What's Included in an All-Inclusive Dog Photography Session
Most photography pricing pages on the South Shore list a session fee and stop there. You see the number, you assume there's a catch, and you book a phone call to find out what the catch actually is. This article is the phone call — written down so you can read it at midnight in pajamas without scheduling anything.
South Shore Pet Photography is priced as all-inclusive packages: one published price, your edited digital images included, no separate session fee, and no post-session sales meeting. Below is exactly what each package includes and what stays optional — written without marketing language.
The Three Packages
Every package below includes the planning call, the session, expert editing with leash removal, your private online gallery, and your high-resolution digital images. The difference between them is how many images you keep and whether physical artwork is built in.
Bronze
$395A 30–45 minute studio or on-location session for one dog and up to two people, with 8 high-resolution digital images included. The right choice if you mainly want beautiful images to print and share yourself.
Silver Most popular
$795Everything in Bronze, a longer session up to 90 minutes, 20 high-resolution digital images, and one framed 11×14 fine-art print for your wall.
Gold
$1,495The full experience: every edited image from your session (typically 30–40), a 12×12 fine-art album, and a framed 16×24 wall piece. For the families who want it all, settled in one price.
What Every Package Covers
1. The pre-session call (15–30 minutes)
Before we shoot, we talk. I want to know your dog's temperament, energy level, what they're scared of, what they love, and what you're hoping for from the portraits. If your dog is reactive, anxious, or shy, this is the call where I learn everything I need so the session works on the first try. If your dog is a confident retriever who loves strangers, the call is shorter — but still happens. Sessions where this call is skipped consistently underperform sessions where it isn't.
2. The session itself (up to 90 minutes)
We meet at the agreed location — either the Rockland studio or somewhere outdoors that fits your dog. A reactive dog might need the full ninety minutes to decompress before we get the keepers; a confident lab might wrap sooner. I work at the dog's pace, not the clock's. The session ends when we have what we came for.
Sessions within five miles of the Rockland studio carry no travel fee. Anything farther — Plymouth, Boston, Cape Cod, North Shore — is a flat $50 travel fee. One charge regardless of distance, not per-mile pricing.
3. The editing and your gallery
After the session I cull through several hundred frames and fully edit the best of them — color grading, leash removal, retouching, distractions cleaned out. Those go into a private online gallery, delivered within about two weeks.
4. Your digital images — included
This is the part most photographers sell back to you afterward. Here, your high-resolution digital images are included in the package price — 8 with Bronze, 20 with Silver, and every edited image with Gold. They're yours to print, share, and keep. There is no separate license fee and no ordering appointment you have to sit through to get them.
The Honest Headline
“The package price buys you the photography, the editing, and the digital images — all in. Physical wall art is a separate decision you make later if you want it, at prices published in advance, with no pressure and no minimum.”
What Stays Optional
Wall art and albums are the only things not bundled into the entry package — and that's on purpose.
Wall art & albums (from $300, always optional)
Framed prints, gallery canvases, metal pieces, and fine-art albums are listed at published prices on the products page — wall art from about $300, albums from $350. Silver and Heirloom packages already include physical pieces; with Bronze, you can add any of these afterward if you decide you want your dog on the wall. There's no minimum and no sales meeting. You order what you love, straight from your gallery, whenever you like.
Why All-Inclusive, and Not a $50 Session with a Catch
Free or $50 sessions exist in this market. They're almost always a strategy where the photographer makes the money on the back end with high-pressure print sales — clients who book a $50 session and end up spending $3,000 because they were shown two-week-deletion deadlines on their gallery in a mandatory ordering appointment. That model is functional for the photographer and stressful for the client. I don't run sessions that way.
On the other end, hidden-price studios make you fill out an inquiry form just to learn what a session costs. All-inclusive pricing is the opposite of both: the number is published, your photos are included, and there's no ordering meeting where the real bill appears.
The package prices — $395, $795, and $1,495 — cover the actual cost of doing the session well and hand you your images at the end. Many clients still choose to add wall art, but they add it because they want it after seeing their gallery, not because they were sold into it.
A Few Quick Clarifications
Extra people or pets are $50 each beyond the standard one dog and up to two people included in a package.
The Memory Session is $395, all-inclusive, with 8 high-resolution digital images, priority scheduling, flexible cancellation, and zero pressure on artwork. It's paced entirely around what your dog needs. See the memory sessions page for the full approach.
Reactive dog sessions are the same price — same packages, more time built in. Specialist work doesn't cost more here.
A deposit confirms the booking, with the balance due by your session date. Sessions reschedule with 48 hours notice at no cost; cancellations within 48 hours forfeit the deposit but it carries forward as credit for 12 months. Memory sessions are exempt — they reschedule freely.
Pro Tip
“When you're comparing South Shore photographers, ask two questions: are the prices published, and are my digital images included? If you have to fill out a form to learn the price, and your photos are sold separately after a mandatory ordering meeting, you're looking at the old model. All-inclusive pricing answers both questions before you ever reach out.”
Ready to book — or want to see specifics?
The investment page has the full breakdown of all three packages, what's included, and the optional add-ons. The contact form is the next step from there.
Keep Reading
VALUE & PHILOSOPHY
Why Dog Photography Costs What It Does
The honest “why” behind dog photography pricing — what you're paying for and the dollar-per-year math.
MARKET DATA
Pet Photography Prices in Massachusetts: 2026 Market Breakdown
Entry, mid, premium, and fine art tier breakdowns with package prices and what's included by tier.
INVESTMENT
Luxury Dog Photography on the South Shore
Beyond the entry package — what Gold and fine-art work add.
“It was so fun and easy to work with Chris, and our dogs loved him, too! The photos and artwork are beautiful! Highly recommend booking a session.”
Related: For the full picture of what dog portrait sessions look like end to end, see the Dog Portrait Photography overview.
About the Author
Chris McCarthyProfessional Dog Photographer · Rockland, MA · 11+ years experience
I've photographed hundreds of dogs across the South Shore and Greater Boston since 2014 — every breed, size, age, and temperament. My own rescue, Sully, was reactive and anxious when I got him, and working with him every day taught me how to photograph dogs that other photographers find difficult. I specialize in reactive and shy dogs, seniors, and memory sessions — the sessions that matter most and need the most patience.