How to Photograph People using Direct Sunlight

By Paul Kerins | Published: February 21, 2012

How to correctly use direct sunlight to make your portrait photographs more beautiful.

Ambient light, studio light, available light and the most important light of all, star light. That gigantic mass of hydrogen and helium we call the sun that produces 386 billion billion ( not a typo ) mega-Watts of energy, that is created by so many nuclear fusion reactions per second that we don’t have a number big enough to count them all, which is awesome when you want to use a really low ISO setting on your digital camera.

Using direct sunlight in photography should be simple enough, right? Nothing to plug-in and no cords to trip over, just point and shoot. Well…, simple does not necessarily mean easy. The only thing simple about using the sun as your light source is that it is a single light source. Understanding and utilizing the basic tried and true rules of photographing people in direct sunlight will make you smarter and more attractive, plus you will make better photographs. Okay it won’t make you smarter, but you will make more beautiful photographs, and that my friend is sexy.

kornelia 238x300 How to Photograph People using Direct Sunlight

Kornelia photographed during golden hour.

When not to shoot direct sunlight.

The rules are pretty straight forward when it comes to shooting people in direct sunlight. The closer the sun is to it’s zenith ( the sun being directly overhead ) the more harsh the light becomes, and the more likely you will be in need of a reflector or fill light to soften the shadows. Professional photographers don’t shoot in direct sunlight at midday when the sun is at it’s zenith. They would instead seek out softer ambient light in locations that shelter from the harsh sunlight conditions of midday. Or they could just go for a long lunch, and wait until the direct sunlight at the location is of a high enough quality that it becomes acceptable to them.

Use fill light.

If you have to shoot at midday in direct sunlight then it is best to work in a location that offers a natural fill light. Some examples of this might be a light coloured sandy beach, snow, or a light coloured concrete floor. You could also use a fill flash
( off camera flash ) and under expose the light of the flash fill by about a stop or two depending on the type of results you want to achieve. Otherwise have a assistant use a fill card to reflect light into the shadows to soften them. Sometimes putting down a large white sheet in front of your subject, just outside of camera view will do quite nicely as a fill as well. All of those suggestions will help soften the shadows caused by harsh direct sunlight. Be careful of bad fill light, it can look as unappealing as a harsh shadow does. Think of fill light as another light source, to much or to little makes your photograph look bad. Find a balance with your fill light to complement the main light in order to make a good photograph.

When to shoot direct sunlight.

To really make your subject look their most beautiful, you should ideally be shooting in the first 2 hours after sunrise or the last two hours before the sun sets. Commonly called “Magic Hour” or “Golden Hour”, and for good reason. The shadows are long and soft and the light warm and rich. People also prefer to be photographed at these times too as it is easier on their eyes, so they will not be squinting nearly as much as they would at midday. Photographing someone at the crack of dawn has a down side though, puffy morning face. This is something that effects even young professional models, so the more time your subject is awake before you shoot the better, so their face can de-puffify ( I just invented that word, yay me ). After the sun sets you can continue to photograph your subject for 10 to 20 minutes, or as long as there is still ambient light. Often the light can even be more beautiful after the sun has set. Just be quick about it and check your exposure often as the light’s exposure levels changes very rapidly in those few minutes.

Use the environment.

When the sun is long past it’s zenith but still prior to the golden hour you can photograph your subject and be confident that you are getting good quality light if you are paying attention to the light and how it affects your subject. Using a fill light or reflectors only if needed. I personally only use reflectors as a last resort myself, instead I try and use the environment, and/or the position of my subject and/or my point of view, or a combination of all of these to find my light. Whatever it takes to get the photograph. By environment I mean using what is around you, a body of water, a dirt road, a white or light coloured wall, all act as good natural fill lights and reflectors. Positioning of the subject relative to the sun is also quick and easy way of controlling the light. Changing the type of direct sunlight is as simple photographing your subject  back-lit  or side-lit. Use of back lighting in direct sunlight is often my preferred way of using direct sunlight. Just meter and expose for the face and everything else will fall into place.

Think about your point of view.

