On the Day of the Studio Shoot
Make sure you allow enough time to get to the shoot and if necessary, consider booking into a local hotel on the night before the shoot so that you are fresh and ready to start the day (see the Production page section of my website for suggestions of where to stay). When you arrive at the studio check that you have everything you need and be sure to ask if there is anything that you need help with. When everyone is settled in make time to have a pre-shoot meeting to check that everyone is reminded of the shoot theme. This will be the first time everyone has been brought together.

I always stagger the model bookings so that the first model arrives at 9:00 am and departs at 1:00 pm. The next model arrives at 10:30 am and so on’Ķ One reason for doing this is because the makeup artist needs to start work first and she or he can only make up one model at a time. Check over the clothes and props and maybe get the model to try on a few outfits. Then let the makeup artist get to work on the first model. When the makeup is done you can start work on the hair and by the time you have the first look ready the photographer should be all set to shoot. This is the schedule formula that I use and it works. I know it can be hard when there is so much hair preparation work to be done, but try to allow some time to be with the photographer while the shoot photography is being done. It is really important to see what the photographer is doing and to approve the work being shot. What is great about digital photography is that you can see the results appear on the screen as the pictures are being captured. This way you can see exactly what is being photographed and work to correct anything that doesn't look quite right.

How to select the best shots
I like to mark the best pictures straight after I have completed a shot. If a lot of photographs have been taken then it helps to filter out the weaker pictures so that you are left with only the best looking pictures to choose from. I usually filter out at least 50% of the initial pictures to create an edited selection of candidate images. These are then printed out on the same day as sets of contact sheets. The advantage of this approach is that the client's job is made easier because you don't have to sort through quite so many pictures and it is easier to keep contact sheets on file and refer to them at any time without having to go on-line to look at a website or load a CD disc into a computer. As for choosing the best picture, this is always going to be a hard task. One of the benefits of having access to the contact sheets on the day is that you can (if time allows) get the photographer and other people's input on the day when helping to choose the final selection of images.