Make up photography

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laulon

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Going to be taking some pics for a friend who is a make up artist and needs some pics of her work. Never done this before. Can anyone give me some advice? Lighting? Lenses? Posing?

Cheers!
 
It does depend on the look she wants :)
Standing back a bit and using a longer focal length to get close is far more flattering to the models than physically getting close up with the camera. Getting too close leads to distortion as whatever's closest, usually the nose, is proportionally far closer than the rest of the face making it look much larger.
Soft lighting, avoiding harsh shadows and highlights, would be best. So if outside in strong sunlight find some shade. If using a flash bounce it off a wall/ceiling to make the lightsouce larger (softer light and shadows) and get the flash off camera if possible :)

ETA, I wouldn't go much below 50mm for tight head shots. I find any wider than that and I start to notice the distortion.
 
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How much lighting experience do you have? What gear do you have?

Personally I would shoot this on a plain neutral background like a pale brown or grey, get up close with a longish lens (at least the top of the head to collarbones in the frame though), use a nice big soft light source to minimise shadows and make sure the model has no clothing apparent in the image. The aim is to make the make-up the main focus so anything else is just a distraction IMO.
 
And wear dark clothing :) I did an outside shoot with a model and there was a clear reflection of me (bright white shirt) in her eyes when I zoomed in later.
 
You've not said if it's on location or in a studio. I did some recently during a bigger shoot at a hotel. For the close ups of the faces I used natural lighting from a window with a reflector (white) to bounce back some light onto the 'darker' side. If you're using flash on camera bounce it off the ceiling (check the colour first though!!!!!!)- don't forget to lift your catchlight card! I agree about the focal length, no wider than 50mm or you'll distort the facial features!
Take some material with you to hang if the background is too distracting! The best window I found had TV, lamb etc (not-movable) we ended up using the curtain as a backdrop!
good luck - let us know how you got on!
Marion
www.marionfrances.co.uk
 
I did some for a friend a few years ago. Used my Elinchrom lights and softboxes in her front room using a plain off-white wall and some on location at a lovely period house, again with the Elinchroms. Some of my pics on her website
http://www.glosshairandmakeup.com/make-up.html and on the airbrushing page as well as the slideshow on the home page. There were lots more that I took, some I thought better than the ones on the website, but hey ho.
 
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Thanks for all the advice so far!

I have a 24-70mm 2.8 and a 50mm 1.4 and was considering borrowing a macro for close ups of eye make up. As for location, the makeup artist is leaving it to me decide but I think she was thinking white background. I will be doing it from home and have a white blind I could use as a backdrop, some black sheeting I have used before for dramatic shots and also wanted to do a few in natural light in my garden. From a bit of online image searching, a grey background seems to be used a lot and looks good, so I am also considering buying a grey backdrop. I have 2 small soft boxes, a large one (3 speed lights) and a reflector. I often use a lot of bounce flash but am pretty much self taught lighting wise and don't yet feel very confident when setting up indoor lighting, so any more advice with that would be a great help!

Thanks!
 
Stick the model next to a nice big window that doesn't have the sun streaming in directly through it. Shoot lots.

If you're not that confident with using artificial light, don't confuse things with it. Afterwards, don't mess about with them too much as they're supposed to show off the MUA's skills, not your post production skills. :thumbs:
 
laulon said:
Thanks for all the advice so far!

I have a 24-70mm 2.8 and a 50mm 1.4 and was considering borrowing a macro for close ups of eye make up. As for location, the makeup artist is leaving it to me decide but I think she was thinking white background. I will be doing it from home and have a white blind I could use as a backdrop, some black sheeting I have used before for dramatic shots and also wanted to do a few in natural light in my garden. From a bit of online image searching, a grey background seems to be used a lot and looks good, so I am also considering buying a grey backdrop. I have 2 small soft boxes, a large one (3 speed lights) and a reflector. I often use a lot of bounce flash but am pretty much self taught lighting wise and don't yet feel very confident when setting up indoor lighting, so any more advice with that would be a great help!
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Its because the neutral tones don't take anything away from the make-up/jewelry/clothing what ever you are photography. I wouldn't use white background, it just looks cheap and tacky (IMO).

Regarding the 'Look'. I would be tempted to do something like this. Simple lighting, neutral background, nothing to detract from the make-up. http://ferenc.biz/photography/files...eup-Artist-Hair-Stylist-MUA-New-York-City.jpg.


Jayst84 said:
Stick the model next to a nice big window that doesn't have the sun streaming in directly through it. Shoot lots.

If you're not that confident with using artificial light, don't confuse things with it. Afterwards, don't mess about with them too much as they're supposed to show off the MUA's skills, not your post production skills. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I would disagree with the 'don't mess about with them', if you look at most fashion photographers they will actually touch up the make up in post because you will always get a few stray flecks of mascara or whatever (you can tell I don't use makeup! haha). Just don't go OTT on the colours as they are the most important part to get right :thumbs:
 
Jayst84 said:
Yes, they need post production of course, as every image does. Just don't go nuts as some people do with smoothing and repainting make-up in post - fine for fashion shots, but not much use to demonstrate a MUA's work.
Click to expand...

+1. Real people, real make up. How about a 'before' and 'after' shot?
 
laulon said:
Thanks for all the advice so far!

I have a 24-70mm 2.8 and a 50mm 1.4 and was considering borrowing a macro for close ups of eye make up. As for location, the makeup artist is leaving it to me decide but I think she was thinking white background. I will be doing it from home and have a white blind I could use as a backdrop, some black sheeting I have used before for dramatic shots and also wanted to do a few in natural light in my garden. From a bit of online image searching, a grey background seems to be used a lot and looks good, so I am also considering buying a grey backdrop. I have 2 small soft boxes, a large one (3 speed lights) and a reflector. I often use a lot of bounce flash but am pretty much self taught lighting wise and don't yet feel very confident when setting up indoor lighting, so any more advice with that would be a great help!

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Remember that if you don't light a white background, the light fall off from the subject to the background often makes it appear grey.
 
jacob12_1993 said:
Its because the neutral tones don't take anything away from the make-up/jewelry/clothing what ever you are photography. I wouldn't use white background, it just looks cheap and tacky (IMO).

Regarding the 'Look'. I would be tempted to do something like this. Simple lighting, neutral background, nothing to detract from the make-up. http://ferenc.biz/photography/files...eup-Artist-Hair-Stylist-MUA-New-York-City.jpg.


This is exactly what I had in my head so plan to look for a grey backdrop. How is the lighting set up in this example?
Click to expand...
 
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laulon said:
jacob12_1993 said:
Its because the neutral tones don't take anything away from the make-up/jewelry/clothing what ever you are photography. I wouldn't use white background, it just looks cheap and tacky (IMO).

Regarding the 'Look'. I would be tempted to do something like this. Simple lighting, neutral background, nothing to detract from the make-up. http://ferenc.biz/photography/files...eup-Artist-Hair-Stylist-MUA-New-York-City.jpg.


This is exactly what I had in my head so plan to look for a grey backdrop. How is the lighting set up in this example?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Not sure what's going on with my posts but jacob12_1993 how is your example image lit?
 
laulon said:
??
Click to expand...

I think Jacob is travelling in SE Asia at the moment, so probably isn't online everyday (he shouldn't be anyway!) The link is dead as well now, so unfortunately we can't check the lighting. There are plenty of other examples out there on the web though, if you find something you like, and post a link to it, I'm sure someone will be able to help reverse engineer it. :thumbs:

As said before though, keep it simple is the best option at this stage.
 
Thanks! I like the idea of using a beauty dish, it seems easy use with great results but costly!
 
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