FAQs

If you are photographed between September and March of the school year, you will be included in that year's class composite issued in May.

All Graduation Portrait Sessions include one Friendship Shot or one Family photo.

The Friendship Photo allows you to bring a maximum of two additional people for one of your photos.

The Family Photo will be a photo of you and your immediate family maximum 2 legal guardians.

Please let your photographer know at the start of your session if you are requesting a Friendship or Family photo .

A Group Portrait Session is a separate photo appointment that you can book for you and up to 14 friends. Group photos are for a minimum of 2 people and a maximum of 15.

To book Group Portrait Sessions for High School Grads: please proceed to www.artona.com and select the "Book Now" option on the top right. Select your school, then click on Graduation. Under Graduation Group Sittings, click on "Book This Sitting" then fill in the form.

If you have trouble booking an appointment for Group Photos, please call Artona for assistance. 

Online booking feature is not available for UBC Groups.  All UBC Group Portrait Session's please call to book your appointment.

Your Graduation is a formal achievement! We recommend that you show up in formal clothing in honour of this event. As the photo session consists of various styles (from head and shoulder to full length), it is suggested that students dress accordingly. Dark and solid colours work best.

Check out our How to Prepare Guide and Look Books for more tips!

Please remember to  bring your deposit, any photo props or additional changes of clothing.  Your deposit of $60.00 can be paid by Cash, Cheque, Credit Card, or Debit Card.

Artona will  provide the Graduation Cap and Gown used during the formal portion of the session.

Artona Studios does not have a reserved parking area. Please park your car on street parking nearby. If street parking cannot be found, neighbouring businesses (Save-On-Foods and Canadian Tire) offer pay parking as an option. Parking rates vary by lot.

Yes, you are more than welcome to book an appointment for retakes. 

Fees apply to our 1, 2, 3 or 4 room retakes.  After your retake session, the new images will be uploaded online within 5-7 business days. With your online account, you will be able to view both your original and retake images. 

To book your retake appointment,  please call our studio for assistance.

Prices and packages vary depending on the type of session that takes place. You will receive a fully customized Graduation Portrait Session Portfolio Preview Booklet and login information to see what products and services are available for purchase. Packages and prices can also be found online once you login to your online ordering account. There is no obligation to place an order.

Your Graduation Portrait Images will be online through Artona’s website approximately 5-7 business days after your photo session. Graduation Portrait Session Portfolio Preview Booklets are mailed to your home address via Canada Post within 2 weeks of your photo appointment. When your booklet is being sent out, you will receive an email from Artona indicating that your Preview Booklet has been shipped.

Please note that the information used to access your graduation images online is different than the information used to access Artona’s online booking system.

Your Customer ID and Web Password can be found in two places. It is on Page 1 of your Graduation Portrait Session Portfolio Preview Booklet (mailed to your home address within 2 weeks of your photo session), and also in the confirmation email sent to you after you have signed in for your portrait sitting. If you do not have this information, please call our studio for assistance.

If the order was placed online, you are more than welcome to keep your preview booklet as a memory of your Graduation Portrait Session.

In the event this does occur, and it has been more than 5 business days since your session, please contact us immediately and we will have our web team upload these images .

Orders generally take 4-6 weeks for completion .  If you require your order earlier,  Rush Fees may apply.  Please call  our studio for further assistance.

If you missed the order deadline stated in your Graduation Portrait Session Portfolio Preview Booklet, you are still able to place an order. The $60 deposit you paid to Artona is valid as a credit towards your graduation order 90 days from the day you were photographed. We keep graduation photos on file for 4 years.

For School Day Photos or Convocation Portraits, we keep the images on file for 1 year. Once the year is passed, we no longer have the image. Please call into the studio to confirm whether or not the image is still available for purchase.

We offer a 30-60-90 Day Interest-Free Layaway Plan. Simply provide up to three equal payments by Cheque, Visa, Mastercard or American Express, payable to The Artona Group Inc.

Orders will be released 10 days after your LAST payment.

For payments by personal cheque, the order will be released 10 business days from the date of deposit given the cheque is in good standing. There will be a $45 administration fee for any returned cheque or declined credit card.

All grad photo orders are shipped directly home, as pick up inevitably leads to the studio becoming a storage facility.  Your photos are made just for you, and we wouldn't ever want to get rid of any unclaimed photos.  The $12.99 is a processing and handling fee that is separate from additional shipping costs.  This is a standard fee that is applied to each order to cover in studio costs associated with the production of your order.  

Your school's Graduation Portrait Session dates can be found by clicking on "My School Info" at the top of this page.  Appointments become available approximately two months prior to these dates.  Please note that reservations are on a first come first serve basis.

Artona does not provide hair or makeup services at this time. You are more than welcome to bring your own makeup and apply touch-ups at our vanity station. 

