Beauty photography, or how to take a stylish portrait. Beauty photography - what is it all about? How to take good beauty photos


the world is amazing, and the people in it are amazing, people in the world who do not know, but have an idea, this is what frightens the most in the world: an ignorant person, but having an idea, inclined to reject and evade, as well as get angry, throw stones at shit and not accept . And okay, it’s not necessary that every person loves you and rejoices in you, but it would be much more pleasant if the rabid anti-fan at least partially understood what exactly was rejecting you or his knowledge of you.

So I'm talking about beauty photos. I often work in this genre, almost all the time. What is it all about?
I often receive comments about my photos, such as:
- that's not her
- doesn't look like herself
- not her image
- wash off make-up
why so many decorations
- tons of photoshop
- too bright
- dead look
- she doesn't smile

Another thing is that in advertising and in magazines, you, my audience, are used to seeing such photos performed by models with commercially attractive faces. And in my work I use the faces of ordinary people whom I meet every day on the street. At the same time, affirming that I like these faces and that everything is fine with them.

So, attention to the question, what is a beauty photo? you can use your own understanding of the genre when answering the question, but it's best if you try to use google. No links needed, just your own words. With the owners of (at least) theoretical knowledge, I am ready to discuss this particular work, which I propose under the cut.)


This footage is from January 2014. Consisted of three images) very different. Worked with my wonderful partner Kitty Orlova (make-up and hairstyle by her handiwork)

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(plastic earrings can be buy in my jewelry store for 100r)

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You can offer cooperation, as well as order advertising here:
[email protected]

I invite you to photoshoot everyone who wants to come to me. looking for new faces

89688673865 , viber and whatsapp
my photo site is here http://photo.pushba.ru/
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Beauty photography is a kind of studio photography designed to demonstrate any complex make-up, hairstyle, body art, cosmetic product advertising.
Imagine the situation: you are not a beginner in photography, but you have encountered beauty photography for the first time. For example, a familiar makeup artist asked me to shoot a portfolio for him. How to choose a model, a photo studio, how to correctly set the light and what angles to choose - we will talk about this in our article.

Features of beauty photography

The main distinguishing feature of beauty photography is the large-scale plans. Since the task of the photographer is to capture some kind of make-up, jewelry or hairstyle, large and detailed plans are selected for beauty shooting to show the face and individual parts of the model's face.

  • You may ask how, in this case, this genre differs from the portrait?
  • Indeed, in the latter, all these plans are also actively used. The answer is simple: in beauty photography, it is necessary to convey the image created by the makeup artist, to show how well this or that cosmetic product fits. Portrait photography is designed to convey the individuality of the model itself. Makeup and hairstyle in portrait photography should only emphasize the beauty of the model, nothing more.

Beauty photography is intended for glossy magazines, which is why you need to be able to not only take pictures, but also retouch your pictures.

Model selection

Beauty shooting involves a demonstration of makeup. And of course, for such a shoot, you need to choose a model with an exceptional appearance, whose facial features will ideally fit the invented fashion image for photography.

For beauty shooting, it is better to use the services of a professional model, they are specially trained to demonstrate clothes, jewelry and, of course, hair and makeup. You can easily find a professional model through special agencies.

In addition, today there are many sites and groups on social networks designed to bring photographers and models together. Here you can choose a girl for your project without any intermediaries and contact her directly, which will save your money.

A girl for beauty shooting should have smooth, preferably perfect, even skin. This will make your work in photo editing easier. You also need to pay attention to the symmetry of the face, the color of the eyes (their color should be combined with the chosen makeup), and of the teeth, everything in your photo should be perfect, including the smile.

Choosing a studio

When choosing a photo studio for beauty shooting, it is worth staying in a spacious room with high ceilings so that the bright glow from the flashes does not reflect from the ceiling and walls and thus does not give additional light that can interfere with achieving the desired effect in photography.

You also need to make sure that the studio has all the necessary equipment of the right quality and that all this equipment is in working order. The results of your shooting directly depend on this, not all flashes and softboxes can emphasize the texture and shine of a particular cosmetic product or the brightness of jewelry.

Another important aspect when choosing a studio is the presence of dressing rooms, rooms with good lighting, where a professional makeup artist can create the perfect make-up in a comfortable environment, and a stylist can style her hair. After all, makeup and hair are the main thing in beauty photography. The model should also be given a special place where she could change clothes and relax.

Today, a lot of photo studios can offer you their own make-up artist-stylist, who has a lot of suitable images and props in his arsenal, successfully combined with the background and interior of the photo studio. Often in such studios there is a rental of dresses and suits.

Practice in the studio, lighting schemes

Octobox, reflector, beauty dish - still unfamiliar words for you? Then it's too early for you to start beauty. You can improve this knowledge in photography courses.

In short, the octobox is designed for key light, it is the best way to emphasize the texture, create soft shadows and gradient on the background.

  • beauty dish- creates hard shadows. The closer the plate is to the model, the harder the shadows, the farther - softer. Using a beauty dish with a honeycomb, you will get a great contrast light that will help illuminate all the necessary details.


