Headshots and Portraits in Birmingham MI

Metro Detroit Michigan Headshot Photographers Mary DuPrie

I had my headshot special this past weekend and Carol booked a session for Sunday.  Lorena who I’ve shot several times over the years passed along the info to her Mom Carol and said she was going to come with her.

Michigan Makeup Artist Tammy transformed Carol in no time and we started shooting.  What I didn’t notice before our shoot was how great Carol’s teeth were.  I have to say I was floored.  Carol’s teeth are all real; no veneers, caps or fillings.    They were also just the right color, a beautiful shade of light ivory.  I was mesmerized.  Carol has teeth we all aspire to have.

Once I saw that smile I knew I wanted to submit her to the agencies.  You can be a commercial model at any age and the demographics are certainly shifting.  The main obstacle is not what you might think, as in height or weight… but teeth.  You MUST have great teeth to do commercial modeling.  Most of the time you’re asked to smile big big big.

As far as skin I’m not using any skin plugins but am cloning very strategically.   Agencies and even clients WANT to see realness.  Carol is 63 and I want her to look her age… just sparkly!   I am using flat lighting to lessen shadows.  I have a strobe going off into a white V-flat and using  natural light as my fill.

I submitted Carols image to the local agencies today and got a reply in 10 seconds… yes, we want her!  Older clients are extremely valuable to myself and makeup artists  because they represent the real world of commercial clients, so don’t forget about the over 40 clientele.  Agencies love that I understand they are looking for older clients and know I will send them their way.

I don’t assume that everyone over 40 has a problem with looking their age.  I like to keep it light, fresh and effortless.

I had my portrait taken when I was around 40 and the photographer used a soft focus filter on me, I was extremely disappointed and thought it actually made me look older.  I didn’t have any wrinkles at all on my face and didn’t need the soft focus but it was the go to filter back in the film days.

Detroit Michigan Beauty Photographers Mary DuPrie

After Carols shoot we shot her daughter Lorena.  We started with bridal and did two looks and I thought I was done but at the last minute something caught me eye and we ended up with this look.  Lorena is simply wear a boa wrap.

Lorena face is wide and can look even wider if you use flat lighting on her.  The more traditonal loop lighting is well suited to her face.  Lorena is a classic beauty thus the lighting setup.

The setup is below even though she is wearing a wedding dress.  Very simple, two Westcott spider lights and a strobe on the background.

The background is gelled with a straw gel and a dirty brown gel stacked to give it this dark rich color.  I use the brown gel quite a bit to tone down other colors.  I’m just strobing  on misc stuff at the far end of the studio… actually my ping pong table is down there!

Metro Detroit Portfolio Photographers Mary DuPrie

Tagged as: Carol, flat lighting, Headshots, loop lighting, lorena, Modeling Agencies

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