Photo Deconstruction: Avant Garde Makeup 1 Light Setup

Описание: Today I’m going to show you how I use incredible makeup paired with a single hard light to create a dramatic black and white beauty image. As a fashion and beauty photographer, one of the challenges of my job is to create lighting that adds to what the other artists have presented me instead of taking away. Sometimes as photographers, we get carried away, we light too much or get too creative and too dramatic. Sometimes it just doesn't fit with what the makeup or with what the clothing looks like. That's something I'm always struggling with, trying to figure out what best enhances this look, which best tells the story.

This particular shoot was during a “creative play day” where I collaborate with other creatives to test and experiment. This is one of the looks that my makeup artist presented me with -- beautiful patterns, textures, lace, and metal on the model’s face. I decided for this particular image, the direction that I wanted to go with something clean, timeless, black and white that just really showed the texture of the makeup. I didn't want to overpower it with any special effects.

Lighting:

Since I was going for an avant garde look, I knew I wanted a single hard light source and to do some black and white toning. The main light on the subject is in the center of the frame high above and all it is is a bare bulb. There's no modifier, which means it is a very, very hard light source. I chose a hard light source and from such a high angle because I wanted to play with shadows and texture. By having a hard light source, the lace on the face would actually create shadows and textures that I'd be able to see on her skin. The light is so high up because it would cast longer shadows and create even more drama. So it emphasized her cheekbones and it emphasized all of the lace.

Camera Settings:

I'm using a Canon 5D mark IV and I used a 70-200mm lens. I use it all the way at two hundred millimeters to get that nice, really tight crop. The lighting was actually pretty simple, but the magic I think for this image comes in the post-processing.

Post Processing:

When the color is not adding anything, I know I'm going to want to go to black and white. I began at first by increasing the contrast and the clarity a little bit. I tried to make the photograph more dramatic, I went to a very high contrast, black and white. I really dragged those shadows to black, and popped those highlights up towards white.
I smoothed out the skin a little bit and I also lifted up the eye on the left. It looked a little bit droopy because of the lighting.

One of the things you learn early on in photography is catchlights are important, those little highlights in the eyes. However in this image, It's about all of that amazing texture to the makeup. It makes her look a little bit more mysterious, a little bit more like a dark queen wearing a mask. What I ended up going with here, it really shows the texture and the drama and it creates a character.

Every step of the process that leads to the successful final image from the makeup to the lighting and then of course to what I decide to do for the final grade, the final toning. is one interpretation of this photograph.

So as you can see this was a simple setup, just something I envisioned in my head that was lead by the makeup. Drop a comment below and tell me if you've experimented with different genres and what your preferred go-to setups is! 😀👇

📸 Gear:

✅ Canon 5DIV: https://prf.hn/l/EJDBPoe/
✅ Canon 70-200mm 2.8: https://prf.hn/l/7DlBYyY/
✅ Profoto D2: (discontinued, linking to new D3): https://prf.hn/l/K9ENnmk/
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