Question 1

What is involved with booking/doing a shoot?

Accepted Answer

It's easy!
1. Review this FAQ page in its entirety
2. Read over the collections page in full and pick which collection works best for your needs.
3. Send me an email through the contact page
4. I will get back to you with any follow-up questions and will start looking at shoot (and consultation, if it applies) date(s). And talk pre-payment plan if you need one.
5. Once we set your date, I will send you all the shoot info you need, you will e-sign a few documents, and pay your deposit ($300) invoice. Then you are officially booked.
6. You'll come to your in-person consultation if your collection includes it and we will plan in person and pre-pick your wardrobe. If your collection doesn't include in-person consultation we will plan via email, and your shoot will only include one look which is very easy to figure out day of the shoot! If your shoot includes in person but you can only come in for your shoot date, that's okay! We can plan your shoot via email too.
7. Day of the shoot, you will arrive, either hair and makeup shoot-ready, or, if you've booked a stylist, with a clean face and dry hair for the stylist to doll you up!
8. We will move through the shoot, with outfit and set changes should your collection include them. I will pose you from head to toe, and can even direct where to point your eyes, remind you to relax your eyebrows, soften your lips, etc! As we shoot your poses (a pose being varying different portraits/positions) when I get one I believe is a winner, I will show you it on the back of the camera, if you want anything tweaked in the moment, we can and shoot it again till you give your approval.
9. After the shoot is over we take a short break, so I can upload your images and grab the best one of each of your poses to upload for us to view on the big screen, for your portrait reveal.
10. Portrait reveal: immediately following your shoot, no need to return to the studio at a later date. We will review your portraits on the big-screen, and I will help guide you towards selecting your favorites, and any additional portraits you choose to add on to your collection I am happy to do math for at any point, including figuring a post-shoot payment plan.
All collections must be paid in full the day of the shoot BUT any add on poses, or ala cart printed products you add on can be put into a payment plan and stretched out over up-to 12 months. More details on payment plans are further down in this FAQ.
11. At the end of the reveal if you have any special retouching requests, I can make notes.
12. I will retouched your chosen portraits, usually 1-3 weeks depending on the collection and my retouching queue. I will send you an approval album first, this will give you a chance to review the retouches, and request additional tweaks if needed. Once you are happy with them, I will send your download album, and order any printed products if you choose any. Printed products can take 2-4 weeks depending on which product and labs. 
13. That's it! Now you have stunning custom art that will outlive you and I both. Something creative, and worthy of telling your story with out words. Something you've always deserved!

Question 2

Is Hair and Makeup Styling included?

Accepted Answer

Hair and makeup styling is no longer baked into the shoots BUT it's easy enough to add it on for an additional fee. It is available for all collections EXCEPT the "Lily" collection. 
If you would like hair/makeup styling please mention it when inquiring and we will check on available dates with our stylists.
If you add styling:
You come fresh faced and with any inspiration photos you'd like for the stylist to work from (optional) and they do the rest. Lashes are included!

Question 3

Is wardrobe included? (And do you have my size?)

Accepted Answer

Yes, wardrobe is included in every session!
You are of course welcome to bring things of your own as well. I only have femme wardrobe (sizes xsm-xxxl) and some girls wardrobe so if you need something outside of that genre you may have to bring your own.
I do not have the wardrobe digitized, so if you can't come in for an in person consultation, or it's not included in your collection, we will figure it out day of! I've never had anyone not be able to find something they love. If you are nervous about being so laid back about it, feel free to look through the galleries of my site. If you find something you like that you think may fit you, screen-shot it and email it to me and I can let you know if it's something in the studio wardrobe and what size it is.

Question 4

Is Modeling Experience Required?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not! Most of my clients have rarely, if ever been in front of a camera, let alone to this scale. You can come in without any idea what to do and I promise you'll be totally fine! I will guide you through each pose, adjusting you as we go from head to toe.

Question 5

Can I do more than one theme? Like Pinup and Fairy?

Accepted Answer

Yes! 
If your collection includes more than one set/one look we can easily do two totally different themes/vibes. 
If you are adding on optional hair/makeup styling:
 We just aim for some hair and makeup styling that works for both vibes! 
We can only do one hair/makeup look, with no changes, so we will want to consider this in advance.
BUT we can change wigs, or start with your hair for the first set and change to a wig for the second set. So these are all things we can discuss based on what you would like.

The combo is totally up to you, a modern vanity fair editorial glam look and a painted goddess?
A forest fairy and a sea siren?
a vintage pinup listening to records and a moody dark 1920s vamp?
an angel lounging in the clouds and a sneaky little devil dancing in the forest?
Modern Boudoir and Personal branding for your business?
Seriously so many options I know it can make your head spin a little!
 I suggest looking through my galleries and social medias (I'm Autumn Luciano Studios on Facebook and Instagram) and maybe drawing some inspiration from Pinterest, take a peek at the available sets page, and from there we can narrow down your themes/looks when we have your consultation and come up with a solid game plan. I'm here to help!

Question 6

Where is your studio? I don't see an address.

