Tips for Success

Your wardrobe: What should I wear for my photo session?

Clothing should simply enhance you and your features and keep the focus of attention on your face.  Bring along several clothing and accessory options and we can see what looks good on you, works well on camera, and is appropriate for your target audience.  Here are some simple wardrobe tips:

• Wear color for headshots. Solids look best and no crazy patterns, logos or stripes please.  If we are doing a headshot for business purposes, consider using your branding colors.

• Color is highly individual.  It’s amazing how many times something has looked amazing on camera that we didn’t initially think would work and vice versa.

• Layers are great – white works well under something, but not on its own. 

• Consider bringing different neckline options such as v-necks, crew necks, collared shirts, lightweight sweaters, jackets, and dresses.

• Don’t be embarrassed to bring lots of clothing options! You could even consider borrowing from a friend.  Or if you're still uncertain, feel free to send me pictures of different outfits you’re considering and I can help you out.

• Have your clothes pressed and ready to go when you arrive.

• Don’t forget any accessories you may want to bring (ie. jewelry).

• Women, if we plan to include a “glamorous” look in your shoot, bring along those fancy dresses and tops and we’ll have fun with them!  If you so desire, you can even send me a Pinterest board of ideas or concepts for your shoot ahead of time.

Women – Hair and Makeup

We can book my professional makeup artist to come in and make you feel confident and look fabulous.  Just let me know when we book your session if you’re interested in professional hair and makeup services.  You’ll have time to unwind and be pampered before your shoot and the opportunity to look your best. If you do choose to use my makeup artist, please come to the shoot with a clean moisturized face.

If you're doing your own hair/makeup: Come with your hair as you’d like it in your photos.  Feel free to bring clips, headbands and other hair accessories if you’d like to change things up mid-shoot. Makeup should be a bit heavier than your normal look, and well done so your natural assets stand out on their own. This means that makeup should help the viewer focus on the eyes and the mouth, which are the essence of the headshot. Bring along your favorite lipstick for retouching.  Please no shiny faces!  Our main concern is shine so we do advise bringing along some translucent power.

Men

I recommend you get your hair cut a week or so before your shoot so that it doesn’t have that “freshly cut” look. 

Wrinkles, laugh lines, and spots…

Generally, we use soft light which helps to naturally smooth lines.  We also use skin-softening techniques in retouching the photos to help soften the skin, while maintaining sharpness in the rest of the photo.  Some lines and features are kept in to make sure you look like your authentic self.  Spots on the other hand, which seem to have a strange habit of appearing on the morning of your shoot, can be zapped out with no problem at all.

And remember to get plenty of sleep the night before your shoot and drink lots of water!  This will help your skin and eyes look their best.

Glasses

If you normally wear glasses, you will probably want to be wearing them in your portrait.  We will try to avoid reflection in your glasses by moving our lights around, but if you want to avoid all reflection problems, visit your optician and either borrow a pair of blank frames or get them to remove your lenses just for the shoot.

Above all, Enjoy…

Almost everyone comes into our studio saying, “I hate having my picture taken”, but leaves saying, “that was fun!”.  My studio is very relaxed and my style is easy and down to earth.  I’ve made lots of people look really good and enjoy the experience as well!