How to prepare for a photoshoot day by day.

Seven days out: the long lead.

One rule governs the entire week, and if you only remember one thing, make it this one: anything that changes how you look needs time to settle, so it belongs at the start of the countdown rather than the end. Hair, skin and nails all look their best a few days after they are done, not a few hours.

So book the haircut or the color now, for about a week before your session. A fresh cut looks like a fresh cut for the first day or two and looks like your hair again after that, which is what you want in a portrait that has to last. If you color, the same is true, and roots that are a week old are far easier to live with than color that is a day old.

This is also the point to tell me if you would like hair and makeup handled for you. I work with several professional stylists who can be arranged before the shoot for an added fee, and that gets scheduled in advance rather than sorted out on the day. And if you have not sent me the pieces you are considering wearing, send them now. We plan your looks together before you arrive, and deciding what actually belongs in the bag is its own subject, covered properly in what to wear for a session. Knowing where the pictures are going helps too: a profile crop, a website banner and a one-sheet for speakers each want something slightly different.

Five days out: skin, and nothing new.

The rule here is short. Nothing new. This is not the week for a first facial, a first peel, a first wax, a first laser appointment or a new active ingredient you saw somebody recommend. Reactions are unpredictable and they have a genius for timing themselves badly.

Keep the routine you already have and be a little more diligent about it. Gentle exfoliation early in the week, moisturizer at night, lip balm before bed so lips are not flaking, and more water than you think you need. It is boring advice and it is the advice that works.

The one thing worth actively protecting is your skin from the sun. A burn or a strap line across the shoulders is one of the hardest things to work around, and a week of sunscreen beats any amount of care afterward. Keep sunscreen on all week. One thing you can stop worrying about entirely is the weather, because every session happens inside a studio where the light is exactly the same whatever the sky is doing.

Three days out: hands and grooming.

Hands appear in far more portraits than anyone expects. They end up on a jacket, on a hip, around a mug, folded in a seated frame. Chipped or overgrown nails are distracting in a way that is impossible to unsee once you notice it. Get them done a couple of days ahead, which leaves room to fix a chip, and keep the color simple. Neutral or bare ages better than a bold shade you will not recognize in a year.

Brows want the same treatment. Shape them a few days ahead rather than the morning of, so any redness has time to calm down and nothing looks freshly done.

For men, the haircut belongs about a week out too, so it has time to soften into place. A beard should be trimmed and lined the day before or the morning of, whichever matches what you normally do, and if you shave clean, shave the morning of and give your skin a good hour before you leave the house. Whatever your routine is, this is the week to do it well, not the week to change it.

Two days out: steam, then hang.

Wardrobe stops being a decision at this point and becomes logistics. Anything that needs washing or dry cleaning should already be back. Then steam or press every single piece, including the ones you are certain are fine, because a crease that is barely visible in your bedroom photographs as a dark line.

Hang everything. A garment bag if you have one, hangers if you do not, and nothing folded into a duffel on the back seat of a car. Run a lint roller over dark fabrics, check buttons and hems, look for loose threads and pet hair, and do all of that now rather than in the last ten minutes.

Then pack the rest of the outfit, not just the shirt. Shoes if we are shooting anything full length, the belt, an undershirt, smooth layers underneath, and the jewelry you are considering including the pieces you are unsure about. Bring a backup top you always feel good in even if the plan is settled, because things sometimes look different under studio light than they did at home, and having options costs you nothing.

The night before: sleep and salt.

Sleep is the highest-return item on this entire list and it beats every product you own. Puffiness around the eyes is the hardest thing to work around in a portrait, and it comes mostly from a short night, a salty dinner and a second glass of wine. None of those are moral failings. They are just visible.

So eat normally, go lighter on salt than usual, drink water through the day rather than a liter at bedtime, and put the screen down earlier than you would like. If you are the kind of person who lies awake before anything that feels like an appointment, remember that nothing is being tested here.

Then lay everything out and put the bag by the door, so the morning has no decisions left in it. Put the studio address in your phone: the studio sits in North Naples, just off Pine Ridge Road. If you are coming in from Golden Gate Estates or driving up from Marco Island, look at the route the night before and add a buffer to whatever the map tells you.

The morning of: eat something.

Eat a real meal. Low blood sugar shows up in your face and in your patience long before you notice it yourself. Drink water. Have your normal coffee if coffee is normal for you, and skip it if it is not.

Do your hair the way you actually wear it rather than a version you are trying out, unless a stylist has been arranged, in which case leave it to them. For makeup, do what you know how to do and take it one small step further than a normal day. Matte holds up better under studio light than anything with a lot of shine, and nothing you have never worn before belongs on your face today.

Dress loose for the drive. Tight waistbands, socks and straps leave marks on skin that take longer to fade than you would believe, and there is no reason to sit in your session clothes in a car. Carry the real clothes on hangers and change at the studio. If you wear glasses, bring the pair you actually wear, cleaned; I work the angles so the lenses stay clear rather than asking you to sit there without them.

What to bring, and what to skip.

The bag is short, and packing it the night before means you are not standing in a doorway trying to remember any of it.

• Everything you plan to wear, on hangers and steamed, plus one backup top you always feel good in.
• Shoes, belt, an undershirt, and the jewelry you are considering, including the pieces you have not decided on.
• A lint roller, a hairbrush, and whatever product you genuinely use on your hair.
• Touch-up makeup for the middle of the session, particularly powder and lip color.
• Your glasses, cleaned, if you wear them in daily life.
• Water, and a one-line note about where these pictures are going to be used.

• Skip brand-new shoes or anything you have not worn before and cannot vouch for.
• Skip a haircut, a color or a wax in the last two days.
• Skip self tanner unless it is something you use often and trust completely.
• Skip a new fragrance, a new lipstick and a new anything. Novelty is the enemy this week.
• Skip scheduling something you are dreading immediately after the session.

The last hour before you arrive.

Leave earlier than you need to. Arriving flustered costs the first stretch of the session while your shoulders come back down, and that is time better spent on pictures. A buffer costs you a few quiet minutes in a car, which is not a bad way to start.

Try not to schedule anything difficult right before. A hard call, a tense meeting or a rushed errand carries into your face for longer than it should. When you arrive, silence your phone and let it stay silenced. The studio is private and nobody else is in it, so the room is as calm as you let it be.

Above all, you do not have to arrive knowing anything about posing. Every session is guided head to toe, so there is no homework and nothing to rehearse. If you read how to pose for photos beforehand, read it out of curiosity rather than duty, because the moment you are in front of the camera I am telling you what to do anyway.

What changes by session type.

The countdown is the same for everything I photograph, but the size of the bag is not. For headshots you are packing fewer looks and thinking more about precision: bring the jacket even if you are unsure about it, pressed and on its own hanger. The pattern and crop questions belong to what to wear for headshots, not to the packing list.

For a personal brand session, plan for more. More looks means more hangers, more steaming and a longer packing list, and it helps to think in complete outfits rather than individual garments so nothing arrives without its shoes. The same preparation carries over neatly to dating photos, where the entire goal is to look exactly like yourself on a good day.

A boudoir session has its own preparation and its own comfort questions, and they deserve more room than a paragraph here. The complete boudoir guide covers what to bring, what to expect and how the session is structured.