Modeling Digitals: The Simple 2026 Guide to a Dallas Agency Submission
Modeling digitals are not headshots and not a portfolio. Here is the exact shot list a Dallas agency asks for, what gets a submission passed over, and what happens after you send them.
Every week we open submissions that were never going to work, and almost none of them fail on the person’s looks. They fail on the pictures. Modeling digitals are the single thing a Dallas agency asks for first, and most people send something else entirely: retouched headshots, a phone gallery, or a portfolio they paid someone a few hundred dollars to shoot.
Here is exactly what we want, why we want it, and what happens after it lands in our inbox.
What modeling digitals are, and what they are not
Modeling digitals, sometimes called polaroids or clean frames, are plain photographs of you with nothing done to you. No makeup beyond what you would wear to the grocery store. No filters. No styling. No photographer. Flat light, bare wall, fitted clothing, hair down and dry.
That sounds like a low bar. It is actually the hardest brief most people get, because it removes everything you would normally use to look good in a photo.
The reason is simple. A client booking a commercial needs to know what you look like on a set at 7 a.m. before anyone has touched you. A retouched headshot tells them what a photographer can do. Modeling digitals tell them what you look like, and that is the only thing they are deciding on.
- A headshot is a crafted image, usually lit, usually retouched. Actors need them. We do not cast from them.
- A portfolio is finished work. You earn it over time, on real jobs. You do not buy one to get started.
- Modeling digitals are reference. They are honest, repeatable, and they take fifteen minutes and a friend.
The modeling digitals shot list we ask for
The six frames
- Headshot, front, no smile. Shoulders in frame, eyes to lens, neutral face.
- Headshot, front, smiling. A real one, teeth showing.
- Headshot, profile. Full side, chin level.
- Full length, front. Arms relaxed at your sides, feet shoulder width, head to shoes in frame.
- Full length, back. Same stance, facing away.
- Full length, side. One profile is enough.
Eight to ten frames total is plenty. Beyond that you are not giving us more information, you are giving us more to sort.
What to wear
Fitted and plain. For women, a solid swimsuit or fitted top with jeans or leggings. For men, a fitted t-shirt and jeans, or shorts. Nothing baggy, nothing patterned, nothing branded. Bare feet or simple shoes. We are reading your proportions, and a loose hoodie hides exactly the thing we are trying to see.
Light, background, camera
A phone is fine. Every set of modeling digitals we have ever signed someone from was shot on a phone. What matters:
- Daylight, indirect. Stand facing a window, or outside in open shade. Never midday sun, never overhead room light, never flash.
- Plain wall. White, grey, beige. No bedroom, no bathroom, no kitchen.
- Camera at chest height for full length, eye height for headshots. Shot from the floor or from above distorts you.
- Horizontal frame, vertical body. Hold the phone steady, or prop it. Have someone else take them.
What gets a submission passed over
These are the things that actually end a submission here, in rough order of how often we see them:
- Filters or beauty mode. Nothing says “this is not what I look like” faster, and it makes us doubt the rest of the set.
- Heavy makeup. We cannot see your skin, which is half of what a commercial client is buying.
- Mirror selfies. Angle is wrong, background is cluttered, phone covers your face.
- Group photos with the others cropped out. We can always tell.
- Photos more than a year old. If your hair is different now, the set is useless.
- Sunglasses, hats, heavy jewelry. All of it is hiding something we need to see.
- Nothing but headshots. Half of commercial casting is proportion and posture. No full length, no read.
None of these are judgments about you. They are judgments about whether we can show the pictures to a client tomorrow.
The measurements that go with your modeling digitals
Send these in the message body, not written on the photos: height, bust or chest, waist, hips, dress or suit size, shoe size, hair colour, eye colour, and your age. Measure honestly in inches. Clients book to a wardrobe size, and a wrong number costs everyone a day.
If a measurement embarrasses you, send it anyway. There is a board for every set of numbers. Nothing ends a working relationship faster than a client discovering on set that the numbers were optimistic.
Why a real agency never asks you to pay for photos
You do not need to buy modeling digitals. That is the whole point of them. If an agency tells you that you have potential but first need to book a test shoot with their photographer, buy a portfolio package, or pay for classes, you have found the oldest scam in this business. The Federal Trade Commission has a page about exactly this, and it is worth five minutes of your time before you pay anyone anything.
A legitimate agency is paid a commission when you work. That is the only moment money should move. We charge no registration fee, no portfolio fee, no comp card fee, no class fee, and no test-shoot fee, at signing or ever, which you can read in full in our Standards.
What happens after you send your modeling digitals
They get looked at by a person. If your set fits a board that is open and we have client demand for your look, you hear from us for a meeting. If the set is right but the board is not open yet, we keep it on file and come back to you when it opens, which is the honest answer for most of our divisions right now.
If we pass, it is almost always about fit and timing rather than about you, and you are welcome to send a fresh set in six months if your look changes. People get signed on a second submission here more often than you would think.
What Dallas books, and why it changes your digitals
Dallas-Fort Worth is not New York or Los Angeles, and pretending otherwise produces the wrong pictures. The work here is overwhelmingly commercial: brand films, corporate and healthcare video, retail campaign, catalogue, trade show and event. Texas is one of the busiest production states in the country, and the Texas Film Commission keeps a running picture of what shoots here.
What that means for your modeling digitals: clients here are casting believable people. Warmth reads better than attitude. The smiling frame matters as much as the neutral one. An editorial stare that would work for a fashion board in New York will lose you a Dallas corporate job to someone who looked like they would be easy to work with for ten hours.
Modeling digitals: common questions
Can I shoot modeling digitals on my phone?
Yes. A recent phone in daylight is better than a DSLR with bad light. Just have another person hold it.
Should I wear makeup in modeling digitals?
No, or as close to none as you are comfortable with. Clean skin, groomed brows, hair down and dry. Save the makeup for the job.
How recent do modeling digitals need to be?
Within the last few months, and within the last few weeks if you have changed your hair, your weight, or grown or removed facial hair.
Do I need a professional photographer for modeling digitals?
No, and a professional set often works against you, because the lighting and retouching hide the information we are looking for.
What if I have never modelled before?
That is not a problem here. We cast new faces constantly for commercial work, and no prior experience or resume is required. Modeling digitals are the format precisely because they require no experience to produce.
Sending them to us
Our Get Scouted submission is free, takes a few minutes, and goes to a person. Have a look at the boards first so you know which one you are submitting to, and if you are outside the United States, our international page covers how that works. More guides for talent are in the Journal.