How To Prepare For a Fitness Model Photo Shoot

You know your body and your routine. Don’t change your routine, including diet, sleep, and workouts in the week before your shoot. Don’t add new products, new tanning, etc. Watch the salt intake the week prior to a shoot as well.

Make sure you have all the relevant contact information and a map to the shoot location. email, phone numbers, etc. You will want to plan to be early so that you have some cushion time in case of slow traffic, car problems etc. Take the contact info with you in case you have to call and advise your photographer or artistic director that you may be late. Arriving early will help you relax and boost your confidence.

Hair: Keep the head well groomed. That includes facial hair eyebrows, eye lashes. Guys, trim your eye lashes if you have some wild ones. If you have stray facial hairs, make sure they are plucked. Have your body shaved. Shave the body hair. Body hair hides the conditioning you have worked for.

Stay hydrated. Keeping hydrated with improve your skin’s appearance. Avoid activities that will abrade your skin or cause it to be discolored. Wear loose clothing and don’t wear socks or a bra. Depending on the shoot, you may want to forgo underwear

the day of the shoot. Tight clothing creates lines and discolors the skin causing the photographer and editors more work and fewer desirable images. Use lotions that you are familiar with and know how your body will react. Just before a shoot is no time to change routines.

Keep your hair color the same as the images your photographer used to

choose you for a shoot unless directed and agreed on otherwise. The AD (artistic director) or photographer will expect you to look like the images you provided. Also, don’t change the length of your hair unless cleared.

In most cases tanned skin is will provide the best look, but don’t change your tanning in the week prior.




Males should have clean trimmed nails. Females should have clean trimmed nails with a clear neutral coat unless directed otherwise. This goes for all 20 nails.

Underwear: Females should bring a variety of bras so you can fit the clothing provided. Make sure the bra fits. Tight fitting underwear (bras and bottoms) create unsightly lines and bulges and don’t flatter you and make it hard to edit or use the images.

If you are bringing your own wardrobe, avoid clothing with logos, prints, or artwork. These things make the images difficult to use because of copyrights and registered trademarks. Photographers can often deal with small logos, but often for fitness shoots, no name/no logo clothing will be most desired. Make sure any clothes you bring fit well and are in good condition. Shoes and socks included.

The night before a shoot, have a calm night. Go to bed on time or a little early having packed everything you will need for the shoot so you don’t have to frantically find something you forgot at the last minute.

Things to bring to the shoot:

Clothing, ie. shoes, socks, tops and bottoms, undergarments, hair ties.
Towels. Although towels may be provided, you may want your own. You may get sweaty, or be oiled and wetted and you may wish your own personal towels.
iPod with your music in it. Many photographers will be happy to work with music of your choice.
Water.

If you have to cancel... Do this if you have to but don’t be cavalier about it. 

Tell the truth. It is amazing how many times this photographer has heard stories from models that canceled that just didn’t ring true and later found out the excuses were lies. Most photographers would rather have an honest reason. Even if the reason is “I’m nervous” or “my face just broke out”. If something has happened that changes your appearance such as a major bruise or a rash,
the photographer may wish to cancel or they may advise that they are okay dealing with it. We would rather know. But only cancel if you really have to. A better offer in never a good reason to cancel. Word gets out about how dependable models are.

Don't Fall For That Crap! Avoiding Scams

Ladies and Gentlemen, I see scams all the time. People love to have your money. Some people deserve to have your money because the bring you something of real value. The photographer who can really build your portfolio and give you great advice on the things that should be in included. The agent who gets you a job ( a real agent, more on that later), a publicist that gets your name out there and noticed, your skin and hair care person, etc.

But there are those that really want your money and will try to make you think that there is a good reason for you to give it to them. You have to think carefully about each "opportunity" and evaluate it for yourself, but here are a few scams for models that I see over and over.

