Test shoots & TFP shoots: Building your modeling career

Test shoots or “TFP” shoots are unpaid photo shoots. The photographer, make-up artist and model work without remuneration in order to be able to use the photos for their own book.

TFP stands for “time for prints” or “time for pictures”

Quality over quantity: building market value

TFP and test shoots are essential for New Faces as they provide the first professional image material for the model. If a model has no footage, then she cannot be booked and does not increase her market value. However, this does not mean that the more pictures you have, the higher your market value as a model. In the beginning it is important to have high quality and meaningful pictures instead of a mass of mediocre photos.

Paid and unpaid test shoots

There are both free and paid test shoots. In the case of a paid shoot, the model has to make an initial investment, but the money is fully recovered after the second job at the latest. The prices for test shoots vary depending on the effort, styling, number of pictures and photographer. A paid test shoot can be worthwhile at the start of a career, as the photographers are often very experienced and, after all, you are paying for quality. In a free test shoot, the entire team works for free, without a fee. The model can use the pictures for herself and the photographer can sell them to magazines or similar.

CM test shoot

As an agency, we often organize our own test shoots for our models and hire a studio and photographer. Several of our New Faces come together on the day and shoot for their portfolio. You can see what a test shoot day looks like here: