Each year, SALON TODAY names the most gorgeous new and newly renovated salon, spa and barbershop designs through its SALONS OF THE YEAR competition. As the application for this year just opened, we thought it would be helpful to share some strategies on how to submit the images of your beauty-based businesses since this is a photo-based competition.

Hire a professional photographer. Salon mirrors and lighting are just two of the challenges in capturing the ambiance and impact of your beautiful new or improved salon. A professional photographer experienced in shooting interior environments will know how to navigate these challenges and show your business in its best light. While using a professional photographer can be expensive, think of the multiple ways you’ll be able to use these images, for example on your website, in social posts and in staff recruitment materials.

Make them people-free. While we do invite each applicant to submit one picture of their owners or of their team, the rest of the images should focus on the design of the space and not the clients or team members within it. 

Remove the clutter. While we want to see lovely product on your retail shelves or neatly lined up tubes of color on your color station, take a close look at your stations, work surfaces and the top of the front desk and make these as clutter free as possible. 

Remove protective coverings. When owners have recently invested in new chairs, it can be tempting to leave the protective clear vinyl on them, but this can be distracting in your images. Remove them for the pictures, even if you choose to put them back on again after your shoot. 

Don’t date your images. When you schedule your shoot take a critical look at your salon, and think about how any décor could date your images. For example, Christmas or Easter decorations can help set a mood for your clientele in the season, but they can be jarring to judges when they review those images in another season. 

Tell a visual story. Review the essay questions and think how your images will support the stories in your essays. For example, we ask you to describe your three favorite design choices. Clearly mark your images so our judges understand what they are looking at or refer to specific photo images in your essays.