London · Case study for photographers, models and agencies
“An agency test has one job: show the agency something new about the model.”
This is the story of one model test shoot in Richmond, London: Alice Montemagno for the agency Linden Staub, photographed and styled by SwainUK in a park full of spring blossom. It is not a general guide to tests (that is the model test shoot London guide). It is a worked example: why the location was right, how two simple looks were built, how hard spring sun was used instead of fought, how one test also produced a short film, and what the agency received at the end.
Alice Montemagno for Linden Staub · Richmond, London
01 · The brief
A test for a London agency board
Linden Staub is a London model and talent agency, founded in 2016 by Tara Le Roux and Esther Kinnear-Derungs and based in Shoreditch. It is known for a next-day payment policy for the talent it represents as mother agency. Alice Montemagno is on its board, and the project credits are short: Linden Staub as the agency, Alice as the model, Joshua Swain as photographer. The film from the same day credits the styling to SwainUK too.
A test like this is not a campaign. Nobody is selling a product, and the client is really the model's agent. What the agent needs is pictures that make the model easier to book: a clear look at her face, her shape, how she moves, and a range of moods that sits alongside what is already in her book. Every decision below comes back to that.
Ask the agent what is missing. More natural light? Full length? Movement? A softer or a stronger mood? The answer decides the location and the looks.
Agree the look of the model. Hair and make-up on a test stay close to natural, so clients can see the real person.
Agree how many selects and in what shapes. Horizontal, vertical, colour and black and white, before the day, not after.
Agree usage in writing. Who may post the pictures, and where. See model release forms for UK and UAE shoots.
Sources: Linden Staub, about the agency · Linden Staub, Alice Montemagno.
02 · Location
Why a Richmond park in spring
The footbridge: lines that lead straight to the model, and a full-length frame agencies always ask for.
Richmond gives you a lot within a short walk: blossom trees, a weeping cherry, open lawns, daffodils along a fence, a wooden footbridge and water. For a test, that variety matters more than any single beautiful spot, because each set-up has to look like a different picture in the model's book. Shooting in spring added a colour story for free: pale pink blossom and fresh green grass that sit well with light, simple clothes.
| Set-up | What it gives the book | Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Blossom path | Soft colour, depth, a natural reason to turn and look back | Half length, horizontal |
| Weeping blossom tree | A frame around the model, a romantic mood | Wide and three-quarter |
| Wooden footbridge | Strong lines, full length, room to move | Full length, low and central |
| Daffodils and fence | A second colour palette for the second look | Three-quarter, profile |
| Tree trunk and pond | Something to lean on, shape in the pose | Three-quarter, vertical |
Two practical notes for anyone planning the same thing. Parks are busy in blossom season, so plan frames that keep passers-by out (low angles, long lenses, backgrounds of trees rather than paths), and check the rules of the park you choose: some London parks ask for a permit for professional shoots. The natural light fashion photography guide for London covers parks and seasons in more detail.
03 · Styling
Two looks, nothing loud
Look one: a cream textured jacket with black trim, a pink collar and a pink skirt.
The test used two looks. The first was a cream textured jacket with black trim, worn over pink with a short pink skirt. The second was almost all white: a short-sleeved white shirt jacket, a plain top and white trousers, with a single white flower earring. Neither look has a logo, a busy print or a strong trend in it.
That is deliberate. On a test the clothes are there to show the model, not the other way round. Light, plain colours bounce light back onto the face, keep skin tones clean, and do not date the pictures. The pink of the first look picks up the blossom, and the white of the second picks up the daffodils and the white flowers on the trees, so each look has its own corner of the park.
Match the look to the set
Pick each outfit for a place: pink with blossom, white with green and yellow. It makes the edit look planned.
One statement only
Here it was the flower earring. One detail gives close-ups a point of interest without taking over.
Fabric that moves
Loose sleeves and a light jacket catch the wind, which gives movement in stills and in film.
Change in two minutes
Outdoors with no studio, keep changes simple: a jacket and a skirt, not a full new outfit with fiddly shoes.
04 · Light
Using bright spring sun instead of fighting it
Dappled shade by the bridge, and a backlit close-up with the sun behind her hair.
