What to Expect During the Photoshoot

Getting started

When we meet we'll ease into the photoshoot slowly. Usually when people arrive they can feel a combination of 'frazzled' from travelling to the venue, as well as sometimes feeling uncertain and nervous. Don't worry, you're in good company - everyone always feels like that - it's very normal, so don't feel concerned. When we meet we'll just have a chat to get to know each other a bit more and to help you to relax a little - so we feel a little less like strangers.

Depending on the type of photoshoot and its location, we'll often have a few different spots where we'll take photos. So we'll make our way to the first location and we'll try out a few photos. These first photos will be super informal - at this stage it doesn't even matter what the photos look like, as they're really just an excuse to help you get more comfortable. We'll often ask people if there's anything about themselves that they feel they do or don't want to see in their photos - most people say "I don't mind", but some say "I don't like this side of me", or "I don't like this part of me". There's no right or wrong answer here - it just helps us understand what you think about when you look at photos of yourself, so we can adapt how we create your photos if necessary.

We'll start with a few simple poses to get you into the hang of looking at the camera. Then very quickly, before you realise, we'll be getting some great photos of you - at this stage we'll show you some of the photos on the back of the camera, so you can start to trust us that you do actually look good and that the photos are of a high quality. This will help you feel less nervous, which will also start to make you look more relaxed.

man hugging a woman in a park photoshoot

elegantly dressed woman in red in a park photoshoot

We work with people of various levels of confidence

some people are a ball of nerves and want lots of direction on how they should look, as they've no idea how to pose in front of a camera,
others have had their photo taken on the odd occasion, so can be uncertain at first (wanting some posing direction towards the start), but as the photoshoot progresses they feel increasingly happy to introduce some of their own ideas,
and some are very used to having their photo taken, so want to do a lot of the posing and ideas themselves to experiment with how they look.

Do you want advice on how to pose?

Many people turn up at a photoshoot and are very nervous. Some can occasionally be a little shy. Others might be confident in themselves but feel uncertain, or anxious, when standing in front of a camera. We find people who feel this way become more reassured when we start off by giving them lots of direction and telling them how we want them to pose - we've had so much experience in helping people look their best in front of a camera, so we're very happy to help you in this way as well. However, after a while we sometimes find people become more confident, so they might try different poses they've thought of themselves - we're happy to let you do as much or as little of this as you want to. We've worked with people before who've said "I'm really not sure, but can we just try this pose - it will probably look silly, but I'd like to see what it looks like?" - so we try it and on many occasions this type of pose can look fabulous, because it's their idea that plays to how they are as a person (in our opinion there's no such thing as a silly suggestion). However, this isn't for everyone - we also work with people who want us to tell them how to pose throughout the photoshoot, right to the very end - and that's absolutely fine with us too.

Are you mostly happy posing yourself?

Other people are very used to having their photo taken, so they often want to do a lot of the posing themselves, coming up with different ideas to experiment with how they look. We're just as happy with this approach - if you 'want to lead', that's also fine by us - we'll 'follow' - but all the while making sure you look your best in the photos. At this point we'll be collaborating together over what works best, using the best bits of each of our experience to get some great photos.

woman swirling a white dress during a photoshoot

Doing more

you'll be surprised how quickly the photoshoot goes from you feeling a little awkward, to you realising you're actually enjoying yourself - then realising that your confidence is growing, knowing that together we're creating some great photos - this usually happens quicker than you thought it would,
usually, if the timing and the location permits, we'll try a few different spots at the venue where we take the photos, as this will add some interesting variety to the photos you end up with - if you've brought different items of clothing or props we'll use different ones at each spot to increase the variety of the photos,
we'll have a range of poses that we can try, so we don't run out of ideas - sometimes we'll also bring along a few example pictures to show you, to help you get a feel for what's possible and what other looks you might like,
as we reach the end of the photoshoot we'll ask you if there's anything else left that you wanted to try - some people say "no, we've covered everything", others say they have an idea they want to try, or that they want to re-do a previous pose from earlier in the photoshoot, now that they're feeling more comfortable. This is fine - our aim is to make sure you feel you've done everything you wanted to cover, so that you leave feeling confident on what you've achieved.

Don't forget

The more relaxed you feel in your photos, the better they'll look. So if you feel at all nervous or anxious, don't 'over-think' the photoshoot. Don't 'make it into something' - just tell yourself all you're going to do is meet someone for a casual chat and a short walk - that's really all we're doing - there just happens to be a camera around while we're doing it.

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