First, a Quick Snapshot of Your World
When you are a color consultant, you’re responsible for helping your clients look their best. It is not only helping them find the right colors and styles, but helping them relax in front of a camera. A picture is worth a thousand words, so make it the best it can be.
You have spent hours choosing colors to highlight your client’s skin tone, hair, and eyes. You have the perfect colors and they look great. Now comes the picture to capture this moment and coach them for future photo opportunities.
You say, “let’s take a picture so you can remember how you look in your colors.” So, you take out your phone or camera and take the photo. This is the before shot. At the end of the session you will show them this one and the new and improved photos. This will show them the difference.
You KNOW your client looks terrific in the mirror and live in person. But many people do not know how to pose for a photo. They are a less than enthusiastic as a model and it shows. You’ve got to get your photography game on.
In other words, DO NOT let a photo taken at 1/125 of a second ruin your hours of perfectly awesome color consultation work!
Instead, take a photograph to provide your clients with mementos that turn those few hours into years of wonderful memories of your colorful day! This is one way you can provide more value to your clients—and potentially get new business, since your client may be inclined to share their photos with friends and family. This is one of the reasons I believe in training color consultants to understand the basics of model photography.
Part I. How to Take a Great Photo of Your Clients
#1. Coach your client to take the role of model seriously.
They are responsible for what the camera sees and captures! Encourage them to relax. Often, I tell the client to imagine I am the most “attractive” person they can possibly imagine behind the camera. Then I instruct them to flirt with me. This often gets a laugh and they relax and shoot me a flirty look, just for fun. The ice is broken, we are working together and playing.
#2 Help your client pose.
Angle the body for a slimming effect – Have the women clients slightly position their feet with one foot in front of the other, with the front foot pointing forward with a slightly lifted heel. The back foot turns outward at about 45 degrees and carries the weight of the body. The client can also place a hand draped over the hipbone to create a “C” shape. Experiment with these photos to create pleasing lines.
#3. Have them animate their face.
Have them smile their type of smile—or not. Smiles are for happy people. Maybe your client is more serious, but have them be present and give a nice smirk. Whatever you do, do not let them space out—it will show on your face.
#4. Keep it quick and enjoyable. This photo is for a happy memory.
a. To be a great photographer, you need to maintain control of the shoot by talking to your client, encouraging and guiding them in their poses.
b. Get the best shots — Have fun! Remember you must take many pictures to just get a few good ones. This is exactly what the pros do, so just go for it!
#5. Use these basic posing tips to solve common issues. Here’s how to:
a. Minimize double chins — Have your clients move just their head slightly forward, with their jaw slightly leading and out and up. You then can adjust the tilt of the head to its most attractive position.
b. Open up the eyes — If your client squints, have them lean forward onto their front foot. This falling forward movement will keep their eyes open.
c. Pose the hands — Have the hands fall naturally to the side, fingers together. Try different hand placements, such as having one hand relaxed and placed on the hip. The goal is to create an “S” or “C” shape of the body, which can be very flattering.
Part II. Use your color design superpower to take photos from great to awesome!
The second ingredient to taking amazing photos of your client is to choose a color they love and that loves them back. Here are some key tips:
#1. Focus on an eye-related color. This can be the exact color of your client’s irises. Go ahead and match:
a. Blue, blue-green, green, and yellow-green eyes to those exact colors.
b. Brown eyes to the iris’s rim or highlight colors
Example 1: Such as a Deep red-violet for brown eyes.
Example 2: Such as gold or orange highlight if you have warm brown eyes.
The Effect: When your clients wear their eye color, they will come across as believable, becoming, credible, and approachable. Eye-related colors are your most effective “communication” colors. In apparel, these colors cause people to look into your eyes, creating good eye contact with you—which makes them good to wear for an interview.
Where can you use these eye-related colors? Consider these items when photographing your client:
1. Clothing: Especially good to frame the face with shirts, blouses, and sweaters for casual, business, or any daytime wear.
2. Accessories: Jewelry, scarves, belts, ties, eyeglass frames
3. Make-up: Accent eye shadow, and eye pencil.
#2. Focus on a complimentary color related to their skin tone.
The complement of their skin tone is the opposite color on the color wheel from the undertone of their skin. I will have an example of this later.
Find the blush or base tone of their skin and go directly across the color wheel.
When your client wears this color in their color quality they will definitely be noticed. The color will also highlight their natural skin tone and not fight with it. They will look healthier and well-rested.
Where can you use these skin-related colors? Consider these items:
1. Clothing: Especially good for coats, sweaters and jackets, ties, and casual shirts, and evening dress.
2. Make-up: Eye shadow accent colors
The Effect: Attention-getting drama! This is achieved because using the contrast of opposite colors is incredibly agreeable. It is the simplest way to state Chevreul’s law of Simultaneous contrast of color.
I’m going to use myself as an example of choosing a complementary color to my skin tone to create a striking visual effect.
Example 1: In the photo of the chart below, you can see that the pink/peach color is complementary to Aqua Green. My blush tone is pink/peach, that neutral red. When I wear this Aqua Green color, it makes the natural pink peach blush color in my skin stand out more. Without even trying, I instantly look healthier and more radiant — especially on Zoom while teaching classes.
Now I’m going to have my colleague Lisa’s client Ruth, demonstrate a complementary color to her skin tone.
Example 2: In the photo below, Ruth with her warm skin tone (out of yellow-orange) holds up the color fan that Lisa, her color consultant, made for her. Note the Cerulean blues in the middle of her fan. These are some of her dramatic colors that complement her warm skin tone.
Just for fun note how much different Lisa’s skin tone is from Ruth’s. Lisa’s skin tone complement will be different blue.
(Stay tuned for my next blog where I’ll share with you the photoshoot with Ruth, Lisa, and other family members using the tips I’m sharing with you in this blog to create a fantastic personal branded look and amazing photos!)
Part III. Simplify your background to make your clients stand out!
Last but not least, to help your clients visualize themselves in photos, make sure to keep your background simple! It also helps to repeat the colors that complement your client in your background.
Example: In the photo below, the fan in front of Alexa (on the right) has all her best colors. These colors complement her hair, skin, and eyes. Congrats go to Lisa (on the left) for making an amazing personal color fan for her daughter!
And as you can see, the background does not detract or distract us from their faces. The background is fairly is non-descript, but supportive of their color palette, helping us focus on the women and the theme of the shot. It truly shows off two beautiful women and an amazing color fan!
My Photography Summary for Image Consultants
I’ve worked in the image consulting industry for more than 20 years, and one thing that I’ve learned is this: Many women hate the most recent photos of themselves, but then end up absolutely loving those photos two years later. I believe this has to do with self-acceptance.
So, this is what I tell all of my clients:
“You are more attractive than you realize, especially when you embrace your own unique beauty. Beauty is actually confidence. If you feel confident and attractive, who can tell you different!”
And, by the way, this is what I say to my own self: “I am not looking for you to approve of me. I am looking for myself to become myself. Fully. Unconditionally. Eternally. When I am at peace with myself, I am generous, gorgeous, and grounded—and I am waiting and willing to help others be the same.
So, my advice is to take the pictures now, appreciate them,
and years from now, you can love how wonderful you looked even more.”
Until next time, Live a Colorful Life!
– Mary Lou