About a month ago I was commissioned to do a photoshoot for an actress in British Columbia/Washington state. We had the beautiful backdrop of  a Gulf Island retreat; water, wind, clouds and arbutus trees. It was heaven on earth! She wanted several shots with different portrayals of the types of characters she can play, so she dressed up in a soft, flowy print dress, sporty shorts and a slinky little red number. She was very happy with the resulting photos and found it hard to choose her favorites because she liked them all! The setting lent itself to a relaxed and happy atmosphere where we got playful, wistful and intense images of her. They turned out really great! 

As an experienced head shot digital photographer I have some tips, admonitions, warnings and quips for you to maximize you head shot session:

1. Wash and style your hair as if you are going to meet your future husband or wife that day! Its best not to get a haircut the day before the shoot unless you want to look like a shaved lizard in the photo.

2. Put on/bring your makeup – even if you never wear makeup, bring it anyway! Even the guys can go minimal on the makeup (or not) because makeup DOESN”T show up much on camera! If you don’t bring your makeup, I will bring mine and you will have to bear the humility of me applying it FOR you.

3. Get some sleep the night before. Don’t lie awake wondering how the photos are going to come out and so creating a worse situation with puffs under your eyes and red lines that I have to take out with Photoshop. I can only do so much with Photoshop.

4. DON”T wear Hawaiian shirts or Macaw prints to show your flair for color. This kind of clothing fights with your face and usually wins.

5. DO wear subtle solid colors like tan or off-white, brown and sometimes black. Bring a jacket or sweater to change the hues and shadows near your face.

6. Don’t look away from the camera and frown. This makes for a kind of boring or pitiful shot of you and usually isn’t representative of the kind of image you want to project unliess you are a dog looking for a home.

7. Do smile and look at the camera. Laugh at my jokes and you will get a better picture from me. Laughing at my jokes has the secondary advantage of creating a really genuine happiness toward the camera which more likely than not will be a pleasing image of you.

8. Never face the camera flat on. It makes even a skinny person look fat. The camera does add 10 pounds but in all the wrong places, like under your chin, your belly and upper thighs.

9. Always angle yourself at the camera giving it the “cold shoulder” effect. Tilt your chin down a bit to camoflage your double chin and it has the added effect of making you look sexily up into the camera lens.

10. Last but not least, remember a good camera is SUPPOSED to take detail, so every mole, hair, wrinkle, pimple and liver spot is going to show. But thankfully, because you have me as your hot shot photographer, I can fix all of that in Photoshop!

Happy Picturing!

Diana L Guerrero

Diana L Guerrero and I have known each other since 2006 when she featured my photographs of the Pirate Faire in her local online news publication, the Fawnskin Flyer which is small town scuttlebutt for the township of Fawnskin, near Big Bear Lake, California.

Not only does she have many years of experience as a professional speaker and writer, but she is also an internet marketing whiz!

So there begins our association and her helping me with my internet presence as a digital photographer and digital photo artist.

We help each other with our respective expertise and it is a mutually beneficial relationship.

Her massive online presence and media appearances require that her photographs be updated regularly and I am privileged to be the photographer of choice!

Photographing Diana is a breeze because she is a very happy person and is always laughing.

I think she is laughing at me, but really, she just gets a kick out of life.

Now there is a more authoritative side to her which she attributes that to being an animal trainer (both wild and domestic animals).

This take charge approach and experience has given her the license to admonish accordingly.

LOL

I got her to play around and caught this “stern” look in this shot:

Authoritative!

My experiences as a digital photographer have given me the chance to get to know many good people and she is definitely an asset to all she knows and for all the good she does in the world of animals.

Check out more digital photo art of Diana in my portfolio link!

You can find out more about Diana L Guerrero or her services at Guerrero Ink.

Be sure to tell her that I sent you!