Your point of view will also affect how direct sunlight looks on your subject, for example; if you are doing a back-lit photograph, you could be using your subject’s body or head to block the sun. When you start to change your perspective ( this could be as little as few centimetres give or take a centimetre ), you could create some lens flare from the sun coming out from behind your subject and hitting your lens. Lens flare will change the dynamics of the image, plus the flare will soften the image. You will have to play, and try different situations depending on the quality of the light you are working with, while paying attention to your subject’s strength and weaknesses.

Conclusion

Experimenting with direct sunlight, using the tools and ideas from these past few paragraphs will help you produce better photographs with more beautiful light, just keep in mind that patience may be the key to getting higher quality light for your portraits. Not shooting because the light is still harsh and waiting a hour or more till the quality of the direct sunlight is softer and more beautiful will be the difference between a good photograph and a amazing photograph.

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Ambient High-key Beauty Lighting

By Paul Kerins | Published: February 15, 2012

How to do ambient high-key beauty lighting using only one light source.

The most beautiful light is often the simplest, coming only from a single light source. In this beauty photograph of Emma that light source was a large bay window that was behind her, and the light was simple indirect ambient sunlight being channelled though the window. Ambient high-key beauty lighting is quite easy to do in a close-up beauty photograph like this, or for a portrait photograph.

The most beautiful light is often the simplest, coming only from a single light source.

 

 

For this photograph I was in a daylight photography studio in Paris, and the window was a large bay window with a northern exposure. Which is the best place to have your window in a daylight studio because you will never get hard direct sunlight coming into the studio, only soft ambient daylight, all day long. The advantage to this is a nice even light source that is very easy to work with.

Ideally the studio should not be on the ground level, but on the second floor of the building or higher with no other buildings or trees close by. The reasons for this is to have no obstructions that may affect the quality of the ambient sunlight coming though the window, and to have no colour shifts from the light being reflected off the ground, trees, or the surfaces of other buildings. All you should see though the bay window would be open sky, if there are trees or other buildings hopefully they are far enough away that they will not effect the quality of the light.

Ambient high-key beauty lighting, and set-up illustrations.

Along with the photo of Emma to show you the quality of the ambient high-key beauty light, I included two illustrations to show you the lighting set-up. The first diagram I made, showing you from the photographer’s perspective of how the set would more or less look, and in the second image a top-down version that I put together using the Online Lighting Diagram Creator .
These illustrations are not exactly how I set up the shot. The reason for this is because I almost completely enclosed Emma in a tent of reflectors, and it was not really possible to illustrate this set-up and still show the model, but it is a very close approximation to what I did do in the set-up to give you the general idea.

Reflector placement

The large ( 4ft x 8ft or 1.22m x 2.44m) white foam-core panels are in front of her, at a distance of approximately one metre away ( about one yard ) both are angled in at forty five degrees to reflect the back-light from the window onto her face, the panels are very close together, but with enough space between them that I can compose the photograph without the foam-core coming into the edges of the frame in camera. Above the model is another smaller panel of white foam-core sitting on top of the large panels. Finally there is a another small white foam-core panel between the model and the large panels at about waist level also at a forty five degrees to reflect the light upwards.

exposure

The exposure for this high-key photograph is quite straightforward, but made even easier by using a hand-held incident light meter. I always control the light in three places to find my exposure. The light source(s) ( that would be the window in this case ), the light falling on the model from behind, and the light falling on front of her. I set my exposure to the light falling on her face, but I make sure that light behind her is overexposed ( brighter/stronger )  between one and half stops to two full stops. It can be slightly less or more light than this, but I find that overexposing the light by 1 1/2 to 2 stops to be the sweet spot for high-key light.

Other tips for foam core

You can also paint one side of the foam core sheet with a flat black, that way you can use it as a gobo  ( Gobo is a photographic term, and  is short for go-between, a gobo is used to block light in photography ) as well. The easy way to have foam core sheets stand on their own is to use duct tape to attach two boards together so they can be self-supportive by opening the sheets into a L shape or a V shape. If space is a issue then using light-stands and clamps is the way to go. In professional rental studios I have seen stands for reflector boards that are made out of wood or metal, that are low profile and have slots to perfectly fit the foam core sheets into, but those stands are heavy and clumsy and are far better suited for proper photographic studios and not for location work or home studios.

