So, you have decided to go out on a limb and have your first erotic or nude photoshoot, Now what!

So many people want to try one, but never quite muster the courage to book the shoot. Others go so far as to book the shoot, then get cold feet and ghost the photographer. In fact this happens more often than you would think.

So how do you properly go about finding the right fit for your shoot.

First and foremost, is choosing your photographer.

This may seem quite obvious, but so many people don’t get this right.

First and foremost is looking carefully at the photographers body of work, make sure that the pictures he has online reflect the kinds of pics that you want taken. Make sure that the quality of the images they put out there is good.

Next look through the images and look for model tags – this is important, if there are no names of models and no tags you could be seeing one of two things.

First and foremost, in this genre of photography it is important to protect the privacy of the people we photograph, so it could just be that. In my Instagram for example there are only two tagged models, the rest have requested that I do not tag them. But no tags can also be a warning bell that the person could be someone posing as a photographer. Be aware and be vigilant and look for additional warning signs.

The next thing is the conversation, chat to the potential photographer and ask lots of questions, if they don’t want to answer its probably because they cant answer. If they are genuine they will be patient and will answer each and every question. If necessary ask for a reference or 2 – I have a number of anonymous models who will happily vouch for me, they may not want their names on social media, but that does not exclude them from the vetting process.

Then you should ask to meet them in a public place for a cup of coffee, ask if you can bring a friend if necessary. If they decline… move on.

Meeting your photographer before the shoot really does make a world of difference, you get to decide if you like them enough to place your trust in them to do the shoot, your can see their facial expressions when you ask you million and one questions – this tells you a lot right there!

The main thing that makes this a good idea, is that when the day of the shoot finally arrives, you wont be doing a shoot with a strange person, a fair amount of that initial awkwardness will have been dealt with, this allows you the luxury of getting relaxed in the shoot quicker and as a result you get more good images. A win win for everyone.