The "agency" that you have to pay. Often they will send you to a "required" photographer who will often charge much higher than the local standard rates. Often I hear models complain that months and months later, they still have no images. Then the agency charges the model a large fee. Total crap. An agencies job is to collect two things and then hook them up together. When a connection happens because the agency was in the middle, the agency gets paid a commission on the modeling fee.  What does the agency collect? 1. Talent and 2. jobs or auditions.

An agency will send out several models who best fit the need expressed by someone who needs to hire. If an agency is asking you to pay them, then I don't believe that they have any paying jobs to send you to, so they have to make their money from you. Stay away.

Another scam I see are contests. I personally have not yet used a contest to promote my work, but I probably will at some point. But there are some contests that are just a big money grab. When a "contest" sends you to get and pay for photos from a single source and you have to pay their photographer to get photos to enter a contest, it is just a bag of moist brown stuff.

Another scam is an "audition". Again, where the model has to pay, there are limited numbers spots open. If it is a real audition for something that they need and are in short supply of, then a legitimate organization will go to the agencies to get talent and or will post an audition without asking those applying for a job, to pay to apply for the job. An audition is a job application.

If you have to pay to audition nude, WTC? There are so many people who will pay you to model nude that there is never a need to pay to audition nude or partly nude. For nude work, the other side, not you desperately wants nude models. GWC's (guys with camera) who's images look like crap are not people you should pay a pile of your hard earned money to be naked in front of. They should pay you. Duh!!!

Beginners Should Just Shoot

My work is primarily in developing new model portfolios or rebuilding established models ports.


I often see amazing growth with some models and then sometimes pitifully little growth with others.

What makes the difference? Well, how much raw talent is one factor. You can't change that. You have what you have. Brains is another factor, you can change that. Okay, your IQ is pretty well set, but you can learn, observe, think, and study. Another factor is time in front of the camera. You can control that too.


Brains: I watch models get started and some of them are actively studying the craft. They look a magazines, practice posing and working their face in a mirror. They look at the photos from their shoots and figure out what they did right and what they could improve. They ask other models, photographers and other industry professionals questions and they learn. Smart models figure out what they are good at modeling and go after that type of modeling. They learn to understand if they have a unique look or way of expressing that is different than everyone else. They understand the being pretty is not enough.

Time in front of a camera: This is easy. There are going to be different groups depending on where you live. Find them. Your area may be active in Model Mayhem or One Model Place or other online modeling groups. Perhaps there are Facebook groups for modeling in the area you live. There are often meet up groups or "creative" groups. Find them and participate. Shoot often, even if you are not getting paid. If you find a photographer that is building his/her portfolio that is willing to do a TF shoot, do it. Get experience.


These photos are of Shauna and Jeremy. Jeremy is just starting out, Shauna is kind of new, but she is out there getting more opportunities and every time I shoot with her, she has gotten better and better. She is a good example of someone who is thinking about her craft and learning all she can, and getting all the practice she can.

Find Shaunna on Facebook

Find more of Shauna and Jeremy's shoot here.

Be Safe!

So, I just posted an article on my blog for photographers about keeping models safe and having a positive work environment. But as I was presenting to a group of models on Saturday, the topic of escorts came up. I am always surprised at the number of models who show up with no escort.

Here are some of my thoughts on the matter. 1st. ALWAYS have an escort to work with a solo photographer. If you are on a commercial shoot with a number of other people such as AD, director, MUA, photographer, costumer, etc, then an escort will be in the way and just ad to the confusion and most likely will not be welcome. But when you are modeling for a single person, by all means, have an escort. It could be your brother, mom, dad, boyfriend, girlfriend, your hair or make up person, etc.


Your escort does not need to be physically close to where you are modeling, but close enough to keep you safe. If you are working with a photographer who does not want you to have an escort, it is not worth the risk to shoot with that photographer.

This 16 year old brought her mom to the shoot. Bravo.

If you are a teen, under 18 years old, you should have a parent with you. At the very least, take an adult escort and make sure your parents know what you are modeling and where you are going to be and when to expect to to return. Your safety comes way before any cool photos you might get.


