The Makings of a Great Shoot

A great photograph is never JUST a great photograph. It's a culmination of a ton of different elements coming together to make magic happen. From having a great makeup artist to a model who knows how to pose to a photographer who's a master of light and everything else in between there are so many elements that add up to make the final results of a shoot really catch the eye.

As a photographer and retoucher, I can never understate the importance of getting as many things right in-camera as possible. So, in preparation of my upcoming series of 2020 Portfolio Building Workshops, I reached out to some of my favorite creatives from makeup artists, hair stylists, models to photographers and picked their brains on what makes their jobs easier on set and what makes a shoot great.

 

Makeup & Skin Care

Prepping your skin for a beauty session is essential to create a seamless clean look that’s not overworked. Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks to prep for a shoot

  1. Days before the shoot, prep your skin with exfoliation. Exfoliation helps remove dead skin cells, blackheads, and uneven texture in the skin including lips! I recommend a liquid exfoliation to gently resurface the skin.

    • Product recommendation: Pixi Glow Tonic (Target) or Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid (Nordstrom). Elf Lip Scrub Tube (Target, ULTA)

  2. Hydration. Increase your water intake to flush out bacteria and boost your skin moisture barrier!

  3. Tackle a breakout. Use a acne spot treatment for breakouts. This will stop the blemish from growing and dries out the bacteria inside. 

  4. Check for grooming. Facial hair grooming including brows are essential for a smooth seamless look. Complete any hair removal treatments at least 5 days before the shoot. This gives the skin time to rest before our session.

    Monique Cowan, MUA (@mogisellebeauty)

Posing

Whether you're on your 98th shoot this week, or just setting out on your journey to becoming a super model on your 1st shoot ever, it’s so important to MOVE. YOUR. BODY. Note that body includes the face, so learn your angles. This is what makes the difference between new aspiring models and experienced professional models. Models who know how to pose are a photographer's dream. If you're still in a space where you're mainly doing collaborative TFP work, this is the time to really practice before you make it big time. Learning how to pose is part of how you make it big.

It can be nerve racking to get in front of the camera of a new photographer, in a room full of new people with all eyes fixed on you. Especially if your personality type is more "I" than "E". There's this little voice that creeps in saying that every face you make is ugly and every pose you do is stupid. Don't listen to that voice. In the beginning maybe it will feel awkward. Maybe it actually IS awkward. Push through it and move that body anyway. The photographer will most likely offer direction if it's too awkward. Take it in stride.

"So many girls second-think their pose or what they're doing. And, in turn, the photos will come out really unnatural. I say to really give the camera a performance..." - Coco Rocha

I can't tell you all of the secrets to it, because I declared my position behind the camera years ago, but I can give these tips from what I see through my lens.

1. We all own or have access to a mirror. This mirror is your new practice partner. If you don't have a full length mirror you can get one at Wal-Mart for like $10. Use a dry erase marker to draw a circle at your eye, waist and knee level. Imagine that these circles are the photographer kneeling at different levels. Now you can kind of imagine what the camera sees and how you look.

  • When practicing what the photographer sees at eye level place the mirror as flat to the wall as possible and practice your poses looking at the top circle.

  • To angle the mirror upward move the bottom of the mirror 1 ft away from the wall. Pose here looking at the middle circle; this is the photographer at waist level with the camera slanted upward. And so on and so forth.

  • Practice practice practice in the mirror until you know your angles.

2. Coco. Rocha. If you’re an aspiring model and you've never heard of her, look her up. She is an international super model known for her creative posing. She is absolutely mesmerizing to watch and the person I refer all aspiring models to when they ask for posing tips. She has this book called “Study of Poses: 1,000 Poses by Coco Rocha”. It’s worth checking out.

3. Study other models and build a collection of close up, mid-length and full body poses for inspiration. Practice these poses in a mirror. Also, YouTube has a ton of posing videos that are a great place to start.

4. Be open to constructive criticism, and this is for every creative involved in a shoot: professional or amateur. Ask the people in the shoot what you could do better. We all have room to grow and the only way we can grow is to improve. Models should ask how the makeup applied to the skin, perhaps the makeup artist will recommends drinking a little more water. Ask the photographer what poses they really like from you and which ones didn't work so well and what you could’ve done to improve it. Go home and practice the ones that they thought didn't work so well.

5. Come up with a persona! It often helps to know the mood of a shoot. I try to give models a mood or feeling to channel when they’re shooting. Depending on the mood of the shoot, I’ll say, “Give me bored and unamused like you’d rather be anywhere but here.” (which I hope is never true). This might result in slouched posture, gazing away from the camera or resting the head in the hands and letting the face drag a little bit.

Or “Give me fierce, like you could buy this building if you wanted to.” This means power poses, crossed arms, glares through the brow line, and staring down at the camera.

Or to get clean soft lines, in a dreamy shoot with pink chiffon fabrics you might hear, “You’re a delicate, soft flower.”

Ask for a persona to determine what moods you want to channel for the shoot.

6. Use your entire body! Legs, hands, head, fingers, earlobes. If it’s attached to you, figure out a way to work with it in a way that heightens the quality of the shoot.

7. Just focus on being the best model that YOU want to be. Art truly is subjective.

Dionne Harris-Kolawole, Photographer, @dionneharrisphotography