Accepted Answer

I have a *gasp!* home studio!
Or I should say I have a studio home....because this house was purchased specifically for me to create this space for your shoot. So obviously my address is not listed on the site, I can say here that I am on the north-east side of Lansing Michigan.

The studio and reveal area is in what should be my living room (But isn't, you wont find my husband lounging on the couch when you get here, it's set up as solely studio space!) Off the studio there is the styling room that has a bathroom.
The back half of the house is locked off and tho you may here the pitter-patter of tiny cat paws on the other side of the house, no cats, will be in the space during the session (and they are not allowed in the styling room at all, if you have allergies I suggest going with your gut on this one but a lot of my allergic clients have faired will with an allergy pill. If you give me a heads up we will give the studio an even more  thorough sweeping than usual.

I do have a husband, Kevin (You may know him from his viral "studio husband lighting test model" videos on tiktok)
He works from home but he's often out in his shop and is very good at being quiet during our shoot so you may never even get a hint of his existence. Occasionally I do need him to pop into the studio for crazy big set changes. If this is the case for your shoot I will give you a heads up, and I usually have clients pop into the styling room for a quick selfie break while this is happening so you still may never even see him.

COVID NOTE: Since this is my home, and myself, my husband, and a good few people we love dearly are immuno-compromised in one way or another, I do ask that everyone who comes into my space be masked. I always have extra masks at the door. If you come with makeup shoot ready, you do not need to mask to avoid messing up your makeup, but I ask that you put one on after the shoot is over.
If you are getting makeup done by at stylist: Arrive masked or get one at the door and stay masked till the makeup styling begins.
Please arrive masked for any consultations as well.
Please do not bring anyone with you who is not being photographed in your shoot.
If they are in the shoot they are welcome in masked as well.
The only person permitted in who may not be being photographed is if you are a parent/guardian of someone being photographed or a caretaker in some capacity who needs to be on hand for the safety and well being of the person being photographed.
Myself and my stylists will be masked the entire time.
If you or someone coming to the shoot is feeling sick, or has been exposed, we can reschedule for no fee/no questions asked (this also goes for dangerous driving conditions, we don't need anyone risking their neck for a shoot!) I appreciate your transparency for this as covid hits me extremely hard and I am at a higher risk for long-covid than most.

I appreciate my client's respect and understanding. YES this info is current to 2026.
Also on an unrelated to covid, but related to bird-flu that is very deadly to my 7 cats note: No outside shoes are permitted inside the house. you can take them off in the entry and put them into the shoe cupboard but please do not wear them any further inside the house. I clean the entryway floor after you leave.
If you have shoes worn outdoors that you would like to wear for your shoot please bring them in a bag and I will be happy to give the soles a quick wipe and then we will be good to go!
It may be extra but we have suffered through a lot of crazy cat illnesses the last 5-7 years so we are just extra careful when it comes to these babies!

Question 7

Can I shoot with my friend/sister/kid/fam/mom/dog??

Accepted Answer

Any human you'd love to be photographed is welcome! 
There may be an additional fee depending on a few factors, collections are set up for one person so be sure to let me know who you'd like to be photographed with and what you have in mind when booking and I can get you a solid quote.

I can only accommodate small groups (4-5 people max if the group includes kids, max adult groups would be 3 total, especially if hair and makeup is required for everyone, as I'd have to bring in multiple stylists and it could be a pretty long day for everyone.) It really depends on which set you'd like, what your goals are, etc. Feel free to email me and we can chat about what would work best for you.

Pets however I can't accommodate unless we are shooting outdoors on location somewhere. 
I used to, but having a home studio with many cats, I have had people bring in fleas, and even pan-leukemia which nearly cost us our sweet Lily cat, and we've had such awful luck with our cat's health the last handful of years I just won't risk it anymore and can't make exceptions. This also being said if you are hoping to bring any live florals to add into your shoot, there are no lilies ever allowed to come in! (I know this is ironic, knowing I have a cat named Lily....but lilies are the most toxic thing to a cat, even a little pollen falling off on the floor they could later walk on is dangerous, for this reason they are not allowed! )

Question 8

I'm a small business owner/performer/author/etc...what can you do for me?

Accepted Answer

I LOVE working with small business owners/self employed people, you know why?
Well beyond that I just love getting to help create content for you to grow the business you love and sink your all into (trust me I know it's not easy and a real labor of love.) ya'll get to write this experience off on your taxes, could we ask for anything cooler? (I mean consult your tax professional to be sure, but you should be good.)
And I'm not talking just classic small business owners, anything you use to promote yourself that is for the purpose of bringing you income is a write off, this means performers, musicians, burlesque dancers, only fans girlies, other photographers! You posting it on socials, making fliers, etc? It's a write off!

So we can do:
Personal branding session
Promotional / social media content
Album Covers/books covers/author photos
Product photography
Etc!

Every image you order comes as a professionally retouched, high resolution digital with personal printing rights and publication rights (submit to magazines, news articles, websites, business cards, linkedin, social medias, fliers, album covers, book jackets, etc! 
The only thing you can't do is print to resell (products, prints, t-shirts, bags, etc. For example, a burlesque dancer selling an autographed print at a show.) but you can add that release for an additional fee!