MODEL PREPARATIONS FOR A NUDE SHOOT

The following recommendations apply for a nude shoot with any photographer, not just me:

1. Realizing this is a nude shoot, before you schedule a firm date, please check your calendar to make sure that you won't be bloated, menstruating, or in PMS Hell. This avoids last-minute apologetic calls or flaking if too embarrassed to explain.

2. Any part of you that you that you shave, including underarms, should be very freshly shaved so that a picture that includes that area does not show a "shadow". This is especially applicable to models that do not have skin-colored platinum blonde hair. Please be aware that this does not mean dragging the blade across the skin so hard that it leaves a forest of red bumps.

3. Except for a few photographers who consider strong tan lines erotic, the vast majority of figure photographers prefer that the nude model have no tan lines or at the very most, weak tan lines. So please do not go to the beach or pool in a standard swimsuit and acquire strong tan lines or a sunburn prior to a nude shoot date. And do not follow the example of the model who tried to cancel tan lines out the day before a nude shoot with way overdoing it at a tanning salon. Lobster-red butts and breasts are simply not artistically photogenic. It takes three days between the last tanning salon visit and a shoot to give the tan time to completely form. If you do go to the beach, purchase and wear a tan-thru swimsuit and use an SPF 4 tanning lotion on the exposed skin to match the SPF 4 of the tan-thru. If you already have tan lines, to reduce them while at the beach or pool in a tan-thru, I recommend using an SPF 8 or higher tanning lotion on the exposed skin and limiting your sun exposure time to that recommended for SPF 4. Adjust the swimsuit seam positions once in awhile so that they do not show.

4. E-mailing or telephoning the photographer the day before to confirm the date and time of a shoot shows responsibility and gives the photographer much more confidence that the shoot planning and setup work will not be in vain. If you are running behind schedule on the day of the shoot, call and let the photographer know approximately how late you will be.

5. Please be wearing only a loose dress or other garment when you arrive for a shoot. Avoid wearing a bra, panties, belt, elastic waistband, Bikini, thong, shorts, corduroy, jeans, or anything else that leaves red pressure marks on the skin. Bring any of these to wear after the shoot, of course. Think beltless dress, long nightshirt, or Muu Muu an hour before the shoot.  Especially if your hair is made up when you arrive, the ultimate garment is one that drops down rather than goes up over the head. If when you are ready to model, you unzip, unfasten, or unbutton and your garment drops to the floor leaving just you, any figure photographer will instantly recognize you as being a professional nude model and the session will start on a very positive note.

6. I know this is hard to remember when you are just seconds from starting a shoot in a studio, but just before you step into the studio setting, if you are not wearing some sort of footwear and the soles of your feet may be in some pictures, be sure that your soles are nice and pink, not black. Feet get grimy very quickly walking on house, studio, or garage floors that have not been recently washed and PSing that out without it looking obvious is very difficult and time consuming. Note to photographers: To help out on your part, keep your studio floors clean!