Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Place with Your Own Photoshoot

It was time for a new headshot. I decided to have a full photosession rather than just a quickie headshot as I usually do. What an eye opener! I have never really had a full-out photo session. I now realize I should have done this much sooner in my career.

1. Professional hair and makeup.

   Put on heavier makeup than usual for a portrait session.
   Please note the light on my shoulders help separate the brown shirt from the brown background.

The first thing I did was take my own advice and went to Carol at Salon International for professional hair and makeup. It was fun being pampered but I have to admit, I was a little uncomfortable with the gobs of makeup she put on me. I thought I might wipe a bit of it off when I got to the studio. Well, it turns out Carol knew exactly what she was doing! The makeup was perfect! It didn’t look as heavy in the photographs as it did in “real” life.

Some of my clients want to go to a department store makeup artist because it’s free. That’s hit or miss. Sometimes you get a good makeup artist, sometimes you don’t. Go to a trained pro. Carol studied my face and did a lot of corrective makeup (I am a woman in my 50’s after all!). She was able to take a few years off my face and save me time in Photoshop.

2. Choose your outfits carefully.

Plain clothes with subdued colors and without prints or distracting elements work best. I recently had a customer with the cutest top but it had appliques on it. It was nice when she was standing straight to the camera but other times I ended up Photoshopping the applique out since you couldn’t figure out what it was.

Since this was for my business website, I chose five outfits.
Two for headshots with high necklines and long sleeves. Short sleeves don’t really work for headshots.
A black dress since that’s what I wear to work events and weddings.
My “safari” outfit since that’s what I wear when I lead nature photography trips. As this is not the most flattering outfit, I reminded the photographers that I need to look skinny! They were able to pull this off by posing and tucking in the back of the shirt.
And then I threw in a pretty white dress for fun! However, since it was sleeveless, I advised the photographers to really pose my arms. There are very few women on this earth who like their arms. Again, posing skills are really important.

3. Be clear on what the images will be used for.

Vilania and Amber worked as a team to photograph me. Villy is an accomplished glamour photographer so I knew she would come up with a lot of nice poses. And she did – however, many of the poses were not really appropriate for business. It’s not a problem since there are plenty of business –type photographs. We weren’t in a hurry and were having fun playing around with poses. But if your customer has limited time, stick to the type of poses she needs. As a professional, you really need to stick within your time frame.

Posing is a crucial part of photography. Be sure you never stop learning about posing. Posing just means positioning someone to make them look their best. Villy had me turning this way and that, which sometimes wasn’t all that comfortable, but looked amazing in the photos. She has the trained eye to make those small adjustments to my hands, my shoulders, the position of my head, etc.

3. Show the customer the pictures on the back of the camera from time to time.
   I can’t see without my reading glasses so I rarely looked at the pictures as they were taking them. But one pose in particular was important to me and there weren’t any good expressions from me on that pose.Also, your customer knows how they like their hair better than you do so let them see how things are coming along as you go.

   Better yet, shoot tethered to a monitor so you and your client can see the pictures as you are shooting.

4. Let your customer be who they are in the photos.
   Villy was training me for a soft smile, which is appropriate for business. So technically she was absolutely correct. However, I am known for my big smile. It’s not as professional, but it’s me. I put the following two pictures on Facebook and asked for a vote. My big smile won hands down.

If you are a professional portrait photographer, I suggest you schedule your own photoshoot. It was a lot of fun and a true eye opener. You can barter with another pro or hire someone you admire. You need a good professional headshot for your website so just do it!

~Peggy Farren is a professional photographer, instructor, speaker and the founder of Understand Photography Training Center. You can view her work here: www.naplesportraits.com.