Tips to look your best for your business photos

Hair and makeup

It is worth getting hair and makeup done professionally for the best results. We have 4 professional hair and makeup artists who we call on when required.

If you wish to use your hair and makeup artist, please tell them that it is for photography purposes.

If you are not inclined or do not have time to do that, a good guide would be if you were going out to a function or a job interview.

If you are planning on doing your makeup, please consider the following:

• Avoid makeup with sunscreen as this ingredient is designed to reflect light and will give your skin an undesirable oily-looking shine.
• Matte Makeup is the best choice instead of mineral-based makeup to keep that shine down. Shiny lipstick is OK.
• Bring makeup and hair care products on the day for touch-ups should they be required.

What should we wear?

• Keep it simple. Wear clothes that suit your personality or what you would wear to work if you want to look your best.
• Avoid plain black or white unless we have discussed this for a specific look. However, a white shirt with a jacket would be ok.
• Avoid clothes with busy patterns and logos ( company shirts /branded polo shirts / corporate uniforms are OK, of course), such as checked shirts or THAT AD/DC tour T-shirt.
• **Block colours work best**. Ever notice that television presenters wear block colours? The reason is it looks good on camera. If you can't decide, I suggest defaulting to darker colours, such as navy blue, grey etc, as everyone tends to look good in darker colours.
• Think texture, not patterns with outfits.
• I think it is best to avoid super bright and bold colours for headshots unless it is part of your branding. The reason for this is that the goal is for your face to be the subject of attention. Colours like hot pink and fire engine red can distract from that.
• ***Please make sure your clothes are clean and ironed***—especially shirts and collars. **We do not remove wrinkles in Photoshop**; it is one of the few things that can not be done very well in editing due to the texture in the fabric, and it never ends up looking good at all.

• Undergarments. This is worth thinking about. For example, wear a strapless bra if you are going to be wearing a top with thin straps.

** You are welcome to wear anything you want. These suggestions are based on my experience as to what always looks good**

Tell me about your executive retouching... Can you make me look amazing?

Yes! We will remove anything temporary, like acne or a scratch. We even out skin texture teeth colour and clean up stray hair, and glare from glasses, minimise dark circles under the eyes etc. Our goal is always awesome but believable. What we mean by that is that we will retouch the photograph so that you look your absolute best. What we do not do is shave 20 years off your age, as this is a headshot session and not a glamour shoot. I doubt it is in anyone's best interests if you look REALLY different when someone meets you in person after having based their first impression on your photograph.

Any other tips to look my best?

• Avoid making a time when you know that everyone has had a big night the day before. Example: On a day after the team has been to the State of Origin.
• Alcohol and lack of sleep can leave you looking puffy, red-eyed and with dark circles under your eyes.
• Drink plenty of water.
• If you are getting a haircut, it's a REALLY good idea to do it a few days before. 1) You will not get loose hair on your clothes 2) It gives it a chance to "settle" 3) For dramatic changes like hair colour or going from long hair to short hair... it can sometimes take a few days for people to be comfortable and confident with a change like that. Your confidence will show in the photos.