Make up Tips for Photos

1. Wear Mattes

When you are going to be photographed, you want to avoid anything that is going to reflect light onto your face.  Mattes are flat colors. They don’t have any sparkle or shimmer. The shimmer looks good to the naked eye but, the camera captures it differently than our eyes do.

2. Apply in Natural Light

For best results, apply your make-up in natural light. Indoor lighting can alter the appearance of your make-up. Most indoor lights have different color casts or tones to them. Because of this, some lights may wash you out causing you to apply make-up too heavily.  So, when you get ready at one location and are photographed at a different location (or using studio lights) your “picture perfect make-up” may look less than perfect in your photos.

3. Use Yellow Tinted Powder

Yellow tinted powder photographs better than shimmery or translucent powders. The other powders will reflect the light leaving you with a shine. They may also leave you looking washed out.

4. Blend in under Eye Concealer

Most of us try to cover up dark circles under our eyes with a little concealer. For everyday use this is fine, but, occasionally in photographs, under eye concealer comes off too harsh. Be sure to blend out the concealer extremely well. If it isn’t well blended, it may reveal fine lines and awkward coloring around your eye.

5. Black Liner and Black Mascara

Many experts suggest using black liner and mascara. If you normally use browns, opt for black.  The darker hue will give you better contrast and make your eyes pop even more.

6. Blush

Skipping blush will wash your face out, especially under a heavy flash. Blush adds definition to your face. Without it, you end up looking like you’re missing something. Be sure to not over apply blush either. Start light and add more if needed.

7. Don’t Skip Lipstick

Skipping lipstick will cause your mouth to blend in with the rest of your face. You need to contrast your features for best results.

8. Avoid Shadows

Try not to create any shadows on your face with make-up. For example, don’t apply dark shadows below your eyes. This will give the appearance of bags and no one wants that. 

9. Contour with Highlight

Your photographs will look great when you contour and highlight your facial features. To contour, use bronzer a shade or two darker than your natural color to brush on under your cheek bones, under your chin, along either side of your nose, and the outer corners of your forehead. To highlight, apply a lighter color on the areas that light hits. Apply it to the tops of your checks, center of your forehead, and the bridge of your nose.

10. Whiten Eyes

Don’t forget to use eye drops to get rid of any redness in your eyes. Those bloodshot eyes can really mess up a good photo. You can also help your eyes look bigger and clearer by using a little white shadow on the inside corners of both eyes.

Looking good in your photos is simple if you follow a few basic make-up tips.

Bridal Photo Shoot in Guthrie

Bridal photo shoot in Guthrie, OK at a historic building sound interesting? I thought it did so I gave it a whirl!  There were several pieces to this project that had to come together to make this photo shoot happen. But it was worth all the work in the end. 

First step was to find a wedding dress for my model.  I located a dress I could rent from a resale shop and was pretty sure that was the path I was going to have to take.  But a lady from church gave me the best news when she told me she had a dress I could borrow.  Not only was the dress amazing it photographed very well and looked great on the model.  Next, I had to recruit a model.  This was a task that did become cumbersome with trying to schedule the time with three different people and the two snow storms and my brother being sick.  But nonetheless we were finally able to work it into everyone’s schedule. 

A couple days before the photo shoot I was trying to get all the loose ends tied up and asking myself all kinds of questions.  Does the model have jewelry to wear? What about a veil?  Are all the batteries charged? Are the lights packed?  What about flowers?  My bride needs a bouquet!  Luckily I had some flowers that were left over from my many craft projects.  Joanna, my dear friend was kind enough to transform my pile of flowers into two beautiful bouquets.  You’ve got to love it when God blesses you with some of the most helpful people in the universe!  Thank you Joanna for making the bouquets, they were lovely! 

 I was yet again blessed on the day of the shoot with absolutely fantastic weather.  It was in the low 70’s which was a far cry from the freezing cold weather of the past few weeks that included two snow storms.  And not just a little snow. Oh no we had enough snow that they closed school for 4 days one week and two days the next.  Crazy is all I can say about that.  So the 70 degree weather felt great!

We got to the building in historic downtown Guthrie and the anticipation of what exactly lies in store for the photo shoot was exciting.  The exterior of the building was a brick three story corner building and the signs of age were apparent.  It had a very antique feel to it and the possibilities for potential photos were running through my mind.  Once inside we were shown the layout of the building and we began to setup.  There were many areas that caught my eye as great locations so I knew I had to use my time wisely in order to make time to capture them all.

The photo shoot was super fun but I know my model, Hannah, was beat from all the work.  Models don’t get near enough credit…it is hard work to stand in front of a camera and “look this way”, “smile that way”, “turn your shoulders like this”…for long periods of time.  So, Hannah, thanks for being a trooper and easy to work with, you ROCK girl!