IMAGE SELECTION

With this year’s deadline fast approaching (Friday 30 June at 5pm!), we spoke with previous winners to get their advice on making the most of your entry this year.

The Power of Three

“Choosing your final images for each look can be tricky. I would advise flagging your favourites for each look and narrowing it down to three per look. I create a grid of eight boxes on my screen and slot in the individual shots for each one so I can see how they all look together. I then crop the images to the size I'm happy with as this will affect the overall look of the collection. If I'm really indecisive at this stage, I print out my favourites and lay them out, switching around the order until I find the ones that flow best together. It’s important to take into consideration the overall look, mood, emotion, composition and eye contact as well as the hair look.”

Jordanna Cobella, London Hairdresser of the Year 2022

A Fine Balance

"You need to balance out the collection, rather than have one random image. You will have a couple of looks per model, so think about whether they are facing the camera, profile shots or back shots. When I’m choosing my images I bring the whole shoot up on the screen and choose my top five of each look.

Then I’ll whittle this down to the top two. This then dictates which ones I choose to get retouched and on what paper. Then, I lay out all the images and swap and match until I get the collection I want. The edit process starts early on, not when the images are on the table."

Cos Sakkas, British Hairdresser of the Year 2022

The Whole Picture

“The first question you need to ask is ‘does the image jump out at you?’ If so, then why? Is it because it was exactly what you envisioned before it was shot? This applies to the lighting, styling, make-up, model, concept and how the image was captured. When I’ve looked at my past winning collections, the answer to all of these questions has been yes yes and yes!”

Michelle Thompson, Hall of Fame 2019

The First Four

“Picking the first four images for the first round of judging is the most difficult part of the image selection process for me, as they’re the ones that are going to determine if you finalise or not. For this selection I obsess over trying to show as much variation as possible. I print all the potential pictures out and lay them out and, like a jigsaw puzzle, and just move them around until they fit.”

Jon Wilsdon, North Western Hairdresser of the Year 2019

Choose as You Shoot

“We actually select images as we’re shooting. Myself and the photographer choose our favourite image or sometimes favourite two images. I’m looking purely at the hair, the feeling that the image is giving and how it will fit with the other images in the collection. In the early days I would select a few of each model, then have the hard task of narrowing it down. I’ve found it's much more productive to choose during the shoot ‘in the moment’. It means you are choosing what really stands out to you on first glance. I imagine it’s the same when the judges look at all the collections for the first time – they instantly get drawn to certain pictures, then go in for a closer look.”

  Andrew Smith, Southern Hairdresser of the Year 2022