Shooting makeup

Looking for any hints and tips for lighting when shooting makeup, my partner is a MUA and I've been shooting a few things for her.

Anything I can do to improve it would be appreciated. I know that skin is generally cleaned to porcelain with fashion stuff, but when showing off makeup I'm in two minds whether to do it or not - 90% of her work is bridal makeup, this was just something 'different' she was trying.

You need to get the room ambient or modeling light brighter so her pupils aren't so huge. I would probably go with a smaller light source for more of a high fashion look and greater contrast ... while making sure there is plenty of bounced light to fill in as needed.

1/125 may be too slow for the degree of precision that's wanted in this kind of shot. I see a little blur.

Thanks, They're some good points to take on board. I tend to use Speedlites for these shots, need to look at HSS in more depth... And I never even thought about the pupil thing, thanks!

1/125 should be plenty fast if you have decent form and are not suffering from any sort of condition that might make your hands shake. However, 6D will go to 1/160 and then up to 1/180 if you tell it to shoot in half stops. But I really don't think that is the issue. Remember, the flash duration is way faster than your shutter speed, so that is generally the determining factor. Typical sync speeds when I started with flash were 1/60 !!! and we managed fine.

HSS is exactly the wrong thing to do. It will will cut flash output by half or more and increase recycle time.

Ok. Thanks.

For makeup shots I would do as the others have suggested regarding more ambient. Another thing that would really help is to use more of a beauty lighting setup. Something like the center/above light, reflectors/lights close in on the left and right and a reflector underneath. Google for "Beauty box" lighting. I think the goal is to show off the makeup and you can't do that if it isn't lit well. Also maybe stop down to get more DoF.

Just my 1 and half cents.

sancho1983 wrote in post #18258667
Looking for any hints and tips for lighting when shooting makeup, my partner is a MUA and I've been shooting a few things for her.

Anything I can do to improve it would be appreciated. I know that skin is generally cleaned to porcelain with fashion stuff, but when showing off makeup I'm in two minds whether to do it or not - 90% of her work is bridal makeup, this was just something 'different' she was trying.

Hosted photo: posted by sancho1983 in
./showthread.php?p=182​58667&i=i165223998
forum: Fashion, Editorial & Commercial

Hosted photo: posted by sancho1983 in
./showthread.php?p=182​58667&i=i162146202
forum: Fashion, Editorial & Commercial

HERE is a collection of images I did for an MUA's look book. 36" octa close for main. 24x36" softbox right over camera for fill. F8 or so on the lens. I made sure my exposure eliminated the ambient coming through a window in the MUA's apartment. I also created a preset in, I think it was Portrait Pro, to give the right amount of skin smoothing without disrupting the makeup. Key was to highlight the cheek highlighting and then brush away any softening in the eye makeup.

The key, in my view, is smooth lighting on the skin without specular highlights, while highlighting the makeup. That has as much to do with camera angle as lighting direction.

dmward wrote in post #18263485
HERE is a collection of images I did for an MUA's look book. 36" octa close for main. 24x36" softbox right over camera for fill. F8 or so on the lens. I made sure my exposure eliminated the ambient coming through a window in the MUA's apartment. I also created a preset in, I think it was Portrait Pro, to give the right amount of skin smoothing without disrupting the makeup. Key was to highlight the cheek highlighting and then brush away any softening in the eye makeup.

The key, in my view, is smooth lighting on the skin without specular highlights, while highlighting the makeup. That has as much to do with camera angle as lighting direction.

Thanks, I'll take a look!

I'm going to be a voice of dissent here and say that when shooting "beauty" images, especially for makeup artists' portfolios, it's actually ok to have some specular highlights AND skin smoothing is a no-no as you want to leave texture. Smoothing out texture ends up looking very amateur, but on the other hand, leaving texture in while doing the post production work can be REALLY hard to do and it takes a lot more time. Shortcuts and plugins are fine if you don't actually care about visible blurring or smoothing, but if you do, I suggest watching a lot of tutorials about beauty retouching in addition to input about lighting. Frequency Separation is often touted as a great way to retouch skin and retain texture, but it's actually a really easy way to overdo your images and should only be used sparingly.

In order to show off makeup you want good contrast and punch which IMO a beauty dish is the easiest way to get that look. I use a Mola Setti for most beauty work but there are lots of options. I've also used a large PLM for some things and it still lends that pretty glow but softens the shadows just a bit. You can see some of my work at the link at the bottom of my signature if you're curious about what I mean.

The make-up itself also needs some improvement. I can see loose eyebrow hairs which either need to be removed before applying make-up or in post production. The blending of colors also need some improvement, and some of the lines are somehow a kind of broken.
I suggest to look at a lot of make-up ads from big brands like M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Loreal, etc.