The reflector is also often used in beauty photography, it perfectly softens the shadows if they are too sharp and deforms the face, and also creates beautiful highlights in the eyes.

Hollywood scheme

Beauty dish is tilted at 45% above the head of the model and direct it exactly along the line of symmetry of the face. This will give us a good volume of the face, namely the shadow under the nose in the shape of a butterfly, the shadow under the lower lip and the shadow at the oval of the face. To soften too contrasting shadows, we add a reflector to our scheme. Also, if necessary, highlight the background.

shining background

We use a softbox instead of a background, build the appropriate settings and get some kind of light wrapping or a shining background. We also put a beauty dish in front of the model, as in the Hollywood scheme.


contour illumination

This lighting scheme often uses colored filters that highlight only the outline of the face. Set the flash with a color filter to the side of the model or behind (diagonally) and get contour illumination of the face and shoulders. In this lighting scheme, it is very important not to overdo it with the sharpness of contour lighting, it should shine softly, in no case should it exceed the brightness of the main light falling on the face.

If we use contour lighting on both sides, we get an interesting effect.



Hair highlight

As we have said, in beauty photography it is often necessary to show hair as well as makeup. Hairstyles can be both voluminous and not very. To illuminate the hair, a crane stand is used, which holds the flash directly above the head of the model or slightly behind and shines on the top of the head, while the light should not fall on the face.

Camera settings, lenses

  • When shooting a portrait, in which all the details should be visible, it is better to set the aperture as closed as possible. Professional photographers advise setting f|8 or f|9. Thus, the model's face, make-up details and hair decorations will be as sharp as possible, which is very important in beauty shooting.
  • Next, we turn our attention to the shutter speed, so that the camera is in the best harmony with the flashes, you need to set the shutter speed to 1/160. ISO is set to a minimum value of 100.
  • For beauty shooting, all portrait lenses from 50 mm are suitable. Pros often choose 85mm and 120mm for beauty.
  1. If you are shooting several images with different models, invite the girls in turn, timing this way: while you are shooting one, the makeup artist is preparing the second. So you will not overpay for the extra wasted time.
  2. When you're shooting in front of a client, show them a few good shots, so the tension subsides and you can continue working in a calm, relaxed atmosphere.
  3. Test in advance all the circuits you want to use. If you see obvious flaws in the lighting scheme while shooting, do not expect to fix everything with Photoshop, it will not help you dramatically improve the picture.
  4. Choose a simpler scheme that you can definitely handle.
  5. The closer you set the light to the model, the more you will restrict her movement and thereby deprive yourself of spontaneous, more natural shots.
  6. To create something modern, a beauty photographer must follow the fashion trends. Track the work of contemporary photographers to get inspired and get more than just technically correct shots.

When shooting, use the format with the highest image quality - RAW + JPEG format. With JPEG you can quickly select the best shots, while RAW will help you with photo processing. For this format, stock up on a sufficient supply of memory cards.

About shooting in the studio and the direction of Beauty
Studio photography is one of the many areas in the world of photography, in my opinion, the most interesting, I will explain why. While working in the studio, the photographer needs to think about how to position the light, what light shaping nozzle to use, how far from the background to place the model, etc. All this must be known and taken into account while working in the studio. This is what attracts me to this direction, because.
the person, in fact, controls the light himself and immediately sees on the model’s face what shadows this or that nozzle forms. Studio photography also has many genres of its own: beauty, fashion, model tests and other areas.

I want to focus on such a genre of studio photography as Beauty. Make-up artist Anastasia Solovieva, with whom I often have to work, will tell about this genre and all the nuances. Most often, beauty photography is a large portrait shoot, where the face is the central object, so the most important thing in beauty shooting is a professionally executed make-up. Skin is very important: the skin tone of the face should match the tone of the neck and décolleté, and ideally the shade of the whole body. With the help of shades, I created my own beauty look, placing light and color accents on the face, softening or enhancing the contours of the face, emphasizing the expressiveness of individual features, correcting imperfections and skin defects.

Of course, the ideal even skin tone, beautiful facial relief, the complete absence of imperfections are already being finalized during retouching. But whatever the processing of photos, it is important to preserve the natural texture of the skin.

What I like about shooting such a plan is that it all depends on your imagination! I can experiment with colors, textures, paints, and there are no restrictions on working materials, you can apply a pattern interspersed with rhinestones, sparkles and even lace on the face. The main thing is that all accents
were correctly distributed in order to avoid busting.

Preparatory part of shooting


I start preparing for any studio shooting by choosing a studio where to work. This is an important fact in achieving a good result. Here are a few criteria by which I choose studios: spaciousness (it is uncomfortable for me to work in a cramped studio where “everything is on top of each other”, plus a small space is also undesirable due to unnecessary reflections from walls and ceilings); the walls are painted in neutral gray, Prophoto or Elinchrom equipment (due to their technical characteristics, these are the best pulsed light sources).

After determining the makeup artist's look, I choose a background that best matches the model's makeup. Directly depending on the shape of the face, I choose the appropriate light-shaping nozzles and the location of the light. I always set aperture to 8-9 and shutter speed to 1/160. In the Beauty style, it is necessary to convey the quality of the skin texture, colors, all the work of the makeup artist, to achieve good detail. Shooting at an "open" aperture will give the opposite result.