Some photographers will complain that escorts get in the way, ruin the mood, or cause other problems. In four years, I have had only one escort cause any kind of creative problem. One in 4 years! So that excuse is bull. It's just an excuse. Don't give in. Nobody is that good or that influential to risk your safety.

Know Your Angles

As a model, you need to know what angles flatter your face and your body the best. You can figure some of this out by working with a mirror, but you can only see yourself from your own eyes point of view. A camera is going to be able to see you from many different angles.

Lieren seemed to know what would work with her body. She kept her body in a variety of angles and poses that flattered her already great shape.

You can notice her poses here, giving a sideways angle to the camera. This slight twist for her works, it makes her torso seem even more slim and shows off a very flat abdomen.  Twisting the torso does not work for all girls because some bodies start showing ripples in the waist. You should be aware of things like that and how your body reacts to bending in different ways.

Here, Lieren is doing two things, both a bit subtle, but both adding to her beauty. First she is bent very slightly to her right which keeps her from making a static straight and boring vertical line with her body. Second, she is turned with her left side slightly away from the camera and from the light. This lets her show that great abdomen, but lets the light create slight shadows that help give definition to her tummy. It also flatters her shape, making her look more slender.

Here Lieren has her hip cocked which creates a visually interesting, if slight "S" shape to her body. It stretched out the line on the left side of her body and creates a flattering curve on her right.

I am always amazed how many models never think to shoot with their back to the camera. While it may not be the angle you want all the time, it can be flattering and give you some variety.

By being slightly higher than the camera and with a bit of a turn back to the camera, Lieren flatters her butt and legs here. The bit of twist again helps diminish the size of the torso.

A model should be aware of how the camera is going to see her body. If you are a newer model, you may not have a photographer who understands or sees these things, so you need to learn it for yourself. Even with an experienced photographer, this knowledge will make your shoots more productive and save time.

After every shoot, go back and look at the images and see what worked for your particular body.

More of Lieren here.

Getting Variety in Your Shoots

When you are building your portfolio, you want to consistently add to the variety of looks in your book. It is important to have quality photographs in your portfolio that show a range of emotion or rather, the ability to communicate an idea.

I think that normally a model should want one, maybe two great photos from the same shoot to add to their portfolio. Anymore and the "sameness" shows and the portfolio looks more stale.


However, when you are just getting started, you may be tempted to use more photos to pump up your portfolio. You might consider, while you are in the shoot, or even before the shoot, what you can do to ad variety so that 


you can get several different looks.


Here are some examples of photos from a single shoot that show variety in mood, facial expression, poses. There are several images here were here wardrobe does not change in this set, and I think that is not so good to have multiple images of the same outfit in your portfolio. But I am using this to illustrate the idea that you can get different looks. The first three images have the same outfit, but you cannot tell that.

Understanding Your Body

 Models need to understand their body. We all see images of amazing looking models and marvel at how good the model looks. They seem flawless. The fact is that everybody shape and type has drawbacks. Understanding what is great about your body as a model will help you find poses that accentuate the grat parts of your body and hide or ignore the "flaws"


Kira understood a lot about her waist and her butt. While she looks good from any angle, there were some angles that just looked better.

Spending time in front of a mirror will help you find some of those angles, but not all of them. You can't see yourself from all the angles a camera can. So as you work on your portfolio, notice which camera angles flatter you. The more you know the better you can control what the camera sees.

Preparing for a Photoshoot

Your photographer, make-up artist, and others are putting a lot of work into your shoot to make you look good and to get the result that is wanted.

A model should put some thought and preparation into their shoot ahead of time also.

Make sure you have the contact info of the people you are working with, the photographer, the MUA, an agent, art director etc. Get both phone numbers and emails.  You should always be on time, but if something should happen, such as a traffic jam, you should be able to contact the people in your crew and let them know what to expect.

Make sure you know what kind of things you need to bring, what kind of clothes you are going to wear so that you have the appropriate underwear. Do you need to bring accessories? If so, what kind? Ask the photographer or art director what else you might need for a particular assignment.

