Portrait
Session Tips
When planning your session, here are a few things to keep in mind...
What to wear...
For Family Sessions...You can choose a very coordinated look in which case you would have everyone wearing one of 3 colors (example: jeans, black or white combos) or you can go for a more loosely coordinated look with everyone wearing muted warm colors a several people wearing similar color families. See photo...
For Headshots..decide if you are going for a more professional type headshot (ie suits, business attire) or a more casual headshot (casual or dressy casual).
For Senior Sessions....This is usually a two outfit session with potential for more changes. One is usually casual and the other a little more put together. It can reflect their hobby or school and cap and gown is always a good option if you can find them in their school colors.
For Engagement Sessions....Comfort is key and you can do that with either a casual shoot or a dressy one. Just make sure you are both have the same type of look. Think of a good date outfit for you as a couple. Coordinate your colors but don't match. Follow the tips below with regards to the details. Make sure you are comfortable with your shoe height with regards to standing next to each other. There is no right or wrong as long as you are comfortable. If your preferred footwear isn't going to hold up to the photo shoot location, bring something to wear until you get there.
What not to wear
Yes, there are some things to avoid. Here is a general list:
-Clothing with small repetitive patterns. This causes a distortion called Moire which looks like strange wavy patterns on your clothing. A pattern with small lines, dots etc exceed the camera's sensor resolution and often cannot be removed in editing. So avoid small plaids, checks, dots etc.
-Extremely bold bright colors especially with family photos unless that is a specific look you are going for (ie such as your favorite team theme). Otherwise it distracts the eye and may alter your skin tone.
- Clothing with large print, graphics or logos. Again especially for family photos or couples photos, as it is also very distracting. Unless that is truly what you wish to have highlighted.
-Clothes that wrinkle easily. While the occasional crease or wrinkle can be removed in the editing process, a large amount simply cannot. Make sure to iron or steam out the wrinkles before the shoot and if it will wrinkle easily change when you get there.
-If it is hot and you are likely to perspire, wear solid darker colors as it is much easier to remove the perspiration stains in the editing process with a dark plain shirt. Patterns or Stripes make it extremely difficult.
Details
Tips for Women
Some common areas of concern and how to address them:
Arms- 3/4 Sleeve length is slimming for all arms. A nice jacket or cardigan is also nice to bring. For most, skinny strapped tops/dresses or strapless is not a good choice if your arms are a concern for you in photos.
Legs: Heels can elongate your legs, but make sure you feel comfortable wearing them as it will show in your posture if you aren't. Make sure your toes are looking nice if you are wearing open toed shoes.
Face - Everyone is different and whether you want a natural look with minimal make-up or wish to have a make up artist create a polished look, you will look wonderful. A few things to note...make sure that your make-up coloring compliments your natural coloring so there is basically the same shade from your face through to your neck and other skin showing. It will show in photos if your make up is significantly darker or lighter than the skin on your neck. If you have some blemishes or any scars that need to be removed just let me know and the will be taken care of in the edit. If you or a family member is having an extremely numerous breakout contact me prior as it might be worth rescheduling. Please make sure that if wearing bright lipstick to bring a small mirror to check your smile for lipstick on your teeth.
Other Details
Tips for Men
What to Wear- Be comfortable. For Senior Sessions, long pants or jeans, a casual plain t-shirt and a nicer button down shirt work well. If bringing a cap and gown make sure the collar of the button down will go well with the color of the gown. For Engagement sessions, dress pants, suit pants or colored pants work well or nicer darker jeans. Make sure to be in the same level of style as your bride to be. For Family photos, wear whatever Mom/Wife says, trust me she has thought about this a lot! And remember to iron out those wrinkles. See above for what not to wear with regards to tiny plaids, etc.
Shoes: make sure shoes are clean and not overly scuffed and sides of soles are relatively clean. Think about your socks, they may show in some photos. Face - Groom, groom, groom. Shave if needed and yes it's time to pluck. Brush those teeth.
Glasses
Most modern prescription glasses that have been purchased in the last few years have blue light coating on them. Unfortunately, this usually results in photos where the skin behind the glasses will appear to have a purple hue as well as possibly obscuring the eyes. Blue Light filters are meant to reflect some of the light coming in and unfortunately the camera will pick that reflection up. If this is a headshot session we may be able to get just the right work around your glasses. However with a larger photo session with multiple poses and changing lighting it will constantly be an issue in the resulting images. Thus if you do have the option of wearing contacts, please do. If not, we may have to remove the glasses during the session.
What to expect...
Expect to have fun! We're going to make this a relaxing and fun experience for you and the others in the photo shoot.
No need to bring any payment to the shoot, we'll take care of that when I deliver the photos. I'll be checking in with you a few days before to confirm, location and time etc.. Since most of our shoots are outdoors, we'll discuss the weather and any possible rain dates should it not cooperate on the day of the shoot. If you have any questions, feel free to to get in touch any time.
For Senior sessions:
I like to keep it moving relatively fast so our soon to be adults stay engaged. That being said everyone has their own tolerance for how long they can keep up their camera ready faces...some love the process and could do it all day and some are more reluctant so we'll play it by ear on timing. So please don't stress mamas! We'll get some wonderful shots and you'd be surprised at how well they do once we start and they realize it's kind of fun!
For Engagement sessions:
This is one of the first of many special moments for you and it's going to be an exciting day! So make it a special day with a date after!
For Family sessions:
Take a deep breath! It's going to be great and you'll have some wonderful moment's in time captured. So yes, the chaos that will precede this session will be totally worth it! I know getting your whole family dressed as you wish and at the shoot on time is a challenge. Especially after at least one of them has asked for the umpteenth time why they have to do this. So when the frazzled nerves set in, just breath. We'll make this a great experience even for the grumpiest member of the clan. We'll work fast and start off with some fun group shots to loosen everyone up. We'll then work on smaller groups and finish up with individuals and add some more fun shots in. If you have small children in the shot we'll choose the best time to do those shots within the session based on how they are doing at that time...if they are ready at the beginning ,we'll do their shots first, if they need warm up time then we'll switch the orders around to accommodate their energy levels. With small children, it's a good idea to bring someone that can watch them so we can get some Mom & Dad couples shots.
Don't worry, we'll capture those beautiful memories.