Yes, please do. You hear that on the set a bit when working with a makeup artist. We shot this yesterday at my workshop. I was working with Debbie Darakdjian for the first time, poor girl she didn’t know what hit her. While jumping in I liked what I saw and asked her to take her watch off so we could get an image for her website. This is a vertical but I try and strive for a lot of horizontals for a makeup artist because I think they look great on websites.
Andrea wasn’t the main model for the day, she was there to hang out and observe. When we have down time I have the workshop attendees take her around the studio with a video light or window light and shoot her if they like. I asked Debbie to do a 15 minute clean look. (which actually did take 15 minutes) So I’m happy with this look as it wasn’t planned at all and was made up on the spot.
I’m always thinking about my makeup artists website. Websites rule for makeup artists. If you want to do commercial work and get paid commercial rates you will want to build a great clean commercial website. Clients who travel from out of town only have your website to hire you by. You can be popular and get lots of referrals in town but you also want to capture clients from out of town.
I’ve been working with Tammy Pore for the last couple of years and she now has a fabulous website. She doesn’t have as much experience as Debbie Darakdjian but her website represents that she does. You must prove your work as a photographer as well as a makeup artist through images. I try and get close ups for the makeup artist after the planned shot if it didn’t show off their work. So I might do our intended look first and then do a second look of just the face for them. I have large windows and can easily do a natural light set up with a tri flector.
To build a book you need to test and test, it’s always great if you can find a makeup artist to test with. I’m referring to unpaid testing from all parties. I email 9×12 non watermarked high res copies from unpaid testing as well as all paid jobs at no charge. I do watermark my web files for social media as I view testing as a form of advertising.
Keep your makeup artists on a pedestal and treat them like the kings and queens they are…just sayin
The image above is a two light setup with a tri flector. She is standing in front of a large octabank tipped upward and feathered a bit to the right. A beauty dish with ND. You get lots of flair with this set up, so I flag as much as I can and keep black next to the model to saturate her a bit. It can be a very quick and easy set up and it’s very forgiving on skin.
Shot at my May 2010 Workshop
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