Where to get foam core

You can buy foam core sheets at any big box building supply store in large sheets that are 4ft by 8ft and the best thickness is about 2 inches. You can also buy thinner card foam core from art supply stores, but it is more economical, longer lasting and much more durable to buy the thicker foam core sheets. Foam core sheets are very light and easy to move around on set. The only down side to buying these large foam core sheets is transporting them, you will need a transport van or large estate car ( station wagon ) in order to move them, or you could have them delivered.

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How to Convince Your Client to Choose the Best Photographs

By Paul Kerins | Published: February 9, 2012

Convincing the Client, How to Convince Your Client Which Photographs are the Best Choices.

I personally have no idea how many images I have created to date, let alone how many photographs I have edited to find the best ones; several hundreds of thousands at least. In the past scouring over contact sheets fresh from the lab with a loupe, a red grease pencil and a cup of strong coffee. More recently editing choices on a computer screen using colour coding to select the best choices on my Capture One Pro  RAW conversion software, while drinking green tea out of my pirate mug, which is not really a mug so much as it is a milk dispenser with a really cheesy Jolly Roger flag on it. You spent a lot of time editing down your choices of photographs, and you have selected what you believe are the best pictures. So how do you convince your client which photograph is the best choice? Being a good salesman is only one of the ways to convince a client to choose what you think are the best photographs. There are many things you can do in order to sway your client to your side when it comes to selecting the best images from your photography production.

Interface of Capture One Pro software. Loupe on contact sheets and a pirate mug.

Educate your client

If your experience in editing photo choices far out-weights that of your client, then part of your job is to educate and explain to them in layman terms the reasons for your choices. I always believed that the client hires you because of your expertise in your field, and because they love your photographs. I also believe because of this the client has to trust in their choice of hiring you to be their photographer and to trust in your opinion and experience. So communicate with your client and do it in a way that is clear and to the point. When a clients understands your reasons for your selection of a certain image over another, they will be more inclined to pick the photographs you like best.

The client’s experience level compared to yours

Some people may be harder to convince than others. Much of this will depend on their experience level compared to yours. A seasoned art director versus young photographer for example, guess who is going to get their way. That does not mean that the young photographer should not try to convince the art director if he/she truly believes that their choice is the superior one, not at all in fact. It just means it may be more difficult and that the young photographer should be better prepared before explaining why his/her choice is the correct one over the client’s choice.

Personal taste is subjective

You know your photography better than anyone else, so how do you convince your client which photograph is best? This can be difficult, since personal taste is subjective and the client’s particular needs may not be fulfilled by your selections. It helps to be on the same page as your client even before the production begins. You can do this by understanding your client needs, by asking your client in a pre-production meeting what is it they are looking for, and what do they want to see in the final product.

 

Personal taste is subjective.

 

 

Here are some tips on what you can to do during a production, to help you build trust and confidence with your client, making it easier for the client to see what you see in the final choices you made and understand why you picked certain photographs over another.

1.Fix it immediately.

During the production have the client take a look at some test samples of the work from the beginning of the situation and as you are shooting, that way any changes that need to be done can be taken care of immediately instead of having to re-shoot later. If the client is happy and confident during the production then later in post-production it will be easier to convince the client which photographs are the best choices.

2.Explain why it won’t work.

If there is a layout that needs to be done but you disagree with the client on the execution of it, then you need to explain why it won’t work, this is part of your job. You need to be able to explain clearly to the client so they can understand why you think it is not the best way to shoot this layout, and then you have to try and sell them on your idea and hopefully sway them to your side. Presenting to the client final photo choices of a bad layout that you known you could have been done better to begin with will not make your life easier.

3.Do it your way.

Unfortunately some clients won’t be so easily convinced so you may have to do the layout the way they asked, but you should also do it your way as well. Then, when you select the first edits of the production before the actual final images are chosen it gives the client a chance to see both motifs side by side. This will be your last chance to explain to the client why they should use your version of the image over theirs. Should your idea produce the vastly superior image it will then sell itself, if it is more subtle than that, then you may have to point out the reasons why it is the superior photograph in order to convince the client that it is the correct choice for them.

