Family portraits - How many photos per session?

I see this a lot from other family portrait photographers in my area. "Mini sessions" seem to be popular. Here's an example of what some are offering...

- 20 minutes
- 20 digitally finished photos

That's the extreme end, but there are a few offering exactly that. Others offer 10 photos in 20 min, etc.

Ok, I know I tend to be a little slow and methodical, but... how do they do that? It's basically a photo a minute. There can't be much time for talk. Releases must be done in advance, maybe? Is it just shoot-shoot-shoot-shoot-shoot? Do they end up sending many images that are virtual duplicates of each other? There can't be many poses, and certainly no wardrobe changes.

I come from a landscape perspective, so this is puzzling to me. Thoughts?

Well every photographer is different. If you offer IPS then you'll likely offer fewer digitals and have higher emphasis on products. Generally, we don't host any minis.

I would suggest offering fewer images but higher quality and composition if you do minis. But be warned, minis do seem to attract the cheaper end of clients.

Several years ago, and against my better judgement, I did a day of these 20min sessions. $75, three images from the gallery, and the option to purchase additional images individually (I can't remember what I charged, maybe an extra $15/image). In 20 minutes, I could usually get 5 unique images, but 20 "good" images would be tough for me.

Basically, I would roughly pose them into a presentable position, get an image, either drastically change my framing/shooting angle or quickly repose them, and get a second image. Then I would move them to a new background (natural not designed props) and repeat the above. If you can get them to talk and laugh with each other, you can fire off bursts when they aren't expecting it and end up with some pretty good shots. If they have the personality of a brick, there isn't enough time to get them to loosen up and you have to nail the posed shots.

The whole thing was a bit chaotic. Kids/babies/pets will slow you down, clients will show up late, some want to stretch 20minutes into 45mins, etc., etc. You need to be super-efficient and OK with not getting a wall hanger every shoot. The good thing is it seemed like the people paying for this type of service had low standards and were mostly just looking for a "nice" picture to be used for social media or a holiday card.