How to Prepare for a Portrait Photo Session: From the Experts
Preparing for your first photo shoot with a portrait photographer or even for the 100th branding photo shoot can be stressful, knowing these tips can put you at ease, so you can be prepared to look your best. A simple relaxing regime that includes a healthy breakfast, bath, or facial can help you de-stress and prepare. Read this blog post on How to Prepare for a Portrait Photo Session and use the tips included in here to add your own regime, and just watch how beautiful your portraits come out!
Sleep Well and Pamper Yourself
Before the big day make sure you are well rested 2 days before, so 8 hours or more each day with no interruptions. The most important night’s rest is actually two nights before the shoot, not the night before. Prepare your skin and relax with a facial scrub and mask, add a hair mask for silky smooth hair. Do whatever makes you look and feel your best 1-2 days before the shoot. A good professional photographer will make you feel at ease and beautiful during the shoot so stop stressing and enjoy the fun experience of being in front of the camera!
Wardrobe Selection for Women
Clothing is the next step to preparing for a portrait shoot. Usually portraits are from the waist up so pick out blouses and buttons up that are flattering and are your perfect size. Women should wear fitted blouses or dresses that flatter their figure. No tube tops or big butterfly dolman sleeve blouses, those are very un-flattering in portraits. Prints should be avoided we want to focus on your face not the zig zags on your shirt. Pick colors that best suit your skin tone and eyes such as blue, navy, burgundy, and greys seem to look good on everyone. Do not wear bright colors that could potentially wash you out or may appear too bright on a camera. We suggest elegant simple earrings or necklaces, no heavy layering of jewelry. If you are confused on what clothes to wear send us an email, we do a wardrobe consultation with every shoot. To view some waredrobe selections view our women’s portraits.
Wardrobe Selection for Men
Men should bring button up shirts they would wear on a date. For a more rugged and stylish look bring a leather jacket. More simple casual looks could include some nice tee shirts and blazers. Outfits for professional portraits should include what you would wear to a meeting such as a button up and nice suit coat. For wardrobe inspiration men should look at GQ. Accessories for men are pocket squares, ties, watches, and cuff links.
Makeup
Our makeup artists are magazine published professionals who will make you look your best. Generally, men do not need a makeup artist, as our team hides blemishes and lightly powders to make you look like a movie star. For women makeup artists are highly recommended as makeup for camera is different from your everyday makeup.
Lighting can wash makeup out and make you appear like you have little to no makeup on. So an artist who knows how to make makeup look natural and still show up on camera is important. We have expert makeup artists that will make you look natural and stunning at the same time. If you do not want a makeup artist and you feel comfortable at doing your own makeup. Please watch some tutorials on YouTube for camera ready makeup such as this one Natural Makeup for Photoshoot. Make sure your makeup looks natural and is not too heavy on the eyes or lips.
Hair
Most makeup artists can style your hair for you at the shoot. We suggest getting your hair freshly colored and cut a few days before the shoot to hide grays and trim split ends. Dry brittle, split hair can show up in photos and are not fun for photographers to retouch out. Make sure your hair is healthy and colored well, although roots can be corrected in post it never looks as good as having them done by a professional stylist. Men should style their hair in a way that flatters them best and makes them feel comfortable, if they need help our team can assist them.
Retouching Naturally
We specialize in natural and fresh retouching. This means we remove blemishes, shadows, stray hairs, wrinkles or strange folds in clothing, hair smoothing, background distractions and things the camera may pick up that the human eye can’t see. Each of our photography packages include retouching of your portraits. If you want special custom retouching such as slimming and trimming please let us know as we can do anything.
Forget something? No worries we have a steamer, mirrors, makeup, hair styling tools, clothing pins, refreshments, puppies to make you smile while providing a great atmosphere. At Brio Five we will not only make you feel your best, but you will look fantastic. Book a portrait shoot with us by scheduling a call with branding portrait photographer Sandy.
Are you interested in producing an image that shows your best self and conveys your authentic brand?
Book a Session today with Professional Brand Photographer Sandy Grigsby.