4.Have the client commit

When you have set up a layout to be photographed and the client says they are happy with the test image, then have the client sign off on it. Professional photographers use to do this with Polaroids, a client would sign the Polaroid when they were happy about how the layout looked, then the photographer would continue the production by shooting with film. You can do this without Polaroid film by having a portable printer on set to print a copy of one of the test images and have the client sign off on the print, or you could send a email to your client with a attached photograph and have them send a reply email with their approval of the layout before you continue shooting.

5. Create storyboards.

Something else I do that helps the client see why certain photographs are better than others, is to do a storyboard. When you are doing more than one layout for the client you can do side by side comparisons of the series of photographs that you have made by putting the photographs into a storyboard. That way the client can see how the photographs fit together as you move the photos around to see what images work and what images are the throwaways. When shooting editorial I do this with the fashion editor to get a feeling of the flow of the shoot, to try and imagine how the story would look when published in the magazine, as we are shooting the production for the magazine.

6. Break the choices down.

People like choices, so give it them. What I do is I break it down in to three choices per motif.
First choice being the very best, my first pick and hopefully the obvious choice for the client. The second choice is usually very close in quality to the first pick but has some flaw that I may have to point out to the client so they can understand why it was not my first choice. The third pick being slightly more flawed than the second but still a technically good image that I can be happy with.

7. Be confident

When editing down your choices take your time and be critical of your photographs. The best photographs always jump out at you so it is easy to find those images. You will have to spend more time and energy finding the best second and third choices. When you are happy in your editing choices and can back it up with confidence, convincing the client becomes effortless because your confidence in your photographs will be a big selling point to the client.

Conclusion

You won’t be able to convince all your clients every time to use your selections, but you can increase your chances of convincing your client to use the images that you think are superior by using some or all of the suggestions I made in this article. The most important things I hope you take away from reading this is to make sure you are happy with your editing choices and have your client trust in you as their photographer. I can not stress enough how important it is that the client trusts you, it makes your life so much easier during the production, and in post-production when you are working with the client on final photo choices.

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Beautiful Minimal Design Photography Websites

By Paul Kerins | Published: February 3, 2012

Paul Kerins Photographer featured on Creative Design Magazine.

Creative Design Magazine,  a design resource magazine, just posted a article on their website 55 Beautiful Minimal Design Photography Websites . I was pleased to see my main website Paul Kerins Photographer was featured in the article. I would like to say welcome to all the people who found their way here from Creative Design Magazine. I hope you enjoy your time on my website. Below is a quote from the article that Creative Design Magazine published.

 Minimal Design is very popular in website design. Web Designers love minimal designs because it is good for search engine optimization but it can also look beautiful. In the past we compile several compilations of minimal website designs. Today I thought about doing a minimal design compilation with a website theme in mind. In this post you will find a huge list of beautiful minimal design photography websites.

I always loved simple clean elegant design. Photography websites that are minimal and beautifully designed have inspired me greatly and influenced my design choices when I was designing and building my website. It nice to know other people appreciate it too. Thanks to  Loveish Kalsi, who is the owner of Creative Design Magazine for the feature.

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Selective Sharpening

By Paul Kerins | Published: February 2, 2012

Selective sharpening for print output.

Sharpening photographs for prints is more subtle practice than sharpening JPEG or PNG files for the world wide web. Only certain areas of a photograph may require sharpening. A portrait or beauty photograph will most likely need selective sharpening, perhaps on the mouth, nose, cheek bones, hair, or eyebrows, and most importantly the eyes. You may want to sharpen around the eyes, like the upper and lower eyelids and the eyebrows, but want it to be less sharp than the iris and pupils. Both eyes may need to be sharpened, but one eye is less sharp than the other to begin with and will require more sharpening than the other eye in order to even out the overall sharpness of the image.

If the subject of your photograph is not a person, you may want to sharpen a element in the image to bring more attention to it. A example of this could be a landscape photograph and in the foreground is a object that is the main subject of the photograph, and it is on the soft side, but the sharpness of the rest of your image perfectly fine. You can use selective sharpening to sharpen just this one object to improve it and to help draw in the viewer’s eye to it and give balance to the photograph.

