to work there! Must be good with kids since the majority of your customers are kids! NEVER AGAIN!!!!! read more

First, I think I should have picked another place from the get go! Whoever answered the phone while I was making my appointment was totally rude! Next, I showed up about 15 minutes early for my appointment, and no one said "Thanks for coming early" .etc..everyone was rude and in a hurry. It was chacos there, with only 2 rooms and the waiting room full of people waitiing for their appointments and pictures. Some people waited 1/2 hour or longer! While waiting in the waiting room, I thought I would take my phone out and take a quick picture of my kids playing with the lego table, forget it! The one guy who worked there came up and said " Mam we don't allow pictures in here" ..Really, in the waiting room...with no flas on?! Next, we waited..and WAITED!!!! About 10:40 ( 1/2 hour) after the appointment time, we were called. So, next I didn't get to pick out the backgrounds to any of my kids photos. Usually you can at different places. And last..oh...yeah...they charge...and a LOT! 20.00 a sheet ...no matter if it is a 8x10 or wallets! They are all 20.00!!!! Can't believe this place! I will not be going back here again! Before I went here I heard mixed reviews, but I figured I'd try it. Well, 1st and a LAST! I gave this a 1 star, only because you can get the pictures the same day, as oppose to other places where you wait 2 weeks, but after I service I had, I would rather wait 2 weeks! I would give this a 0 star if they had that option, but 1 star only for the timely pictures. Just, don't waste your time and money, there are other places/people who can use your business, and this place is totally out to make the bucks. No customer sevice at all, rude staff. Not a pleasent experience. If you do go, you'll be waiting! Guaruntee.. read more