Your Portrait Photography Shoot and some helpful info

It occurred to me that there may be many of you out there who haven’t had a portrait photography shoot before and have no insight into how to prepare or what to bring along on the day.  Don’t worry, there’s not that much to think about and it’s really not stressful at all but I thought it may be helpful to write a little blog for you with some of the answers to questions I often get asked before mine. So here goes – some helpful hints and FAQs answered – I hope!

Before the Portrait Photography shoot

Before the shoot, have a little chat either on the phone or in an email with your portrait photographer about what your work life involves and how you’d like to convey yourself.  There are so many ways to shoot a portrait and so many different ‘looks’ that it’s great for the photographer to get a little feel of the personality behind the ‘head’ before you meet. 

What clothes to bring

This is always an important part of the prep. I usually ask clients to bring a good variety of tops. I generally like plain clothes, nothing too ‘busy’ to get in the way of the background or to pull focus. Different sorts of tops, some more formal than others, with different necklines give you the choice you’ll need to really cover all types of pic.  Remember that you may want to use different profile photos well into the future. Getting as many as possible and with as much variety as possible will make your portrait photography shoot so much more worthwhile.

Shirts always look good – a nice collar looks smart and professional plus hides more of the neck which is often quite a good thing! I love a white shirt or blouse as that looks light and airy too.

It all depends on how corporate you’d like to look of course. If bringing a suit or a formal outfit make sure you’ve got something less formal too to ring the changes. Have a think about jewelry too. Nothing too fancy or sparkly but a splash of colour or a hint of something shiny can add to your look nicely.

Do I need make-up?

I’m often asked whether getting make-up professionally done is a good idea. If it’ll give you a boost and more confidence then yes, but it’s certainly not imperative. Most people don’t use one though it’s a lovely thing to do and a bit of a treat before taking your seat in front of the camera!

I have a wonderful make-up artist Ez Dyer who will come and make you look a million dollars while also keeping you looking completely natural.  She’s clever like that!

What do I do with my hair?

To me, it’s all about the hair. I know that when my hair looks good I feel so much more confident and I’m pretty sure that’s the case for most peeps. It certainly seems to be, judging by the number of clients who pop to one of the local hairdressers here in Crouch End for a blow-dry before their shoot. Again this is far from imperative but I’d say if it were a choice between the two I’d go for hair hands down.  If not popping to the hairdresser for a bit of TLC then just do what you usually do with your hair – just a little better! You do want to look like you after all so no need to go mad. And if there are any stray hairs I can always ‘hairdress’ them myself in the edit! 😉

So that’s it really….

You’ve got your clothes sorted (ironed and folded and ready for the journey),  you’ve either booked a hairdresser or make-up artist if not preparing it all yourself and you’ve made sure to have an early night (with very little to no alcohol if poss!) .

Now it’s time for you to relax and for your Portrait Photographer to do their work!

I hope that’s helped – do drop me a line or comment below if you have any questions I can answer for you.

H XX