First and foremost: Define who you are as a brand and have a clear vision of your photoshoot objectives. What are your values, mission, style and unique selling proposition? How to you want to present yourself and be perceived by your audience?
Make yourself a mood/vision board: Pinterest is a great tool for creating a clear visual communication that you can use for adding images that inspire you as you work on creating this vision easily sharing it with your photographer and other artists that might be working on the day of your photoshoot.
Select your photographer wisely: Look for a professional who specializes in personal branding and who’s style and aesthetics aligns with your brand and your voice. Find someone who has experience working with brands, entrepreneurs and professionals.
Plan your looks: Selecting clothing can be hard for some people and if you have the budget, an industry professional wardrobe stylist can be a great option. If the rates are out of your budget, asking for input from friends and even doing some shopping with the option to return the garments after your shoot is a good way to go. Photographers and stylist do it all the time. They shop, keep the tags on, make sure to be mindful with the items on the day of the photoshoot and then just return everything. Keep in mind to choose outfits that are consistent with your brand image and colors that will elevate your website if you have a color pallet associated with your products and branding.
Not all clothing translates well on camera: I always tell clients plan on bringing more than you need … just in case. Avoid busy patterns, large logos, or distracting accessories.
Strongly recommended: Since you’re investing into professional photography, at the very least, I highly recommend hiring a professional artist for your hair and makeup. Even if you’re used to doing your own and consider yourself well versed in makeup, having a pro on set is so valuable. Most photographers usually have a list of their favorites and having a team that is used to working together and understand each other’s cues can be so helpful.
You will need to select your location: Consider a location that can provide a visually interesting backdrop for your photos. Find a place or maybe it’s a couple of places that will be complimentary to your outfits, in your branding and speaks to your target customer.
Have your shot list: This is a must! Make sure you have list of shots that you want the photographer to capture during your shoot. It can be anything from headshots, product and/or lifestyle shots depending the type of business run or the brand you represent. If you provide a service, you may want to dedicate a portion of the photoshoot to lifestyle images of you actually physically interacting with your clients at the location of your business. This could involve more logistical planning but can provide highly engaging content for your website and social media.
Posing: Hopefully you have selected a photographer is good at helping people pose for the camera specially if you are someone who’s not used to being in front of the lense. make sure you ask. As silly as it sounds, practicing posing in front of a mirror can be very helpful in helping you see what you might be doing with your head and body. Watching the pros do on TV or Youtube is also an option. Mostly, just have fun with it! try to keep it fun and loose and move around. Most photographers are shooting in digital format and you only need a few great shots of the same outfit, so it’s better to try to give the photographer posing options then standing in front the camera and not moving. Don’t overthink it to much and don’t be shy to ask for guidance.
Sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite: You want to show up well-rested and hydrated leading up to the photoshoot. An industry trick for women specially, is to ice your face before you head out the door. It will help reduce any puffiness. If and hopefully you have a makeup artist on set, all you need to do is show up with a clean, well moisturized face and dry hair. They will work their magic! And, a side note for those women who are not used to wearing much makeup, it never looks as heavy as it feel on camera. And a word of caution … if there is something you don’t like about your hair or makeup, please speak up and communicate with the artist. It’s much easier to fix or change something before taking millions of photos, then to try to fix things in post productions with photoshoot.