Please arrive anywhere between 15- 30 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment to register and prepare for your photo session.

Clients who arrive late for their appointments will be fit in if and when an appointment becomes available.

Directions to our Artona 353 Studio in Vancouver (please check your confirmation email for the specific location of your appointment) is available here.

Feel free to bring personal items to be used as props. As long as it can fit in our studio (and it’s not offensive or inappropriate!) you are more than welcome to bring it in.

Items can include: bicycles, motorcycles, friendly pets, ballet shoes, sports equipment…and more!

Individual Graduation Portrait Sessions take approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Group Portrait Sessions generally take 10-15 minutes. Times may vary depending on the size of the group.

For Graduation Portrait Sessions, we do not charge for a sitting fee but there is a $60.00 deposit required when you register at your session. The deposit releases your photo previews online (you will be emailed a secure Customer ID and password), and customized Photo Preview Booklet (mailed to your home address within 2 weeks of your photo session).

For Group Portrait Sessions, there is a charge of $15 per person for 1 digital download image; or you can select 4 digital download images for $20 per person.

The closest transit hub to Artona is Cambie and West Broadway.

If you are taking the SkyTrain, the stations closest to us are: Broadway City Hall and Olympic Village – both are accessible via the Canada Line.

If you are commuting by bus, the 99 B-Line stops at Broadway and Cambie.

For further directions, please use www.google.ca/transit.

Graduation Portrait Products: Orders can be placed online, in person at our studio or by mail.

Convocation Portrait Products: Orders can be placed online, in person at our studio or by mail.

School Day Portrait Products: Orders can be placed online, in person at our studio or by mail. For most schools, orders will be collected on Photo Day (Both Original Day and Retake Day) or prepaid online through our website.

All Other Portrait Products: Orders can be placed online, in person at our studio, or by mail.

Due to the heavy volume of phone calls that we receive, it is strongly recommended that you do not place an order over the phone. Please order online using our secure and easy to use website instead.

Upon signing in for Group Portrait Sessions, you and your friends will decide whether the group would like 1 or 4 digital images from your photo session. Each group member will receive the same one or four images from the session. Copies of the digital image will then be emailed out to the Group Leader for distribution.

Additional poses and prints are available for purchase online on Artona’s website. When signing in for a Group Portrait Session, the Group Leader will provide Artona with their e-mail address. A secure Customer ID and Web Password will be emailed to the Group Leader for distribution. Should group members be interested in ordering additional group photos, they simply need to log in with the Customer ID and Web Password to view and purchase photos.

Our website allows you to order your School Day Portraits prior to photo day.  As long as you order within 1 week of photo day, Artona guarantees that your photos will be delivered to the student’s school before Retake Day.  

If you are not happy with your School Day Portrait order, you may attend retake day at your school.  After that, if you are not happy with your School Day Portrait, you may attend Artona’s in-studio retake day which takes place in our Vancouver location (in November) to have a final photo taken.

Once an image has been dragged into a placeholder in your package, you can click on the image to ‘Enhance’ it by Cropping, adding Borders, and changing the Colour of your photo.

Swapping sheets is a way to customize your package by swapping one sheet size for another.

To Swap Sheets, first select a photo package you would like to  order. Once a package is selected, click on "Swap Sheets.” Delete the sheet(s) you are not interested in and ‘add’ your desired sheets from the bottom of the page. Once finished, you must click on "Done Swapping" before you can select which image is to correspond with each sheet.

To order the Session Portfolios online, proceed past the package choices by clicking on “No thanks, I’ll purchase photos A La Carte” located at the bottom right of the screen.

From the “A La Carte page” proceed to "Specialty Items” by clicking at the bottom right of the screen. On the “Specialty Items” page the Session Portfolio option is the first item; click to order this product.

Digital Images can be purchased from Artona in two ways.

You can purchase either a High Resolution Disc or Digital Download.

Both these items can be found in the “Speciality Items” section of our online system and can be purchased with or without retouching.

For School Day Photos, we will have the image on file for one year. Please contact Artona as soon as possible to order school day images. Once a year has passed, we no longer have the image on file.

For Graduation Portraits, we keep the images on file for 4 years. If your online account is no longer working, please call into our studio to have your online account reactivated.

Please understand that all orders go through several automated and custom stages during processing. There will be a $50.00 fee charged to track and change orders after they have been placed.

If you have questions or concerns about any orders, it is best to contact us directly prior to placing your order.

The first thing you will want to try is to locate the scroll bars on the page. There are horizontal scroll bars at the bottom of the screen, and a second set located just above the black bar containing your photo previews. There is also a vertical scroll bar located on the right of the screen.

If using these scroll bars are ineffective and the problem persists, the next step is to increase the current screen resolution in your display settings: right-click on the computer Desktop and select “Properties” on the menu that pops up. Once the Properties window opens up, proceed to “Settings” by clicking on the corresponding tab at the top right of the window. Finally, from this tab you may use the line bar located under “Screen Resolution” to increase the current resolution. Try to use a setting of at least 1024x768 pixels.

