Preparing your studio portrait session: outfit, lighting and how the day runs

Booking a portrait often means spending a long stretch in front of a lens for the first time. At the Elle et Lui studio, rue Condorcet, we welcome private clients who want a good image of themselves as well as business leaders who need a portrait for an annual report, a website or a professional profile. The questions are almost always the same: what to wear, how long it takes, and how to choose among the images. Here are our answers as photographers.

Start with the purpose. Before thinking about clothing, ask yourself where the image will be seen. A portrait for a press release or a team page should still look right several years from now and read well at small size, sometimes as a round thumbnail. A personal portrait can allow for tighter framing, more texture and more shadow. Tell us when you book: the backdrop, the light and the framing all follow from it.

For clothing, the most useful rule is also the simplest: wear what you are comfortable in and have already worn. The day of the session is not the moment to try a new jacket that pulls across the shoulders or a shirt whose collar gapes. A well-fitted garment, neither too loose nor too tight, shapes the silhouette without drawing attention to itself. For an executive portrait, a restrained outfit without visible logos ages better than a very fashionable piece.

Solid colours are your allies. Fine stripes, small checks and some tight patterns can create moiré effects on screen, and large prints draw the eye away from your face. Mid and deep tones (navy, charcoal grey, burgundy, dark green, camel) flatter most skin tones. Pure white and full black require more care with exposure: they are not forbidden, but plan an alternative. If you are considering a black and white version, work with contrast of tone between jacket, shirt and backdrop rather than with colour.

Bring at least one spare outfit, pressed and on a hanger, and more if the package you have chosen includes several looks. This gives you a fallback if a colour does not work with the lighting we choose. Think also about details the lens magnifies: lint, creases, glasses that need cleaning, jewellery that catches the light. If you wear glasses every day, keep them on: we adjust the angle of the lights to limit reflections.

As for your appearance, avoid last-minute changes. A haircut done the day before is rarely as natural as one from a few days earlier. Light, matte makeup, well-hydrated skin, and tidy hands if they appear in the frame: that is enough. Gentlemen, if you shave, do it a few hours before rather than at the last minute to avoid redness. And get some sleep: no lighting can replace a proper night.

Lighting, as it happens, is our business. In the studio we build it for you: a main source that is softer or harder depending on the look you want, a reflector or a second light to open up the shadows, and sometimes a separation light on the hair. A broad, wrapping light gives an open, reassuring portrait suited to corporate use. A more directional light sculpts the face and suits personal or artistic portraits. You have nothing to prepare, but you may bring two or three reference images you like: it is the quickest way to show us what you have in mind.

The duration depends on the package you choose and on what you want; we discuss it together when you book. A professional portrait against a single backdrop takes less time than a personal portrait with several outfits and several lighting setups. In every case, leave a margin in your schedule and arrive a few minutes early: settling in, choosing the first outfit and getting acquainted are part of the session. The first images are mainly used to set the light and help you forget the camera; the most natural ones often come a little later.

During the shoot we guide you: shoulder position, chin angle, gaze. You do not need to know how to pose. Talking, breathing and moving slightly between frames helps far more than holding a fixed expression. If you have doubts, tell us during the session: adjusting together on the spot avoids disappointment afterwards.

Finally comes the choice of images. The number of retouched images and how they are selected depend on the package; we explain this before the session. Make this choice with some distance, ideally not in the minute that follows. Look first at the eyes and expression, then at posture, and only then at details retouching can fix (a stray hair, a passing mark). If the image is for professional use, ask a colleague or a friend to help: we are often harder on ourselves than others are. And think about the formats you will need (landscape for a website, portrait for a printed document, tight crop for social media): tell us before the session so we can take them into account when framing.

The Elle et Lui studio welcomes private clients and professionals at 59 rue Condorcet, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. If you have a question about your outfit or how you plan to use your images before booking, come and see us or call: a good portrait is often prepared in that conversation.