The test was shot in natural light on a bright day with blue sky. Hard sun is the light most people try to avoid for portraits, but it gives you three very different looks if you move the model rather than the light:
| Position | What happens to the light | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Sun behind the model | Glowing hair, soft even face, lifted contrast | Close portraits, the flower earring frames |
| Under trees | Dappled pattern, moody and graphic | The white look by the bridge rail |
| Open shade, sky as the source | Soft, true skin and colour | The cleanest frames for the agency |
| Sun on the face | Hard shadows, squinting | Avoided, except for short, strong moments |
With backlight, expose for the face and let the sky go bright; the blossom turns into soft colour behind her. In dappled light, wait for a patch of sun to land on the face rather than half of it, and shoot a few frames as she moves, because the pattern changes with every step. And keep checking the eyes: a test with squinting eyes is a test the agency cannot use.
05 · Direction
Movement, angles and a mood that changes
A stretch on the bridge: a low angle, the sky as background and a pose that only lasts a second.
Look through the selects and the range is the point: still, direct portraits to camera; a look back over the shoulder on the blossom path; a stretch with both arms up on the bridge; a walk towards camera with one hand on a tree; a profile looking away. An agency wants to see that the model can hold a quiet close-up and also fill a frame with her whole body.
Start close and calm
Begin with simple portraits while the model warms up. They are the frames the agency needs most, so get them early.
Give actions, not poses
"Walk to me and look past my shoulder" gets a more natural frame than "turn your chin left".
Go low for full length
A slightly low camera makes legs longer and puts sky or blossom behind the head instead of a path.
Change the mood on purpose
Soft and dreamy under the blossom, stronger and more direct on the bridge. Tell the model which one you want.
The second look in profile, with daffodils as a soft yellow band behind her.
06 · Film
A test that also became a short film
The same day produced a short film, “C'est Alice”, published in April 2025 and described as a creative video for Linden Staub, with styling by SwainUK. It runs about 36 seconds. A clip like this costs very little extra on a test and gives the model something an agency increasingly wants: proof that she moves well on camera, ready for social media and for clients casting for video.
1. Film between the frames. When a pose is working, switch to video for ten seconds before moving on. The model is already warm and the light is already right.
2. Shoot movement, not stills on video. A walk, a turn, hair in the wind, a look to camera. Static clips look like photos that forgot to stop.
3. Use the same looks and places. The film then feels like one story with the photographs.
4. Keep it short. Under forty seconds is enough for a model's reel and for vertical posts.
How to plan stills and film together without slowing either one down is covered in photo and video on the same shoot, and the craft of the short film itself in fashion film production in London.
07 · Delivery
What the agency received
One black and white frame among the colour selects: a different mood from the same light.
The Alice Linden Staub gallery holds just over thirty selects from the day. Most are horizontal, with a handful of vertical portraits, and one black and white frame with sunglasses that changes the mood of the set. They are finished files, delivered through an online gallery with high resolution and web-size downloads, so the agent can drop them straight into the model's book and onto the agency board.
| Deliver | Why |
|---|---|
| A tight edit, not every frame | Around thirty strong pictures are easier to use than three hundred similar ones |
| Both looks, every set-up | So the agent can choose a range for the book |
| Horizontal and vertical | Books, websites and social posts all need different shapes |
| High-res and web sizes | Print and online, without the agent resizing anything |
| Natural retouching | Clients book the face they see. More in retouching that keeps skin texture |
Watch
The film and other Linden Staub tests
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FAQ
Common questions
Where can you do a model test shoot in Richmond, London?
Richmond's parks and riverside give you blossom, lawns, trees, water and footbridges within a short walk, which means several different-looking set-ups in one session. Check the rules of the park first, as some ask for a permit for professional shoots, and plan frames that keep the public out of shot.
What does a model agency want from a test shoot?
New, usable pictures that make the model easier to book: clear portraits with natural hair and make-up, full-length frames, movement and a range of moods, delivered as a tight edit in horizontal and vertical with natural retouching.
How do you shoot a model test in bright sun?
Move the model rather than fighting the light: put the sun behind her for glowing backlit portraits, use open shade for the cleanest skin, and use dappled light under trees for a moodier frame. Avoid direct sun on the face, which causes squinting and hard shadows.
Should a model test shoot include video?
A short clip costs little extra on the day and shows clients how the model moves. Film ten seconds of movement whenever a pose is working, keep the same looks and places as the stills, and cut it to under forty seconds.
Written by Joshua Swain, who photographs and films fashion, beauty and model tests in London and Dubai. See the Alice x Linden Staub project.