An iris portrait doesn't come out of the camera finished. What I shoot is the raw material. Between your fifteen minutes in the studio chair and the artwork hanging on your wall, there's a whole craft. Here's the full journey, step by step.
Step 1: The Session (15 Minutes)
You rest your chin and forehead on the studio headrest, look into the lens, and I shoot with a tripod-mounted macro setup and a few brief, low-powered flashes. No bright lights in your face, nothing uncomfortable. Most sessions are done in about fifteen minutes, and the files we walk away with are the foundation of everything that follows.
Step 2: The Hand Edit (48 Hours)
This is where the art happens. I go through your shots, pick the sharpest and most striking frames, and hand-edit each one myself: careful color work, cleanup, and refinement. No filters, no AI, no batch presets. Every iris gets individual attention, because every iris is different. Your finished digital images are ready within 48 hours.
Step 3: You Choose Your Finish
Once you've seen your proofs, you pick how the portrait lives on your wall: ChromaLuxe metal for maximum color and detail, acrylic for that deep glassy gallery look, or canvas for a warm classic feel. (I'm putting together a detailed guide comparing the three. Coming soon.) This is also when couples choose the combined edit, weaving two irises into a single piece.
Step 4: Professional Printing
I don't print these at a drugstore kiosk. Finished portraits go to professional labs I trust with my own landscape work, the same labs behind gallery-grade ChromaLuxe metal prints and face-mounted acrylic. Archival materials, color-managed from my edited file to the final piece, so what you approved in the proofs is exactly what arrives.
Step 5: On Your Wall
Metal prints arrive ready to hang with a float mount. No framing needed, they sit just off the wall with a clean shadow line. From session day to hanging day is typically about a week, depending on the finish. And then it's yours: the most personal artwork you'll ever own, made from the one thing nobody else on earth has.
Start Your Own
Sessions start at $60 for a single iris, right here in Wilmington, and there's no payment until your session day.