Sorry it's been so long since I've last posted. I don't know if I've mentioned this already but I had final projects and midterms so I've been busy busy busy. I still have some midterms to come, actually, so my posting will still be limited.
Even so, I has the pleasure of working with some friends on a photoshoot today! I found out recently that one of my high school friends, her boyfriend, and his friends have really gotten into photography, so I asked if I could do hair and makeup for their photoshoots.
I'm not going to lie--I know I'm jumping the gun but I wanted to do it anyway. I've been wanting to do a photo shoot for the longest time so that I would have something for my portfolio. I am far from happy from the pictures I take of myself, and my portfolio can't consist of pictures of mainly myself anyway. Today's session was a real struggle. I have a lot of trouble doing makeup on eye shapes unlike my own, ESPECIALLY monolids and hooded lids. I'll continue my list of struggles after the pictures so you guys get a sense of what I'm talking about.
I mooched these off my friend's facebook album so the quality could definitely be better. But they still beat my camera!
Photos by Andrew Chin.
Last, but not least, my favorite of all the shots.
Challenges:
-I wanted to keep her face looking fresh so I used very little bronzer and just some blush. Alicia's face still ended up looking a little pasty.
-I ended up going too heavy on the eyeliner. Either that or I'm really not used to seeing her with makeup on.
-Her makeup kept transferring under her eye! I don't know why! All the products I used on her are products that I use on myself and I have no issues with but her makeup kept smudging! She doesn't have oily skin either. Perhaps it was just the shape of her eye?
-The rain. It was raining pretty hard the day of the shoot. You can see that the hair looks fine in the indoor shots, but has deflated quite a bit in the outside shots.
-I tried putting some false lashes on the poor girl and ended up getting glue all over her eye makeup. Alicia, her boyfriend, and Andrew have more patience than the gods to stand working with me.
-Hot rollers. I used hot rollers in her hair so I could focus more on the makeup. Even with voluminizing spray and hair spray, the hair deflated pretty fast. Suggestions?
Despite the challenges, of course there were some highlights :)
Highlights:
-EXPERIENCE. Wow, this made everything worthwhile. I was able to better access my own makeup application and hairstyling skills. Needless to say, I need tons more practice but these guys are willing to keep working with me!
-Alicia, my friend and lovely model, loved the hair and makeup. She has never had that much prepping done to her before so it was a great experience for her to feel like a superstar. I'm a bit more nitpicky but I'm glad she was happy.
-Seeing the beautiful pictures. My jaw dropped when I saw the rainy day shots.
Okidoke, folks. That's all for today. Between now and the next photoshoot, I'm going to have to kidnap some new faces and force makeup on them. Bwahahahhaha!
I love the pics. Experience will definitely help this and every time after. You'll learn tricks as you go too so- keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! I love that you're getting in there and going for it, even if you don't feel 100% confident yet... I think we are often our harshest critics, and sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith. Congratulations, and I can't wait to see more shoots like this in the future!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your first photoshoot! It's never too early, especially when you start practicing on friends to help you gain confidence before you begin working on strangers. :-)
ReplyDeleteOkay, some tips from me/things I do:
1. With photography, go heavier on the makeup. When she looks perfect in person and you think adding more will make it too dramatic, add more, because the camera needs heavier levels of depth to translate to the photos. You'll eventually learn the perfect balance for brides (who need to look great in photos and not like a clown in real life) but with beauty shots like the ones above, it's okay to be a bit heavier handed as long as everything is blended brilliantly.
2. Transfer -- the thing I do for eye makeup to prevent transferring is something I do on myself and on clients. I always put a primer underneath the eye, the same as I do on the lid. Taking a small brush you can gently sweep this primer under the lashes on the bottom lid. Add eyeshadow as you are planning; if you aren't adding eyeshadow, then powder it. But always use primer. If you use a liner, then set the liner using an angled brush (maybe like MAC's #266) with a same- or similar-colored eyeshadow. Setting creamy products like liners on the lower lashline (as well as the top) can help to reduce transfer. Having powder (whether eyeshadow or regular powder) over a primer can help reduce transfer from mascara, too. It's not a promise that transfer won't happen (considering weather conditions, sweating from hot lights, the amount of time the shoot is going, etc) but it certainly helps reduce the problem significantly.
3. False lashes can be intimidating to put on someone else. What I usually do: Choose the lashes. If the band isn't 100% black, I will take an angled brush and use a black gel/waterproof liner and run that on the band so it is 100% black. After it has dried, I will size the lash and cut down if necessary. I put a dollop of lash adhesive on a clean tissue. Taking a little stick of some kind (I usually take a Q-tip and cut off the cottony end), I will pick up the lash adhesive with it and then apply it to the lash band, assuring an even application, making sure to add a little extra to each end. The adhesive sort of "attracts" itself to the band so you see with your own eyes how easy it is to get an even, clean application of it. With a pair of tweezers at hand, I first set down the outer lash end with my hand and then I guide the rest of the lash down inward using the tweezers. You can also you the tweezers to gently press the band "downward" if it's place a little high before it really sets. I will use my fingers to hold everything in place for a few moments, as them to look upward to ensure no glue on their lower lashes, then have them close their eyes again so the adhesive can finish setting and I can prep the next lash for the other eye. (I feel like I should make a video of this, it sounds so complicated but it isn't!)
4. As for the hair... I'm not sure if this is what you do, but when it comes to rollers, *right* after I take them out I always do this: I don't take them out all at once, I do it one by one. And after I take one out, I make sure I have a tiny duckbill clip on hand. I do a super quick shot of hairspray and immediately re-roll the curl (without the curler) and then clip the curl in place (like if the curler was in there still... but it isn't). Then I move onto the next curl, repeat the task, etc. I let all the curls "cool" in their positions. After they've all cooled (maybe I've done some of her makeup while they were), I then take everything down, hairspray, brush through. It may be a little more time consuming but it helps ensure a stronger curl that won't fall as quickly.
WHEW. That was long. Sorry for being so long-winded in my recent comments. :-s
The photos turned out very nice! I really like the ones in the rain. I'd like to do a photoshoot one day...When I get my hands on a DSLR cam that is.
ReplyDeletei think you did pretty good considering all the side effects of weather and such. though my experience is always to put on more than you want to since the camera seems to blow a lot of make up away.
ReplyDeletei'm not an hair expert but it looked good from my eyes haha!/Azure
The photos look gorgeous! Congrats on your first photoshoot, I think you did an awesome job!
ReplyDelete