Guidelines for a successful photo shoot with us

Although it should go without saying there are some very elementary points about the preparation for a shoot with us.

The more prepared you are, the better your pictures will be - that goes for being well rested, having a positive attitude as well as bringing good clothes,

manicured nails and the right haircut (more about this later).

General guidelines

First I would like to point out are few things that we really do not like

- Unless you are sick, please do not call us last minute to cancel your appointment.

By now we have heard it all - "I forgot" - "I did not write it down" - "My other child is not feeling well".......

We take our appointments with you very serious and we are sure you would not like to be called the morning of your shoot to be canceled.

So please be considerate and write down you appointment with us and give us at least 3 days notice if you can not make it so we can schedule 

somebody else in your time-slot.

Remember that most of the times we do not reconfirm your appointment after it has been scheduled - we assume professional courtesy

- Please refrain from bringing your whole family to the shoot. 

Having siblings and extra people around will only disturb our workflow and limits our mobility to go on location with you.

- Please try to be on time

We schedule people in 2 hour time-slots - coming an hour late is not really acceptable or fair to the person that is scheduled after you.

- Do not bring any food, unless absolutely necessary

Since you or your child will not spend more than a maximum of 2-3 hours at our location, everybody should be well fed before the shoot.

Do not give small children any sugar/candy before or during the shoot - trust us, it is the wrong thing to do.

How to prepare for your shoot

Make up

We prefer that you come with no make up on at all. Everyday make up is different from the way we do make up for our pictures. That goes especially

for teenage girls that tend to use a lot of Eyeliner. So rather than having to fix your already done make up we like to start fresh.

If you have certain make up that you really like or is the perfect color for you, please bring it.

Hair

Hair is one of the biggest issues for a lot of people. If you are not happy with your haircut there is not much we can do.

As a general rule you should not get a haircut the day before your shoot since it might look to freshly cut.

If your hair is colored make sure you do not have roots showing. There is nothing we can do to hide roots - as a matter of fact - pictures will show

the roots even more !

We also like for everybody to come with their hair as done as possible - although we will change hairstyles during the course of the shoot

we need to know how you like to wear your hair - this is especially important for acting headshot that should reflect your personal style.

Nails

As a general rule - no nail polish is better than old chipped nail polish or elaborate designer nails.

Little girls often have old chipped nail polish on - please take it off before you come. 

The same goes for adults - if you have red or black nail polish on, all the pictures will show that ! 

The best are nice manicured nails with either clear polish or french manicure.

Wardrobe

Good clothes are key to beautiful pictures !

Old worn and stained clothes will appear as such in the pictures - and we have seen it all.

Please bring beautiful clothes - go buy some new things and return them after the photo shoot.

Check out the website under your category to see what people are wearing, talk to your agent what looks they want you to do.

Don't bring all the same kind of stuff, bring variety and have everything steamed out as much as possible (we do have a steamer if necessary).

Our regular test shoot covers 8 looks of which 4 are head shots, 2 are outdoor and 2 are indoor/studio looks.

Obviously depending on what you need this can be changed, but our experience shows that for modeling/acting this works the best.

For the head shots you should bring more than 4 tops, so we have choices. Try to be creative - something classic like T-Shirt and jeans jacket,  turtleneck,

  tank top..... different things in different colors, not to much pattern, logos are ok if they are not to overpowering - pants are not really important, 

bring a nice pair of jeans though.

For the outdoor - nice casual J.Crew type look, summer dress, shorts, hiking, workout - whatever it is you see yourself in or you need

For Indoor - suit, bathing suit, casual office look, lingerie, funky studio outfit, nice dress, Gap .......

We usually only see shoes in one studio look - keep that in mind, but bring a few shoes regardless

If you are only doing acting head shots, there is no need to bring anything but tops, maybe a couple of bottoms for the more 3/4 looks, you do not need shoes.

Following these guideline will assure a successful photo shoot and a pleasant experience for everybody involved.

Be prepared and you will get beautiful pictures

If you still have questions please feel free to call us or send us an Email - we are more than happy and willing to help.

Yolanda Perez