Beauty photography for Makeup Artists

Despite my unwillingness to call myself a professional photographer, my background is in photography. I started out as photographer, make up artist and stylist in the early 90's working with various signed bands in the UK. From that my subsequent training and love of make up evolved.

Over the years I have learnt a few tricks when it comes to beauty photography and while I will admit that if you really are looking for a killer shot your best bet is to employ a professional beauty photographer. However, there is a little set up that you can use to make your own shots look better and in turn help you photograph your own make-ups in an inexpensive way.

I'll keep this as simple as possible...

THE BACKGROUND

If you have a light coloured wall in your house this is a great and simple choice, it needs to be a matte light coloured wall (i.e. white or cream for example).

IKEA ISDANS

Roller blind, white

€ 10.00

The quick fix:

If you don't want a permanent solution or if you don't have a light coloured wall you can opt for a cheap bed sheet or even a shower curtain which you can hang or tac to the wall when you want to use it. Whatever you do, make sure you iron that thing before you hang it up!

A more permanent solution:

If you have a little make up room set up at home and want a permanent backdrop solution I recommend roller blinds (like these from Ikea 

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/30291069/). They are a great solution and one I use myself.

A white one and a dark coloured one is more than enough and they can be secured to the wall easily. Just roll down the colour you want and you're good to go.

Now make sure you model stands a couple of feet from the wall, if possible, as this will eliminate your subject casting a shadow on the background.

IKEA TERTIAL

Work lamp, silver-colour

€ 9.50

LIGHTING

Let's face us, most make up artists don't want to and can't afford to pay crazy money for professional lighting and this is understandable. What I suggest is an adjustable lamp (one that you can easily direct the light where you want it because the arm and head are adjustable), just like this one from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/40370283/

Now get yourself a white light bulb from your hardware store and you are almost good to go.

REFLECTORS

You need to even out your lighting as much as possible, so that you can get rid of shadows as much as possible.

Firstly you need a reflector to place about chest height under your models chin. This will bounce light under the chin so that you don't get a dark shadow under there.

You will also need reflectors either side of the face. In a word, your model will be 'boxed' in to a degree. This will help stop outside light sources coming onto the face and will ensure that you get a fairly even coverage of light.

For your reflectors just get yourself large white art board from the art shops. They are inexpensive and are hard card so will be sturdy.

Picture Source: http://cotswoldmounts.co.uk/

DIFFUSERS

If you find the lighting is too strong for your subject, i.e. making the face look too white, bleaching out the colours in the make up too much etc. you basically need to tone it down.

The inexpensive choice is some organza material. Just buy a meter of it from a material shop. The light needs to be able to get through the material which is why organza is a great choice. You can double up the material to diffuse (or soften) the light even more if you need to.

You need to put the material onto a small frame. The easiest option is a picture mount, which you can buy from an art shop really cheaply. Just wrap the material around it and attach it with tape (like gaffa tape for example) or by using a staple gun if you have one. You can make up a couple of them, one with one layer of fabric and another with 2 layers of fabric for even softer light.

Where do you place your diffuser? You place it in between your light and your subject, close enough to the light source. You can have someone else hold the diffuser in place for you.

A diagram of your set up!

And finally, if you don't have a fancy expensive camera and want to use your camera phone, chances are you can! Don't forget to switch off the flash!

BEST PHONE CAMERAS

• iPhone 6 Plus
• Samsung Galaxy S5
• HTC Desire Eye

Happy shooting!