Before/after photos
Six rules, one phone
Most artists who say "my work converts in person but photos don’t do it justice" have a lighting + framing problem, not a phone-camera problem. Six rules turn an iPhone into all the photography setup you need.
The six rules
#01
Window light at 45°
Stand the customer near a window with light hitting them at 45° from one side. Soft + directional: shows skin texture without harsh shadows. NEVER overhead salon-light or ring-light; both flatten the result you want to highlight.
#02
Same framing on both shots
Mark a spot on the floor for the customer to stand. Frame the same way for the before + after: same distance, same angle, same crop. Side-by-side comparison only works when the other variables hold constant.
#03
Neutral backdrop
Plain wall (white, beige, soft gray). NEVER a busy poster, salon logo, or window with a view behind the customer: eyes track to the busy area, not your work.
#04
Same pose, same expression
For face shots: customer looks straight ahead, mouth relaxed (no smile in one + neutral in the other). For body shots: same posture (arms-down or hand-on-hip in both). Difference in pose makes the customer look different, not your work.
#05
Hair off the face
Hair clip or headband. Stray hair across the cheek hides the contour transition that's the whole point of the photo. Tell the customer this matters: they'll appreciate the result.
#06
Take 3, pick 1
Three shots per moment. One almost always has the customer mid-blink, one mid-smile-they-tried-to-hide, one clean. Picking from three gives you a usable photo every time.
iPhone tips
- Use the 1x lens, not the ultrawide. The ultrawide distorts faces + bodies at close range. The default 1x lens is the most flattering for portraits.
- Lock exposure on the customer’s skin. Tap-and-hold on their forehead in the camera app : the AE/AF Lock prevents the camera from recalibrating between the before + after shots.
- Edit identically.If you brighten the after photo, brighten the before by the same amount. Selective brightening = misleading. Use the iPhone Photos app’s "Apply to..." paste-adjustments feature.
- Goldenhour adds the watermark automatically. Don’t paste your business name on the photo manually. Settings → Photos → Watermark controls the corner placement + font.
Where they show up
Goldenhour automatically pulls consented before/after photos into:
- The booking-page gallery section
- The auto-generated post-caption suggestions for Instagram
- The per-service photo strip on the booking page