Preparing for our shoot

Pre-Shoot Consultation Objectives

Athletes in blue shorts and sunglasses jog together on a sunny day wearing green and gray athletic tops.

Establish Expectations & Goals

Get on the same page regarding your vision for the images you want captured. How do you want your photos to feel? Who will they be for? Will we be documenting a special event or prized possession? Here, we become co-authors in your visual story.

Urban skater performs trick near vibrant pink and purple graffiti wall with green bicycle in frame.

Discuss Preferences & Image Usage

How will you ideally view and display final images? How many final images would you like? What sort of framing, print, and album materials do you have in mind?

Outfits, Locations, & Subjects

Have an idea for your outfits, color palette, or location? Let's harmonize your choices for maximal visual appeal. Will there be other subjects or objects included? Tell me about them, their significance, and backstory. It is highly recommended that all participants be involved in the initial consultation. Group rapport is a wonderful thing and helps put everyone at ease.

Reduce Tension & Answer Questions

Even photographers get nervous being in front of the camera. My goal is to put everyone at ease, generate excitement for the creation process, and answer any and all questions you may have.

Introduce Product Offerings

Digital downloads for viewing and sharing via social media are very common. However, I partner with Whitewall Labs and Fracture for stunning, unique prints and personalized albums and coffee table books to successfully memorialize your images into cohesive stories.

Value Versus Price

Everything has a price but the value received from a dollar spent is not the same across services, products, or industries. We are painting with light to capture what you care about. While making this process attainable is a chief goal of mine, we must be clear on the long-term value of beautiful images compared to the temporal nature of many other purchases we routinely make.

Group plays casual outdoor game on grass near brick building with red signage.

Review Policies, Copyright, and Release Forms

Your permissions and approvals are paramount, as is my ability to safeguard the integrity and style of my work. Consider where, how, and for how long you may use images, particularly in commercial environments. When other subjects are involved, it is important that we obtain releases from all parties for images that are to be shared publicly or accessed by third parties.

Two friends share joyful moment together outdoors wearing matching floral dresses against green nature backdrop.

Confirm Sessions & Execute

Following preparation, discussions, and thorough consultations, it is time to book our session and let the fun begin! Initial deposit/rental fee due prior to shoot. Invoice for final images sent following selections and before image delivery.

Portrait, Headshot, & Fashion Considerations

Lindsay Adler Photography

Posing the Face

We are living in the age of the selfie. Never before have people been so aware of what their faces look like on camera. I view this as an unmitigated positive because it usually fosters collaborative communication between myself and my subjects. After all, we are highlighting you in that moment, your emotions, personality, and aura. This is best supported with us working together to shoot from ideal angles and sides with the right lens and focal length.

If you are unfamiliar with whether or not you have a preferred side or perhaps are "ambifacial" (word coined by headshot photographer Peter Hurley meaning both sides of your face are equally photogenic), I find it easy to create a simple facial matrix like that above to determine how we can construct shots based on your facial preferences.

A helpful hint; the majority of people part their hair with their dominant hand which can also be the same side as their "good side", though this is less a rule and more of a heuristic to be aware of and a good starting point in composing the face.

Where stylized shoots occur or significant moments are captured, it only makes sense to thoroughly investigate how to optimally compose the faces of those in the frame. This is the fun and the joy of photography. There is a collaborative process required to discover how to best highlight the beauty, personality, and emotions of you and others in an image.