Category Archives: Information

Clothing Ideas For Your Studio Portrait Session

You might be wondering…. What should I wear for my studio portrait session?

THIS is something that I love to help my clients with.

The first thing to consider is if your portrait is going to be casual or formal.
Are you considering a studio portrait or an outdoor portrait? Simple solid colors are most often the best choices for your studio portrait session. Portraits can range from casual to formal, modern to traditional. Light and airy…. dark and stormy.

Once you decide, we can start planning your outfit. As professional photographers we can create a wide range of styles of portraits. It is important to communicate to your photographer how you envision yourself or your family being photographed. In the planning session we like to determine what you might want to wear.  SO, What’s in YOUR closet?  We are happy to help with that.

We like to discuss the  “look and feel” of the portrait, where its going to hang in your home or office or perhaps if you will be making an album.

For example, I’ve selected the outfit above from MY closet.  I found this particular outfit with the help of my beautiful stepdaughter at Scout and Molly’s

I often prefer solid colors because they don’t pull away or compete with the face. For my portrait, I’m choosing black and a more contemporary outfit.   I know the background of the portrait will be medium tones resulting in a more contemporary feel.

Let me help you discover the best way to dress for your portrait.

Tired of seeing a brick wall for your portrait background?

Us too. Here at Louise Michaud Photographer we custom design some of our backgrounds for your portrait. I love having a unique background to offer my clients. It’s exciting to make something one of a kind that my clients can only get from me! I got my inspiration to paint this background from Annie Leibovitz’s legendary body of work. I am most inspired by her Vanity Fair style fashion shoots. You’ll be seeing some portraits using this Oliphant style canvas backdrop. It helps having a BFA in Visual Design!

New Website

Louise Michaud Photographer is pleased to finally unveil our new website. Designed by Sperling Interactive in Salem, Massachusetts, our fresh, mobile-friendly site highlights Louise’s award-winning Wedding Photography, Portrait Photography, and her work with the 99 Faces Project.

Don’t slack on your compact!

I know we’ve all been cutting back and thinking more carefully about what to spend our money on in these economic challenges, and though I fully encourage cutting costs in every way, this post is about why to spend the few extra bucks for life long memories.

Specifically, I’m talking about the profession of make up artistry. For many women, we may be able to get along with our daily mascara and chapstick alright, and know how to glam up for an occasional night out on the town, well that’s all good and welcomed but what happens when you get photographed? THAT is a whole new ball game! And this is where the professional make-up artists come in handy. For decades the world of make-up artists have been taught to contour with multiple shades of foundation and enhance your features purposely for the way a camera will perceive you. Understanding what the camera will and will not pick up is the fatal lesson that many women forget when not having their make-up done for an event that is being photographed, like their wedding day. You may not think so, but applying professional make-up to get you “camera ready” is a lot more complicated than it appears.

The purpose for these make-up artists are to help make you feel like your best self. And with that, they already understand the relationship between your look and the camera steering you clear away from any disappointments in your memories of your facial appearance that day. What much of the public does not understand is that there are a lot of guidelines to follow, for example: different types of foundation and eye-shadow can add a shiny look to your skin reflecting off the flash from the camera or the sun that is picked up by the photographer’s camera lens leaving you with an unpleasant shine. This goes for different types of lipsticks as well. And just like when your grandmother powdered her nose, there are products out there in thin compacts which its soul purpose is to eliminate the natural glow. Also, choosing a bronzer and a blush to define your cheek bones is a great combination. Using the more natural color first with the blush as a pop of color helps keep you from looking flat in imagery. And I bet you had no idea that you should use a yellow-based foundation rather than a pink-based foundation due to how the camera registers you and that is just the basics! But a good professional make-up artist will know this and much more to help you look flawless on your day.

If you are in the North Shore area of Massachusetts, we highly recommend rouge cosmetics as your make-up artist. Located on Derby St. in Salem, just up the street from our studios. All of these lovely girls (shown below) are educated and talented and best of all, will listen to your questions and concerns.

And don’t forget, just like skimping on your make-up production for your special day may cause disaster, the same thing goes for professional photography…but that is for another post. 😉