7 Tips On Preparing For Your Portrait Session

The best way to rid yourself of nerves before an event that makes you anxious is to be totally prepared. If your portrait session has you feeling a little intimidated, you can rest easy knowing your portrait experience is going to be a fabulous one. Following just a few simple tips to prepare for your shoot will have you feeling glamorous and confident!

Haircuts and Waxing

In the week leading up to your appointment make sure you do all the things that make you feel the most confident about your appearance. If you like a fresh haircut, a root touch up, or an eyebrow wax be sure to schedule these things at least a week before your photo shoot. This gives you time to adjust any inconsistencies or mistakes in your hair cut before the big day. If you're planning to have any other waxing done, make sure you do this several days before your shoot to eliminate any lingering redness and/or shiny areas.

Test Out Your Accessories 

Trying to wrap a string of pearls around your neck sexily for the first time can feel awkward and, even silly. Play around with what accessories you are planning to bring ahead of time to see how they feel in your hands and what you feel comfortable doing. Jewelry, shoes, hairpiece, and hats are all great ideas to test out.

H2O

Drink plenty of water in the days leading up to your portrait session will leave your skin with a healthy, happy, glow. Try to avoid things that will dehydrate your skin like coffee and alcohol.

Self-Care

Moisturize your skin, get plenty of sleep and eat a healthy breakfast. Doing these things as part of your morning routine will make you feel ready to tackle anything, even your portrait session.  If you want to make an even bigger impact, do those things for the week leading up to your session for even better results!

Pick Out Your Wardrobe

Decide what you're going to wear at your portrait session, but also what you will wear TO your shoot. You'll want loose-fitting clothing to wear to your appointment, so you don't have any indentations from the elastic on your skin when it comes time for your photos. (This means AVOID wearing socks to your appointment!)

Pick things to wear that make you feel good.  If it's a boudoir session pick things that make you feel sexy. This doesn't necessarily mean you need all lingerie either. Think about how you feel in your favorite pair of jeans, your best bra, your highest heels. What makes you feel amazing?  Still want more help deciding what to wear?  We will discuss this at length during your wardrobe consultation, but you can also check out this blog post on boudoir wardrobe ideas.

Pack Your Bag

Get everything ready a few days before your portrait session. This will help you to have time to remember everything you might have missed. Another good idea is to pack extra of everything. You'd hate to arrive only to realize you had a run in your only pair of stockings.  You'd also hate it if you considered bringing something, but didn't and then wished you had.  It's better to have more than you think you'll need.  Do not bring something if you don't like the way it looks on you.  You'll never like the end results!

Get To Know Your Photographer

And finally, one of the most important things you should do prior to your session is to communicate all your fears, anxieties, and hang-ups with me ahead of time. When communicating prior to your session, we will discuss everything. You'll let me know what kind of images you like, what parts of your body you think are the most beautiful, and what types of poses you'd want to capture among other things. The more you communicate, the more comfortable you will feel and the better your images will turn out! We are in this together! Want to learn more about me?  Read about my very own boudoir session on the blog post My Plus-Sized Boudoir Portrait Session Experience.