Paul Falltrick, BaByliss PRO ambassador and creator of our latest collection, Alchemy, has put together his top ten tips for creating styles for photo work:

1) Planning is key - make sure you know what you are aiming to achieve before getting in front of a camera, i.e. how many finished looks you want.

2) Be realistic. It is better to have four excellent finished looks than eight that are mediocre.

3) Practice the styles in advance - to increase your speed and perfect the finished look. But remember you only need to concentrate on the area that will be seen by the camera. If the style will be shot from the front don’t waste time perfecting the back of the style (especially if you are spending money on the full works - studio, photographer, make-up artist, stylist etc) Time is crucial!

4) If working with a team (make-up artist, stylist etc), make sure they are well briefed about what you want to achieve.

5) Make sure you have provided a detailed brief for all those involved in the shoot, and met with the photographer in advance to discuss ideas - the photographer is as key to the finished looks as you are!

6) If not using a professional model make sure whoever you use is photogenic. There’s many a girl (or boy!) whose stunning real life looks are simply not reflected in the lens!

7) Don’t spend ages on each shot - always be mindful of what you need to achieve during the day. If this isn’t your forte then select someone to be ‘shoot manager’, to be the time keeper and keep everything moving.

8) If a look or shot is not working after about ½ an hour it probably never will, so move on to the next look to give yourself time to rethink.

9) If using a professional photographer ensure you have fixed a price including any re-touching before the shoot to eliminate any nasty surprises afterwards.

10) And if you are planning to send your finished looks to magazines make sure they are in high resolution jpeg, tiffs or eps formats (your photographer will understand this!) on a disk that is clearly labelled with your contact details. Magazines also need the details of the photographer, make-up artist etc.