Everyone has their own approach to setting the light. I always start with a key light to achieve the desired black and white pattern, and then I use additional sources.

For key light in beauty shooting, I use a large octobox, which allows you to get soft shadows, emphasize skin texture, and also (specifically in the photos shown) to get an evenly or gradiently lit background (depending on the degree of inclination of the octobox relative to the floor), or a beauty dish for to produce a harshly lit subject. I set the light source to the “crane” and, with the octabox installed, adjust the degree of inclination (reduce or increase the amount of light on the background), and also change the black and white pattern
on the model's face. As a fill light, I use a silver reflector (cold) mounted on a stand at the level of the model's chest.

The location of the model is always different and depends on the desired result that I want to get. Moving away from the background, respectively, I get a darker background, bringing closer - a lighter one.

In the presented three photographs, I used such a setting of light. The drawing source is on the "crane" above the model. In the first photo I used only one light source.


In the photo on a pink background, a backlight with a reflector was added as a nozzle to “separate” the model from the background and add light lines along the model’s figure.

In the third photo, I additionally applied two back light sources with additional color filters and conventional reflectors for hard illumination with color lines along the contour of the face. I chose the colors based on the created image, and set the sources behind, to the side of the model. And in conclusion, he put black flags on both sides of the model.

Conclusion.
The most interesting thing remains - to make a good frame in technical execution (to reduce the use of the editor), as well as in an aesthetic sense, so that the photo looks interesting.

Beauty photography is one of the most difficult sections of studio photography. This is the very example of exemplary interaction and well-coordinated teamwork, because in addition to the photographer and the model, stylists, make-up artists, lighting specialists and a whole list of specialists are involved in the process.

Responsibility for the result is divided in half between the photographer and his muse - the model. The impeccable appearance of the model is half the success. Correct facial features, clean, even, elastic skin; expressive eyes; sensual lips; shining hair; a dazzling smile - every detail is crucial, because we have that rare case when external beauty wins over internal.

Speaking of beauty photography, we mean perfect beauty and glamor, the same one that flirts with us from magazine covers and seduces with demonstrative gloss. Here it is not required to delve into the image of the model, consider the facial expression, try to guess the character of the heroine. The protagonist of the picture is the girl's face, or even make-up, in other words, the “facade”. It is for this reason that in most cases professional models are involved in the shooting.

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Makeup is given special attention. Most often, bright, catchy, sometimes outrageous and even provocative makeup is used for shooting. To enhance the effect, you can use additional details - accessories, rhinestones, sparkles, although many photographers are of the opinion that there should not be any extra trifles in the frame.
What does beauty photography focus on? To do this, you need to indicate the purpose of the photo shoot. If this is an advertisement for cosmetics, then a certain part of the face comes to the fore - lips, eyes, eyelashes, skin, or makeup in general.
The scope of such shooting is unusually wide: it is advertising of cosmetics, hair care products, women's catalogs, fashion magazines, street signs, advertising of jewelry, bijouterie, hats, accessories, etc.

Since beauty photography involves close-ups, it requires not only perfect skin, the skillful work of a makeup artist, but also careful retouching of images. By the way, shooting at the highest possible resolution increases the likelihood of successful shots.

We must not forget about the light, because an incorrectly drawn up scheme of light can nullify all the work. The lion's share of shots are created using a standard linear scheme using a beauty dish, a reflector and several additional light sources.

Regardless of the chosen scheme, all photographers agree that the light should be soft and act as an ally of the photographer - unobtrusively emphasize the dignity of the face and gently hide imperfections. The best option is soft light, which smoothes the features, gives the pictures volume.

And finally, the background. The ideal background should be neutral, solid and evenly lit.

In order for photography in the beauty style to be fruitful, it is important to initially decide on the image and present the final result, after which it is a matter of technology to achieve what you want.

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Our WORKS

The history of photography originated in ancient times, and has been going on for about a thousand years. In the 20th century, fairly good photographic materials appeared, cameras that were easy to use, and photography gradually began to turn into a separate art, related to painting, but different from it. At the same time, separate genres appeared, each with its own peculiarity and requirement.
Some genres of photography cannot be done without a specially designed studio and professional equipment. Different types of studio photography have their own environment in the photographic world, they have a defined individuality and a concentration on the psychological aspects of the models. The three main areas of this genre are portrait photography, fashion and beauty itself, which will be discussed in this article.
Portrait photography is exactly the genre in which it is almost impossible to do without the participation of models. A portrait is not complete without creative work, since the photographer faces a difficult task in it - to fully reveal the individuality of the model, conveying her inner world to the photograph. Only a photographer with a high level of personal skill, who owns a perfect unique technique and uses the right lighting, can cope with such a task. A significant role in this style is assigned to studio light, because in portrait photography it is he who is able to indicate the success of the result.

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Beauty

The history of photography originated in ancient times, and has been going on for about a thousand years. In the 20th century, fairly good photographic materials appeared, cameras that were easy to use, and photography gradually began to turn into a separate art, akin to ..