Let’s Prep your clothing for your headshot or Portrait Session. After talking with your photographer you may have gotten some tips and ideas for what to wear. Now getting the pieces to the location or studio is the next step.

Selection

First go through the thoughts and ideas your photographer gave you, better yet show the outfit ideas to them so they can see colors, fit, style, etc, and then plan the shots, posing, and backgrounds for that outfit.

Prep

Start with clean clothes without any stains. If they are dry-cleaned then the prep is pretty much done for you since they are already hanging and covered in plastic. If laundering yourself, be sure to hang all items, even t-shirts and under shirts to prevent any wrinkling. Lint roll everything while hanging and cover with a trash bag with a hole for the hooks or a garment bag. This will ensure your clothing for your headshot or portrait session is ready to go.

Transportation

Having everything hung on clothes hangers is the best want to transport. A garment bag or plastic cover will eliminate outside dust or accidental brushing against dirty surfaces. Try to avoid folding or bending the clothes while hanging to prevent any creases. Keeping everything loosely hung and straight on the hangers. So don’t fold that packable garment bag, even though it says it can. Those are best for traveling.

At the session

Remove hanging clothes from the bag or plastic and hang loosely with some space between to let any bunches fall. If your photographer has a steamer you can steam the clothes that need it.

Things to avoid

• Folding and putting in a tote bag or suitcase.
• Not looking over the pieces to check for stains or tears etc.
• Wearing a jacket, especially a suit jacket in the car. Hang it on the back of a seat so it doesn’t bunch and crease.

The more effort that is put into the prep before the shoot the better the final resulting images will be.