You don't want your talent wearing Rambo-type costumes or Nixon-era neckties, however. For both men and women, the basic rule is simple: No extreme white and no extreme black. White reflects too much light, which can affect every other nearby color. The light can bloom, causing automatic aperture settings to a lower f-stop, thus making the surrounding area harder to compensate for. Black is the opposite: it absorbs light and can rob surrounding objects of their true hues and values. Reds, dark browns, dark blues are colors that generally don't work well on camera for the same reason. Bright yellows, magentas and some greens are like white in that they tend to flare, dominate and distract. Skin color also factors in here as well: dark-skinned folks wearing very light colored clothing and fair-skinned folks wearing dark clothing are both difficult shooting situations.

Feeling faddish & funky? Have you looked at your old yearbook pictures lately? 50's bowties and beehives, 60's headbands and bell-bottoms and 80's parachute pants and ruffles can really date a picture. Try to remind your talent of this and have them keep the trendy clothes to a minimum, unless this is what the shoot is all about.

So what's left? Everything else under the rainbow, of course, but especially neutral grays, tans, soft peaches, soft greens, light blues and so on. Make sure that your talent doesn't get too carried away with fabric patterns, either. Large stripes, checks, plaids and polka dots tend to distract the viewer, while smaller patterns, such as herringbones, can dance or shimmer on screen. By the way, you should check all of this - the make-up, the clothing, the lighting - through a television monitor before shooting. Your LCD viewfinder will not show you how your subject and background will appear on a home television screen, so it's important to "trust, but verify," as Nixon used to say.

Trust your audio instincts as well by asking your talent to limit the amount of jewelry they wear. Bangles and bracelets and cannonball cufflinks can play havoc with the audio portion of your production. Large hats and sunglasses are no-nos for obvious reasons unless, of course, your program is about large hats and sunglasses, in which case you'll need to re-think your lighting and make-up accordingly.

Unless they have experience in front of a camera, your talent will probably be a little apprehensive. They will want to know what to wear on their bodies and what to wear on their faces. Just tell them not to worry, bring a couple of wardrobe changes in the appropriate color schemes and their usual beautiful mug and you'll do the rest. After all, Richard Nixon's advisors learned enough about pancake and powder to win the 1968 presidential elect…