Using selective sharpening is the best way to have complete control over the sharpening process on your photographs.  Certain elements within your photograph can benefit just as much by not sharpening them as others elements do by sharpening them. Skin is is the most obvious thing that comes to mind and should not be sharpened. Sharpening digital images is basically just increasing the contrast of the individual pixels in your photograph. This is not good for nice smooth skin tones, it is best to avoid sharpening skin and to use selective sharpening on individual facial features that require it instead. That way you can retain beautiful smooth skin tones, while bringing out the facial features of your subject

Sharpening digital images is basically just increasing the contrast of the individual pixels in your photograph.

 

You do selective sharpening by painting in the sharpness on a layer mask. This is a non-destructive technique using layers and masks that you can save as a PSD file, that you can go back to and make ongoing tweaks to the file when ever you like. By using different brush sizes and controlling the opacity and hardness of the brush this allows for exacting results. If you make a judgment error and over-sharpen a area, or paint in sharpness outside the intended area, you can just as easily remove the sharpening effect by painting out the sharpness on the layer mask.

I made this video to demonstrate just how quick and easy it is to do selective sharpening. It is made in HD so you can view it full screen.

Model in Video Paula Patrice at Ford Models NYC

 

Keyboard shortcuts used in this video.

 

Ctrl + J ( Command + J for mac ) creates a new duplicate background layer.

Ctrl +  ( Command + for mac ) to Zoom In

Ctrl -  ( Command – for mac ) to Zoom Out

Spacebar for the Temporary Hand Tool, so you can move the photograph around while zoomed in.

b for brush tool

x to Switch between background and foreground colors on color palette

Brush opacity the number 1 key for 10 percent opacity, the number 2 key for 20 percent opacity, etc.

 

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Ivan Dalla Tana

By Paul Kerins | Published: January 24, 2012

Ivan Dalla Tana, master printer & inventor of the “Gold Process” a alternative photographic printing process.

The world is full of creative people, making beautiful objects and things for themselves and other people’s pleasure, but the reality is almost all of it, is a rehash of something someone else had already done before. It is a harsh truth, but if you asked any creative if they ever made something that has never been seen before, if they were honest with you and with themselves they would say no. They would say that they were only reinterpreting or putting their voice to a process that many others had used before them. I am not talking about personal style but the actual process of making art. With personal style the lines blur more, but with the process the lines are easier to see. Very few people get to go though their lives and actually create something new. Invent something that no one else has ever done before. Create a new process never see before. My friend Ivan did.

Ivan Dalla Tana invented a process for printing photographs that turned silver salts into gold when they come in contact with fibre-based photographic paper, Ivan called it “Gold Process”. Gold process is a very unique, original, and expensive process that coated a print with gold. As you can imagine it made the prints have a very warm metallic feel to them and gave the prints very rich tones. It is a difficult and time consuming process to do. It was also a process that if not handled correctly could become quite hazardous due to a toxic element used in the process of making these photographic prints of gold. Unfortunately viewing images made with the gold process on your computer screen does not have the same impact as viewing the prints in person, since the metallic sheen of the gold on the prints does not translate to a digital image. You can see more examples of this process at the website  “Alternative Photography / Ivan Dalla Tana “.

© Estate of Ivan Dalla Tana
“Scans courtesy of alternativephotography.com “

I had found out recently that my friend Ivan Dalla Tanna had passed away . Ivan was one of those very rare people that created something new, something never seen before. Ivan was a master printer, he printed and made photographs his whole life. He began working in the darkroom at the age of fourteen and in the end, he had 47 creative years in a career that he loved very much. I knew Ivan had a very rich artistic life but Ivan was a modest man and I did not really understand just how rich of a artistic career he had until I had lunch for the first time at his house. There he showed me his library of art books of all these famous artists; artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat , Keith Haring , Claes Oldenburg , Michael Heizer , Malcolm Morley , James Rosenquist , and many others. It turned out that he had collaborated with all these artists, in all the books he was showing me. It was a modest amount of art books of around 100 or so, but when you consider he had, in some way contributed something to every book that was in front of me it ended up becoming a extremely impressive body of work that I was being show. Ivan photographed their art work and made the prints for the books, collaborating and working on some massive art projects. He also showed me prints that were given to him by some of these artists, including a painting that Keith Haring gave to him as a gift. Ivan had lived in New York from 1976 until 1994 where he worked and partied with the most famous artists of the time in NYC and was good friends with many them, before he moved home to open his lab “Darkroom Project” in Milan, Italy.

