Preparing for your headshot

Before your headshot session, properly organize everything leading up to your shoot date and get your physical appearance in tip-top shape

Physical Appearance checklist.

1.     Before your photo shoot, carefully look at your face, hairstyle, and eyebrows to see if you need any minor adjustments. No, this doesn’t mean cosmetic surgery—this means possibly plucking your eyebrows or getting your hair trimmed.

2.     If you need hair removal, take care of it before the shoot. However, make sure to allow at least 2-3 days between waxing/shaving any sensitive areas and your shoot date. This allows time for irritation to disappear before your shoot, so you don’t have razor burn during your photo shoot.

3.     While the photo shoot will focus on your face, you should also look after your nails, just in case they end up in the shot. Be sure your nails are well maintained and neat.

4.     If you are going to showcase your smile, make sure your teeth are ready for photography. If they are discolored, you should think about having them cleaned and/or whitened.

THREE DAYS BEFORE YOUR SHOOT

Make sure all of the necessary preparations for your shoot have been made. Make sure you know where you are supposed to go for your photo shoot, the fastest and easiest route to get there, and what you need to do in preparation for your photo shoot. It is very important that you know how to get to the location where you are shooting, and any assistants (makeup artists, coaches, etc.) should know these directions, too. Finally, make sure you know what items you are going to bring with you for the photo shoot, and have those items ready to go.

ONE TO TWO DAYS BEFORE YOUR SHOOT

The last couple of days before your photo shoot, make sure you eat healthy and drink plenty of water. You should avoid fatty, greasy, and salty foods prior to shooting, as these foods can cause blemishes on your skin. You should also avoid heavy exposure to the sun, and avoid alcohol or anything else that might cause bloating. Finally, avoid eating or drinking anything that might stain your teeth.

The night before your photo shoot, assemble everything you will need for your shoot. This will keep you from having to rush around just before your photo shoot.

THE DAY OF YOUR SHOOT

Before you leave for your shoot, eat a light meal to provide you with fuel for the shoot. Photo shoots are physically and mentally demanding, and skipping your meals before shooting could cause you to run out of energy, lose focus, or become irritable—all things that could impact the quality of your photos.

Bring bottled water, snacks, and anything else you might need to keep going. Just avoid anything that might stain your teeth.

Shoot Preparation

Wardrobe

For our basic headshot session the framing of the photos will be mid chest/shoulder up, so bring a variety of tops (pullovers / button up shirts/blouses). Solid colors with simple necklines, The goal is basic. It’s best to avoid anything with patterns, prints, stripes, etc.

The focus of a headshot is the face/personality so our goal is to not draw any attention away from that. With that in mind It’s best to avoid very loud colors. The exception would be if you feel that very vibrant colors are a big part of your look then we can use them.

Layers are also a good option (ie. jacket or button shirt over a tee, etc.). Please try and bring clothing that is wrinkle free as they are difficult to fix in retouching.

If you want to wear jewelry, simple and light jewelry is always better than large and loud. Again, goal is to not distract too much from the face.

Please try your clothes on before the session, preferably at least a couple of days prior so there are no surprises. Every now and then a client will come to the session and the clothing doesn’t fit well. At that point there is nothing that can be done about it.

Makeup

My quote that I tell everyone is our goal is to capture you as you look on your best day. Keep this in mind when doing your makeup. You want a natural, wearable look. Earthy or natural tones, DO NOT OVERDO THE MAKEUP! Photoshop is a magical thing, we can fix pretty much anything in post but if you cake on the makeup we can not recreate a natural face with pores. Our goal is for it to look un-retouched and a lot of times clients can create that look just with the makeup they wear. I always suggest wearing it like you are going to the office.

When possible try and avoid anything that creates too much of a shine to the skin. The dewy look might be great for other situations but, in a headshot, it can reflect too much light and create hot spots on your face. This tends to make you look oily and they are not easy to retouch and the result can look unnatural.

Lastly make sure you either keep the color close to the color of your neck or continue the makeup down to your chest on any skin that will be visible. Makeup looks very obvious when the face is one color and the neck is another.

Hair

Clean dry hair done the way you normally wear it is best. If you have long hair we may want to get some shots in a ponytail so bring a small unobtrusive tie for that.

Avoid getting your haircut on the day of your session if you can. Sometimes hair takes a couple of days to look natural after being cut.

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Sleep

You are investing in your headshot which will be with you for a couple of years. Avoid staying up late the night before if you can. Get some good sleep and you will look and feel better at your session.

Accessories

Accessories can make or break a headshot. Done right they can provide personality, done wrong they can be very distracting. Less tends to be more when it comes to headshots. Small earrings with no other jewelry can create a great clean look that contributes to showcasing the face and personality.

Eyeglasses

If you wear eyeglasses and have more than one pair, bring them all so we can see what looks best in your images. Avoid light transition lenses, if you can, as they may go dark with the studio lights.