Your Customer ID and Web Password are not activated until your Graduation Portrait Session Images have been uploaded onto our online ordering system. Photos generally take 5-7 business days after your photo session date to upload.

If it has been over 5-7 business days and you still can’t access your images online, please call into our studio for assistance.

Your Customer ID and Coupon Code are CaSe SeNsItIvE and you must type it out as printed in your Graduation Portrait Session Portfolio Preview Booklet or confirmation email.

If you are still having trouble, you may try resetting your password by clicking on the “Can’t find your password?” link below the log in boxes. Type in the e-mail you used to during registration on the day of your portrait session. If the problem persists please contact us immediately.

Each order that is generated online will have an order number associated. In the event that the coupon code has been applied to a previous order, where multiple orders exist, a Coupon Code can only be used once. You must use the existing order where the coupon code has been applied, or remove it altogether, giving you the option to apply it to a different order.

If you are ordering online, the “$60.00 Coupon Code” will automatically be applied  during the Checkout process. Should this not occur your coupon code can be found on page 1 of your PreviewBooklet and also in the confirmation email upon registering. Entering the Coupon Code will automatically deduct $60 from your order.

If you are not interested in placing an order for Graduation Portraits, simply return your Graduation Portrait Session Portfolio Preview Booklet to Artona for the refund of your deposit. Please note that the refund period for your deposit is 30 days from the day you receive your Preview Booklet. Please note that after 30 days from the day you receive your Preview Booklet, the deposit is not valid for a refund.

As there will be a surplus of $60 in your account from your second deposit payment, our Accounting department will make adjustments and write you a refund cheque for $60.00, or credit your credit card for that amount.   The refund cheque will be mailed out to your home address. Should you still not have your refund  when your photo order arrives, please contact us immediately.

Tax rates vary depending on your area of residence. Please click here for the most up to date tax rates set by the Canadian government that are applicable to your orders.

• Your deposit may be applied to your order, within 90 days of your sitting.   Refer to your booklet for the specific deadline date.
• Return your session portfolio booklet to Artona, within 30 days of receipt, for a full refund.  Refer to your booklet for the specific deadline date.
  
• Once your 90 day deadine date has passed, your deposit is forfeited to Artona

Orders that do not have a deposit deducted will be flagged by our Accounting department. In the event a deposit was not applied where it should have been, our accounting department will issue a refund in the same manner payment was received. .Refund cheque will be mailed out to your home address. Should you still not have your refund when your photo order arrives, please contact us immediately.

Your payment of $75 consisted of a $15 sitting fee and a $60 deposit. The $15 sitting fee is collected on behalf  of your school or faculty and is non-refundable. Use your Coupon Code (found on Page 1 of your Graduation Portrait Session Portfolio Preview Booklet) to apply the $60 deposit to your order.

All orders first require a processing period of 4-6 weeks from the day you order and payment is processed. Once your order is ready it will be delivered via your preferred shipping method which normally takes 1 to 2 business days.

We respect our customers' privacy and have a strict policy that prevents Purolator (the shipping service provider) from leaving customer orders unattended in an unsafe area and in which the package may be subject to damage from the weather.

If you are not at home during the time of delivery and there is no safe area to place your package, a note from Purolator will be attached to your door or mailbox with specific instructions on how to pick up your order from the nearest dispatch centre.

The first time you log in to your online gallery and have viewed and chosen your favourite poses, click on the blue link on the bottom right to proceed. The first step that pops up will be choosing your Composite and Yearbook Pose.

Contact us to confirm or to change your yearbook pose. If it has passed your deadline date, we cannot guarantee your change of image.

If no image is selected online, the image selected at the time of the portrait session will be used.

If the information on your Student ID Card/GoCard is incorrect, please speak to the administration staff at your school to have a new ID Card/GoCard produced.

If you have misplaced your Student ID/GoCard, there are two ways to obtaining a new one.

1 - Go to your school office to request a new Student ID/GoCard. Artona delivers GoCards to schools bi-weekly.

2 - If you need a new Student ID/GoCard immediately, you can get one from Artona directly. You will need to obtain an original Translink form (not a photocopy)from your school office, come down to Artona, and pay the $25 fee (Tax Included). The student requesting the Student ID/GoCard must be present and show a valid piece of Government identification with the students date of birth, as the GoCard is processed and printed on location.

Yes, Artona sells Zaino products! please contact Michael at 604-723-6944 or mrak@artonagroup.com or simply come to our office at 353 west 7th - all products are at the front counter for purchase and pickup- prices are the same as online http://www.zainostore.ca/quick-order/  Michael can also take the order over the phone and ship to you directly.