“Yay, it’s Photo Day!” said no staff member, ever.

Chances are you’ve received this link in an email from your boss, with the exciting news that staff photos are happening soon and you need to do a few things to prepare. We’ve prepared this short guide to make that a little easier, and help you look your best on Photo Day.

Headshot Basics

• Whatever you’re wearing, make sure it’s ironed or steamed. Don’t pick it up from the floordrobe the morning of and dust it off thinking “she’ll be right”.
• If you’re due for a haircut, scheduling it for the week before photos works better than the week after.
• If you have a beard or moustache, make sure it’s neat and tidy.
• Don’t attempt fake tan or a new skin care regime for the first time the night before.
• Do give yourself a reasonable bedtime the night before – sleep is healthy!

Make Up

Make-up is not essential for a great photo, but if you feel better wearing it, go for it! There’s no need to go extra heavy for photos, however. Stick to your usual daytime look and if you need some additional help, look at getting a makeup artist to help you prepare. We can arrange to have a make-up artist on-site for your shoot, or alternatively stores like MECCA and MYER offer makeup services with the cost redeemable in product.

If you’ve woken up with a raging pimple don’t panic – we can easily remove them in Photoshop.

Photoshop

While we’re on the topic on Photoshop, here’s a few things we can quickly take care of during our editing process:

• temporary skin blemishes (e.g. pimples, scratches, bruises, etc)
• skin redness
• teeth whitening

The following common requests are more time-consuming and can be discussed on a case-by-case basis:

• removal of braces on your teeth or dark/missing teeth
• retouching your hair root colour (for dyed hair)
• fixing tan lines
• removal of logos from clothing
• changing backgrounds

Here’s a few things we don’t do in our editing, for ethical and positive body image reasons:

• make you look 10 years younger
• make you look 10kg lighter

Trust me – you actually ARE photogenic despite what you may tell yourself 😉

Things to Avoid

Many business shirts and jackets can create a discoloured, wavy effect known as moiré. Avoid fine stripes and checks to minimise this. Solid colours, thicker stripes and alternative patterns are safer options.

There is an outdated belief that bright prints can be distracting, but if they’re what you enjoy wearing and they convey a bit of personality, bring on the prints!

Certain Colours

You may be provided with a colour palette or scheme to follow for your clothing selections. This is to ensure a level of cohesion across the team, and help the images tie in with other brand guidelines and document or web design decisions. Please stick to the palette!

If you have been given freedom of choice, I usually recommend avoiding red/bright pink/magenta and bright green tops, as this can reflect up onto the face and cause issues with skin tones.

Please also avoid high vis shirts, vests and jackets unless that is requirement of your workplace for safety reasons.

Final Notes

We know that having your photo taken is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but we’re here to make it as easy as possible. We’ll do our best to help you relax during your photo session, but coming into it with a positive attitude will make the world of difference to your final images.