Ivan was a very open and generous man and a true delight to work with, both him and his wonderful girlfriend Luisa. She worked with Ivan retouching the photographs he had printed. She did this by hand using photo-retouching dye and tiny camel hair brushes. They would always invite me to lunch, several times a week or we would met for aperitivo ( easily one of the best things about living in Italy ) after work. When my mom came to visit me in Milan, Ivan and Luisa invited us out to their house in the country side for lunch and Luisa create this magnificent several course Italian lunch that my mom still raves about to this day.

I was very lucky to have met, and worked with Ivan. We became very good friends. I was also quite fortunate that he allowed me to watch him print as he rarely let clients into his darkroom while he worked. I had printed both colour and black and white photographs myself for over 15 years before I met Ivan, and he later told me that is why he let me watch him work in his darkroom. He had said to me that most clients had no idea of what goes on in the darkroom and had no rhythm when it came to printing, so they just got in the way. I was a good printer and even printed professionally for a master photographer, before I went pro as a photographer myself, but Ivan Dalla Tana was a master printer and observing him while he printed was like watching poetry in motion.

It is difficult to explain what it was like to see Ivan at work, as being a master printer is like being a master photographer, but back in the analogue era, where there has to be a wonderful balance between the artistic side and the technical side. The way Ivan waved his hands over the paper to manipulate the light as it was being exposed from the enlarger, all his experiences working with so many other great artists over his long career, plus Ivan’s vast knowledge of chemicals, papers and processes that so few other artists possessed, these are some of the many traits that made my friend Ivan one of the best printers the world has ever known.

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Vignetting

By Paul Kerins | Published: January 19, 2012

Vignetting Photographs for Artistic Effect.

Vignetting to put it simply is the darkening of the outside edges of a photograph.
In photography there are many types of vignetting, mechanical vignetting, optical vignetting, natural vignetting, pixel vignetting and finally vignetting for artistic effect. All the different types of vignetting ( excluding vignetting for artistic effect ) are not considered desirable and are caused by objects on the lens
( mechanical ),  in the lens ( optical ), by light fall off ( natural ), or in the case of pixel vignetting this can happen in some digital cameras because of the angle of the light hitting the digital sensor in camera. The most common is optical vignetting as it is just a inherent trait in modern camera lens design and is easily corrected for by stopping down the aperture on your lens 2 or 3 stops. If you want to learn more about mechanical, optical, and natural vignetting, then I recommend you read this well written article about vignetting by Paul van Walree

Vignetting for artistic effect has been used by photographers since the creation of photography and has been very popular with portrait photographers in particular, but has been used by all types of photographers in the creation of their photographs. The darkroom process to make a vignette on a photograph is to either dodge the centre of the photograph while exposing the photographic paper to light from the enlarger, or to burn the outer edges of the photographic paper to darken the area around the main subject of the photograph by adding more light to the desired area to create the vignetting effect. The purpose of vignetting is to draw the viewer’s eye into the centre of the photograph and to help lessen the impact of the outer area of the photograph so it will not distract the viewer from the main subject.

The purpose of vignetting is to draw the viewer’s eye into the centre of the photograph

 

I do often use vignetting on my images. Not all of my images require vignetting though and I only use vignetting when I think it will benefit the final image. Also, most of the vignetting I do is very subtle, and most likely will not be noticed by people ( see the above example photographs ) as I tend to use vignetting as tool to improve the over all impact of the photograph. I generally do not use vignetting as a feature of the photograph as some portrait photographers do, using vignettes as a type of frame within the photograph, but done correctly this can be a very powerful effect on the right portrait.

Today vignetting in Photoshop is ridiculously quick and easy to do and best of all it is extremely simple to get it to look exactly how you want it to look. I created this HD video to show you just how easy and quickly you can add a vignette to your photographs.

Keyboard shortcuts used in this video.
Ctrl + J ( Command + J for mac ) creates a new duplicate background layer.

