How to Shoot a Great Men’s Hair Collection

When prepping your photoshoot of a hair collection for a prestige competition, other than amazing hair, the perfect model, and all the on-trend fashion styling, you need to keep in mind the poses and camera angles that will make the model’s features stand out while enhancing your hairstyling and grooming unique creations.

Ready to implement these tips to bring your Contessa men’s collection to the next level?

Chin up!

According to David Raccuglia, founder of American Crew and professional photographer who creates all the visuals for the brand, “necks are tricky, in that they sometimes can show a lot more wrinkles and sagging skin than the face.” Basically, it’s in their nature as they are inherently a part of the body that moves a lot.

Make sure you remind your model to lean in slightly and stretch his torso as to minimize the neck pleating and extend the skin in order to make it appear smoother.

Photos shot from above, where the camera angle is slightly pointing down on the model, will also have the noted benefit of creating softer faces and necks; a particularly useful tip when photographing men who naturally have stronger necks.

Lighting Is Your Friend

Paul Perreira, who won the NAHA for Men’s Hairstylist of the year in 2015, says that, “lighting should also play a major role in your photoshoot.”

Despite the best lighting conditions in the studio, or outdoors, you will always need to supplement natural light with photography light stands or flashes, in order to prevent unsightly shadows on your model’s face – particularly if the light is directly positioned above the model’s head, where it will create darker areas under the eyes and nose.

To avoid the hollow-eye look, have extra LED lights or umbrella flashes on the sides of the face for a lot of overall light bathing your subject, while still creating contrast.

The Right Model

Even when they’re not full-fledged professional models, the men you choose to immortalize your Contessa hairstyling and grooming collection will need to have the right features and bone structure.

Perreira suggests “looking for a good profile, and a nice head shape. Also be mindful of the crown”, a particularly useful tip because you will be shooting from above in some of the photos.

If you’re going for a fade look, it’s also important to assess the hair density of your model, since more lighting will create the illusion of more sparse hair, in some instances. “In the best of situations, fades are difficult to photograph well,” reminds Perreira.

Go easy on the makeup for your guys, as in some cases it might end up looking unnatural or comical, and it’s not something that wins many prizes. Remember restraint is a key component of beauty and elegance.

It’s always best to try out as many angles and poses as you can during the photoshoot, and then edit down the photos to the ones that are the absolute best. Exactly the way you obsess over your own selfies!

We hope these photography tips will help you create the Contessa men’s collection that will bring you further on your path as a great hairstylist. Happy shooting!