What each one gives you in Paris, what it costs, and how to combine them
Use your phone for everyday snapshots in Paris and book a professional session for the photos of you and your travel companions that you plan to print or frame. Phones handle food, streets, details and views without people in them. A session handles the photos where you are in the frame, relaxed, with the light and location chosen for you.
Below: where each option works, where it runs out, what a session costs, and how to use both on one trip. It is for couples, families and solo travellers deciding whether a session is worth a slot in a short Paris itinerary. The decision matters because the photos of the people on the trip are the ones nobody can retake after the flight home.
Book a professional session if you want photos of yourselves that you will print, frame or send to family, and use your phone for everything else. The deciding factor is who is in the frame. A phone photo of a landmark is easy. A phone photo of the people travelling is hard, because one of them is always holding the phone.
A session makes the most sense for an anniversary, engagement, honeymoon, first trip together, multi-generational family trip or proposal. A phone alone is fine for a short stop, a solo city break where you mainly want scenery, or a trip where nobody cares about prints.
TipAsk one question: will I want this photo on a wall? If yes, it belongs in a session.
| Package | Price | Duration | Photos | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | €300 | 1 hour | 30 photos | 1 location |
| Signature | €500 | 2 hours | 50 photos | 2 locations |
| Prestige | €800 | 3 hours | 60 photos | 3 locations |
Phones are the right tool for the small, fast moments of a trip. Street corners, café tables, shop windows, doorways, bridges, a pastry on a plate, a quick video of a street musician. These are photos you take in a second and never need to plan. A phone is always in your pocket, and Paris rewards wandering with it.
Phones also work for views with no one in them. A skyline, the Seine at dusk or a row of Haussmann facades does not need direction, only a steady hand and a clean lens.
One rule applies at the monument itself. The operator of the Eiffel Tower says in its Eiffel Tower visitor's practical guide that holding a phone or camera out over the railings on the floors is "extremely dangerous and is therefore strictly forbidden". The device can slip or detach from a selfie stick and fall onto people below. Shoot through the openings, not over the edge.
TipOn the Tower floors, keep your phone inside the railings. The operator forbids reaching out over them.
The first limit is who is missing. In a week of phone photos, one person in a couple usually appears in far fewer frames, and in a family it is often the parent holding the phone. Arm's-length selfies show a face and a patch of sky, not the Tower, the bridge or the street you walked to.
The second limit is crowds and light. The main plaza at Trocadero is where everyone shoots, while the lower terrace and the side staircases give the same Tower with a cleaner background. The light at the Eiffel Tower changes every fifteen minutes, so a photo taken a little earlier or later can look completely different. Knowing which spot works at which hour comes from repetition, not from a phone setting.
The third limit is night. The Tower sparkles after dark, and that is where phones struggle most, since you need a steady frame and a clean view while people move around you. A phone also cannot tell you where to stand, how to angle your shoulders or when to walk into the light.
"Your phone will get the Tower. What it rarely gets is the two of you looking relaxed with the Tower behind you," Finzi says. "That needs someone watching the light and the crowd while you just walk."
TipIf you stay with the phone, ask a friend to shoot from the lower terrace or side staircases, not the main plaza.
A session is a guided walk. I choose the locations from over 30 across Paris, plan the timing around the light and the season, and direct your posing and movement so you do not have to think about either. You do not need to know the city or how to pose. Expect to walk about 3-5 km depending on your package, so comfortable shoes matter more than a perfect outfit.
After the session I edit every image myself and deliver an online gallery within 24 hours. The files are high resolution, and the print licence is included, so you can print them at any size you like. That is the practical gap between a phone gallery and a session gallery: one is a camera roll, the other is a set of finished images ready for a wall or an album.
I work alone, so the same person plans, shoots and edits. You deal with one contact in English from booking to delivery.
Phone photos cost nothing extra, while a Finzi session starts at €300 for 1 hour. Essential is €300 for 1 hour, 30 edited photos and 1 location. Signature is €500 for 2 hours, 50 photos and 2 locations, and it is the most popular package. Prestige is €800 for 3 hours, 60 photos and 3 locations.
A Proposal session is €300 for 1 hour with a hidden camera, so your partner never sees it coming. The Night Session is €450 for the Eiffel Tower sparkle after sunset. Every package includes full posing guidance, 24-hour delivery, high-resolution files and a print licence.
A €30 non-refundable deposit locks your date. Rescheduling is free anytime, so a change of plan or a bad forecast does not cost you the session.
TipSignature gives two locations, which is enough for one landmark view and one quieter street or garden.
Schedule the session early in the trip, at sunrise or golden hour, then use your phone for the rest. Sunrise and the hour before sunset give the softest, most flattering light. Sunrise is also the quietest time at Trocadero, and weekday mornings are less crowded than weekends. In winter the light ends earlier, so check the sunset time for your dates and plan the session around it.
Treat the two as a team. The session covers the portraits and landmark frames you want to print. Your phone covers the unplanned moments around it: the walk back to the hotel, lunch, the market, the details you notice yourself. Nothing is duplicated, and your camera roll stops being the only record of the trip.
I recommend booking at least 2-4 weeks in advance, especially during peak season from April to October. Last-minute bookings are sometimes possible, so contact me directly to check availability. Light rain often creates dramatic skies and an intimate mood, and I work in most weather.
A session is worth it for milestone trips, family trips with several generations, proposals, elopements and any visit where you want a print afterwards. These are the trips where the photo of the people matters more than the photo of the place. A proposal cannot be repeated, and neither can a toddler's first look at the Tower.
Families benefit in a specific way. Young children rarely cooperate with a parent holding a phone, and the parent behind the camera is absent from every frame. A guided session keeps everyone in the photos and lets the children move around. Sessions are designed for couples and families up to 6 people, and larger groups can contact me for custom arrangements.
A phone is enough when you want scenery and street scenes, when your schedule has no room for a 1-3 hour block, or when you simply do not want to be photographed. Neither choice is wrong, but they produce different photos.
If you choose phone photos only, a few habits improve the result. Wipe the lens before each outing, since pockets and bags smear it. Go early or late, because midday light is harsh and the crowds are at their peak. Tap on the face before shooting so the exposure favours people, not the bright sky behind them.
Pick your angle before you arrive. At Trocadero, use the lower terrace or side staircases rather than the main plaza. Elsewhere, stand where the Tower is partly framed by trees or a bridge instead of dead centre. Use the timer on a stable surface if you are shooting together, and keep the phone inside any railing.
Wear classic colours, such as navy, cream, black or earth tones, and avoid large logos and busy patterns. Layers help, because Paris weather shifts through the day. These tips apply to a session as well, so nothing is wasted if you book later.
TipTake ten frames of every group shot. One of them will have everyone's eyes open.
Quick answers to the questions visitors ask before they book.
“It was very special. Finzi is very caring and enjoyable. It was a dream photoshoot experience.”
Pick a session. Choose a date. I handle the rest.
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