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Beauty Photography – Make-up & Hair, plus Point of View and What to Look For.

By Paul Kerins | Published: January 15, 2012

Beauty Photography – Part Four of Four

Beauty Make-up and Hair

Beauty photography is used to sell many things, make-up and hair products are the most common and usually the first thing that comes to mind, but beauty is used to sell much more than just cosmetics. Beauty is also used to sell brands, ideas, and ideals. There is a simple purity to beauty that sells. Think of all those famous advertising campaigns that you have seen using beauty photography to sell products like perfumes, jeans, bras, eyeglasses, or handbags, the list is endless.

There is a simple purity to beauty that sells.

 

 

Make-up and hair for beauty photography is as you can imagine is quite important. So when you talk to your hair and make-up team about what you want to see, you should be quite clear to them about the direction you want to go in. Remember that beauty photography is more raw emotionally than glamour photography, and is more about a emotion than creating a fantasy. It is more understated than glamour and takes a light touch from both the hair and make-up artists. Please don’t misunderstand what I mean, I am not saying to stay away from strong make-up and hair when doing beauty. You can use many different combinations of hair and make-up, both light and strong, just remember that both hair and make-up are there for the model and not the other way around. Use hair and make-up to enhance or frame her beauty, both should be considered accents to her beauty, and the model’s beauty should always remain the main focus in beauty photography.

olena 238x300 Beauty Photography Make up & Hair, plus Point of View and What to Look For.

 

 Point of  View ( Camera Angle )

While you are looking at your model, trying to find the best way to photograph her, your point of view should be considered. Depending on which facial feature on your model you choose to accent, your point of view will affect the shape of the model’s face and give more prominence to one facial feature over another. Shooting from a higher angle will bring more emphasis to her eyes, while shooting from a lower point of view will bring more emphasis on the mouth and neck. It can also be a neutral point of view if your camera angle is at eye level.

 

Point of view will affect the shape of the model’s face and give more prominence to one facial feature over another.

 

 

Many factors will have to be considered when you are deciding what your camera angle should be. Lighting placement may be one of them, for example if the light is set up very close to the model, it might restrict your movement which may limit your choices of camera angles. Certain hair styles may look fantastic from a particular point of view but flat and boring from another angle. Make-up may pick up a highlight from your light that accents your model’s face beautifully at a lower angle; it could be something you might not see at a higher angle of view. Accessories like glasses, sunglasses, hats and jewellery will also need to be considered and factored into your camera placement decision when deciding what is the best point of view for your model’s face when doing beauty photography.

Conclusion

Beauty photography is not easy to master, many of the best fashion photographers in the world are horrible at photographing beauty. I think it is because they do not have any real portrait experience, plus it is a very intimate type of photography which might take some photographers out of their comfort zone. Portrait photographers may find some elements of beauty photography easier to do than fashion photographers, but only if the have a very strong natural sense of style, other wise they might have a hard time of it as well.

What it does take to do beauty photography well is experimentation and lots of practice. Communication with the model and your team. Not being afraid to try something new, and to have a critical eye of the elements you are putting together in the photograph like the light, the hair, make-up, or any styling elements, like jewellery or clothing. Most importantly it is knowing when to change something when that something is not working, whether it is your light, the make-up or some other element within your photograph. It is about being a perfectionist with something that is already perfect.

Part One of Four – Beauty Photography – The Power of Beauty

Part Two of Four – Beauty Photography – Understanding Photogenic Beauty

Part Three of Four – Beauty Photography – Ten Tips for Better Beauty Photography

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Beauty Photography – Ten Tips for Better Beauty Photography

By Paul Kerins | Published: January 10, 2012

Beauty Photography – Part Three of Four

There are loads of tips and tricks of the trade for shooting beauty photography. Below are ten solid tips to help build a strong foundation for your beauty shoot.

marie sophie wilson carr 239x300 Beauty Photography Ten Tips for Better Beauty Photography

1. Pay attention to the models face when you are moving the lights or when you are moving the model into place to see how the light reacts to the shape of the model’s face as it happens.

2. While you are moving the lights always keep in mind where your camera placement, and what your point of view will be when you begin shooting .

