Preparation for Women…
Updated: Sep 2
How to Prepare for Your Headshot: A Guide for Women
Preparation is most of the outcome. The photograph happens in an hour; what you bring to it was decided over the preceding week. Here’s what actually matters.
Start a week out, not the night before
Hair. If you’re getting a cut or color, schedule it about a week ahead. Fresh-from-the-salon hair often photographs stiffer and more styled than you want. A week gives it time to settle into looking like your hair.
Skin. Don’t try anything new. No first-time facial, no new peel, no new product. Skin that gets irritated three days before a session is a genuinely common and completely avoidable problem. Stick with what your face already knows.
Nails. If there’s any chance of hands in frame — and for actor and personal-branding work there often is — get them tidy. Chipped polish is one of those small things that pulls focus in a way you won’t notice until you’re looking at the file.
Sleep and water. Unglamorous, but the two days before matter. Under-eye tiredness is the hardest thing to retouch convincingly.
Wardrobe: bring options
Bring three to five tops, more if you’re unsure. Trying things against the actual lighting beats guessing at home.
What works well:
Solid, saturated colors. Jewel tones photograph beautifully — deep teal, emerald, burgundy, sapphire, plum. They separate you from the background and bring color into your face.
Structured shoulders. Blazers, structured knits, and anything with a defined shoulder line read as confident and hold their shape on camera.
Sleeves. Even for a tight crop, sleeves frame you better than bare shoulders in a business context. Bring at least one option with them.
Necklines that suit the crop. A simple V or a modest scoop works nearly always. Very high necklines can shorten the neck; very low ones can read as more skin than intended once cropped square.
Layers. A jacket you can add and remove doubles your looks in the same session.
Makeup
Photography flattens skin slightly and studio light is bright, so slightly more than everyday makeup usually reads correctly — but this is a matter of degrees, not a transformation.
Matte over shimmer, everywhere. Shimmer and highlighter catch studio strobes and turn into shiny patches.
Even base, blended properly at the jawline. The camera finds every edge.
Define the eyes. Eyes are the entire photograph. A little more definition than usual pays off.
Skip the SPF-heavy foundation for the session. Some sunscreens cause flashback — a pale, ghostly cast under strobe lighting.
Blot before we start. I’ll have blotting papers, but arriving matte helps.
If you’re hiring a makeup artist, tell them it’s for photography rather than an event. Different job entirely.
What to bring with you
A brush or comb, lipstick for touch-ups, blotting papers, afety pins or clips, and your outfits on hangers rather than folded in a bag. If you wear glasses, bring them — reflections can be difficult to manage but if you have an old pair of glasses that you can pop out the lens that's even better. Having said that - if your frames are part of how people recognize you, they belong in the picture. Even better is the old pair without lenses,
On the day
Arrive a few minutes early and let yourself settle. There is an elevator iin the far right hand corner,
And please stop worrying about being photogenic — I’ll direct your chin, your shoulders, your eyes, and your expression the entire way through. You don’t have to arrive knowing how to do any of it.
Book your session. Appointments are available almost anytime. Call or text 602-619-9366, or use the contact page. Also worth reading: what not to wear and what to expect at your session.
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