Make sure you have your own make-up kit stocked with all the things you will need for various shoots. Keep it clean and organized and replenish things before you run out.

If you are shooting swimsuit or lingerie, cut of the tags before the shoot and make sure there are no dangling threads.

Do some research.  Peruse magazines or websites that have photos in the style or theme you are going to shoot. Study the poses from the fingers to the toes to the tilt of the neck, etc.

Make sure you have a great manicure and pedicure if your toes are going to be exposed. You don’t have to spend a fortune on a manicure, but keep your nails clean and fresh looking. Unless asked for color, keep the nail polish clear.

Wax/shave your body hair where the skin will be exposed. Do this a day or two ahead so that there is no razor rash.

Drink water. Being well hydrated is a great way to keep your skin looking great. Avoid caffeine and salt also.

Exfoliate a few days before your shoot also. Don’t be too vigorous and damage your skin. You just want to keep your skin fresh and vibrant.

Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

I love it when a model can do more than smile really big, or just give a blank, sober stare. Models who do not take them selves to seriously, who are creative and inventive are a blast to work with and create images that are much more memorable.

Shauna is a beautiful girl, but she let go and was able to create some funny, interesting images. She wasn't just caught up in the "how pretty am I" syndrome. HPAI syndrome ruins many models because it paralyzes them, keeping them from making any photos that are not pretty. Pretty models are a dime a dozen. I can find pretty models all day long by just walking down the street. Interesting models, now those are people I will shoot with again.

What emotion is this?

And here is the pretty girl.

What Should A Model Have in His/Her Portfolio

Models should take a great deal of time perfecting their portfolio. A portfolio is what gets a model hired.

Here are some things that models should consider:

1)      A great head shot.  We want to see your face. Your head shot should connect with the viewer. You want to avoid an overly processed image were  we can’t see your skin or natural look. Yes, use make-up but keep it light. People who would hire you want to see the raw ingredient, aka – you.

2)      A full body shot that shows the body. A bikini shot would be great. You need to show what the form of your body is so that advertisers, photographers, and agents can see how an outfit might fit you. How the fabrics would lay, etc. Also, if you are going to model for swimwear, you need this in your portfolio.

3)      Full length fashion shot in front of seamless paper.  This can help show off your ability to show fashion and poses and is very classic.

4)      Very light or no make-up. You need to show what the real you is like.

5)      At least one photo pairing with another model (not a lesbian, girl/girl) to show that you can pose and work with others. 

6)      Editorial shots

7)      Sexy but tasteful lingerie shots, not a Fredericks look, but upscale are useful if one wants to model lingerie. This is a personal choice.
Never put things in your portfolio that you are not willing to model.

Get the Right Bra

If you are serious about modeling you need to invest in the right underwear. I am no expert on underwear, but I ran into this conversation on lingerie and bra fitting.

I will say that as photographer, there have been many times when models have not had the right bra for the dress or outfit that they are wearing. They bring a low back dress and a bra that goes right across the back, or a strapless dress and a bra that won't support them without straps, etc, etc.

The other big gripe I have is bras that are too small. Underwear that is to small ruins the lines of the body. Who wants bulge, but so many girls come to shoots with underwear that does not flatter them.

Here is a link to the podcast "Morning Sex with the Mominatrix". The show is not very explicit, but probably not the best thing for minors. The discussion on good underwear is about 7 and a half minutes into the show. I don't even know how I stumbled on this, but I thought it had some value on this topic.

Models aught to practice looking good, more than at their shoots. I hope this is useful.

New Blog

Hi, This is the first of what I hope will be many blog posts about modeling. My goal is to discuss various aspects of modeling and share information about modeling and how to build a career, or how to have fun and stay safe.

I will be posting about types of modeling, how to get paid, how to be safe, or how to build a solid portfolio. I'm going to be talking about learning to pose, doing your own make-up when needed, or nitty gritty things like getting the right underwear so that you look your best.

I'm not sure what my schedule for posting will be, but for now I am going to try and post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.