3. Have the model move her face slightly, up and down, side to side, or tilting her head off to one side or the other to get a better idea of how the light reacts to her face. This is also helps you to get a feeling of what angles will work best on the models face.

4. When you are looking at the model while lighting, change your point of view, bend down a few inches or move to the side a few inches. Doing this will help over all with your light, point of view, and finding the best angles of the model’s face.

5. Don’t just move the lights side to side, but also up and down, and back and forth, keeping your eyes on the model’s eyes for the catch lights, and also under her chin and on her neck for shadow length.

6. Not all problems are fixed by moving the lights, but many problems are uncovered by the light. Problems like make-up or hair issues, make sure to point out the problems to your team and have them fix it after you have finished tweaking your light. Don’t let them just jump in and fix it until you have finished lighting because it may break your rhythm.  Unless you personally have a lot of experience with hair and make-up, do not touch the make-up or the hair on your model, let the make-up artist or hairdresser take care of  it. Just direct them and let them fix any problems. Also don’t let the model try and fix any problems with her hair, they can’t see what you are seeing and may make things worse.

7. Use a camera  lens with a normal angle of view or  longer
( telephoto lens ) for beauty photography. Using a wide angle lens to shoot beauty will distort the model’s face.

8. When shooting beauty outside using available light, try to plan your beauty shoot for the magic hours ( also called “golden hour” ) of daylight. The first two and the last two hours of the day are considered the “magic hours” for outdoor photography, the best times to shoot beauty. Keep in mind you can continue to shoot for several minutes after the sun has set using ambient twilight. Otherwise use tunnel light or open-shade ambient daylight for outside beauty photography.

9. Shooting beauty outside can be great but be careful of temperatures. To hot and the model’s make-up will run, to cold and the pores of the model’s skin contract making it difficult for the make-up to be applied and it may look chalky as well. In cold temperatures skin colour will change; this was a nightmare for photographers in the pre-photoshop days, but it is something you should still be aware of when working in cold weather. Also when people are cold it is much more difficult to have them looking relaxed.

10. Just before you begin shooting, really look at the model’s face, scan it for flaws in the make-up and/or hair, your light, etc., take your time and make sure everything is perfect. Tell the model what you are doing while you are doing it. If it weirds you out, or if you think the model might be uncomfortable with you scanning her face then do it while looking though your camera. Having the camera between you and the model will act like a barrier and will become less personal. It is best to do the final scan of your model  face to face if you are able. Most professional models will have no problem with you scanning their face looking at minute details if you explain to them what you are doing, just make sure to pop a breath mint first if you had eaten any garlic recently.

Next in part four of Beauty Photography. ” Beauty Make-up and Hair, plus Point of View. “

Part One of Four – Beauty Photography – The Power of Beauty

Part Two of Four – Beauty Photography – Understanding Photogenic Beauty

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Paula Patrice on the January 2012 cover of Italian Vogue.

By Paul Kerins | Published: January 5, 2012

Model Paula Patrice on the cover of Italian Vogue photographed by Steven Meisel.

First off I just want to say happy new year to everyone, and I have some good news to start the year off with a bang.  My dear friend Paula is on the January 2012 cover of Italian Vogue   ( she is the model in the red dress ) photographed  by Steven Meisel . I may be biased because I worked for Condé Nast shooting editorial for Vogue for a few years when I lived in Milan, but out of all the Vogue magazines in the world,  Vogue Italia is hands down my favourite. I always loved what Franca Sozzani brought to the Italian version of Vogue magazine.

I met Paula in 1995 in Paris and she was the first model I photographed when I moved to Paris to live. We hit it off immediately when she charmed me with her energy and a smile that could light up the darkest room.  We had many adventures together and did some really beautiful photo-shoots. She is one of the hardest working professional models I have ever met, but she is much more than just a pretty face,  she is also a full fledged geek of epic proportions. Paula has her own tech company PPWeb Technologies. a company that builds websites for her many clients and develops apps for Apple Computer’s iPhone. It was Paula that convinced me to add the print store , plus this very blog you are currently reading to my website. She has given me loads of great advice for my website over the years. You can read about her Italian Vogue shoot on the blog of her modelling website paulapatrice.com . Here are a few photographs I made of Paula back in the day.

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