In this video
I'll show you how you can quickly
improve your portraits
by working with a makeup artist.
Hello I'm Gavin Hoey
and you're watching AdoramaTV
brought to you by Adorama,
the camera store that's got everything
for us photographers
and today you join me in my small home studio
and I'm going to do a beauty portrait shoot.
Now for this to work I need
a couple of things.
I need some good light.
I need a really talented model
but there's one more thing
that can really make your beauty pictures
and portraits stand out
and that is a super talented makeup artist.
So today I've got the amazing Sophie
who's doing the makeup on Beth.
Now what I've given her the challenge
to do is two different makeup looks;
one where I've given her
a really short period of time
just to do a very basic makeup look
and then another where we'll have a lot longer
for her to do the makeup
and create a different look.
The lighting isn't going to change,
the model isn't going to change.
What I want to see is the difference
in quality between a quick makeup
and a quality makeup.
So let's get some light set
and let's get shooting.
So the quick makeup
is done and Beth looks fantastic
Sophie has done a great job
and Beth now has a basic coverage makeup.
It's a nice matte finish
so it's going to cut out flare
and hot spots from these lights
that should make the whole post-processing
much quicker and simpler.
Now because this was
a quick makeup
I've just asked Beth to tie her hair back
just so we have a nice clean look.
We also need to talk about
the lighting here as well.
I want to keep the light the same
in the next shot,
so I'm going to go with a nice classic beauty
light set up here,
so I've got a beauty dish
with an eVolv 200 as the light source.
Now with an elevated light
I'd get a shadow below Beth's chin
so to fill that in,
I'm using a Californian Sun bounce.
This is just a basic Beauty lighting setup
and you can find out more about that
if you check out the Adorama Learning Center.
Around the back I've got my gray seamless paper
and just to put a little bit of light back here
I've got another eVolv 200
and that should add
a nice little vignetted area
of light back here.
Okay let's take a test shot and see how this looks?
And that looks just fine,
nice simple lighting,
very, very clean simple look.
Okay so let's take a few shots
like this and see what we get.
Beth are you ready?
Okay here we go.
In my experience
this is a sort of level you can expect
from a model who's really good
at doing their own makeup.
At first glance
this all looks great
but look a little closer,
you'll notice how Beth's
neck and shoulders
are a different tone
to her face.
Hands are often overlooked
especially when you're short of time
and in this case Beth's hands
are clearly not the same tone as her face.
So those worked really well,
very clean, very simple timeless beauty shots
but let's see what happens if we give our makeup artist
Sophie a little bit more time
and a little bit more freedom
and scope to do something a bit more creative.
So Beth off you go.
So whilst Sophie is working her magic
on Beth there's a few things
that will help make your work
with a makeup artist a lot simpler
and it all starts
before the shoot actually happens.
You can't just expect the makeup artist
to read your mind,
so we always provide a mood board.
Web sites like Pinterest
are really good
to gather your ideas together
and then share them
with your makeup artist.
On the day of your shoot
expect your makeup
artist to need some space
to work in so make sure you've planned
and prepared for that.
Speaking of which another really good tip
is to make sure they've got great light
so in this case,
I've just got my specular LED lights here.
That's going to help the makeup artist
see what's going on
and make the makeup more realistic
to these really bright lights
that I'm using in my studio.
When you hire a makeup artist
do be aware that that's what you're getting
someone who does makeup.
Now if you also need a hairstylist
that could be somebody else.
Not all makeup artists do hair
and makeup. Sophie however
she's trained in hair as well so,
make sure you check with your
makeup artist
and explain what you need
and that they can actually do it.
Great makeup takes time
so expect that
to be part of your day.
So whilst your makeup artist
is working their magic
it's time for you to set the lights up,
get everything prepared,
so you're ready to shoot
as soon as your model is ready
and finally makeup artists,
well they don't work for free,
like everybody else they should be paid
as part of your team.
So make sure you factor that into your costs.
And there you go Sophie has worked
her magic on Beth
who now has a wet look hair
and much more intense makeup.
This should make for a very different
set of pictures
using exactly the same lighting.
Well let's find out,
let's take a test shot,
see how this looks that looks?
That looks fabulous
and is very different
to the last look.
Now the makeup artist job
doesn't actually stop there.
A really good makeup artist
will be on set with you
and they'll keep an eye
on the makeup
any stray hairs
and they can help you out
enormously, so it's always worth
talking to makeup artist
and explaining what you need.
So Sophie if you could just keep an eye out
for the stray hairs,
do a little bit of retouching
and well let's just take some shots.
Here we go.
Beth are you ready?
In total this look took around
about an hour to do
and that included
both the hair and the makeup.
And that time was put to really good use
because now Beth has got some makeup
on her neck, her shoulders
and even her hands
so their color
is a much closer
match to her face.
So to really see the work
that the makeup artist does
you need to go in close
and then you can see the sharpness
af the lip line,
the detail around the eyes
and just how smooth
and even the skin tones are,
all of those things really add up
and save a ton of time in post-production.
And there you go done!
It's incredible what a difference the makeup
has made to this shot
between the straightforward shot
and the much more intense look.
Sophie did a fantastic job
and of course Beth did a great job modeling.
Now if you've enjoyed this video,
don't forget to leave me a comment below
and if you want to see more videos
from myself and the other amazing presenters
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you got to click on that subscribe button.
I'm Gavin Hoey
thanks for watching.