3 Tips that took my Beauty Photography to the next level

1. Make-up Artist

   One of the most important key components that will take your beauty photography to the next level is a good make-up artist. Having a good make-up artist will even out skin tones and in return this will speed up your post editing process. I’ve went years without a MUA and when I finally used one I will never shoot another beauty shoot without one. So, do yourself and your portfolio a favor and get a MUA.

2. Lighting

On this shoot I used a one light set-up with two V-flats to each side of the model. The modifier is a 20” beauty dish and this is my go-to modifier for all my beauty shoots. I absolutely love the beauty dish because it gives me a totally different look vs my soft box or umbrellas. When using a soft box you get more of a flat lighting while the beauty dish gives a more dramatic look and accentuate your subject cheekbones. To take it a step further I added the two V-Flats using the black side to give me more control over my lighting and to give more definition to my subject’s face. My Strobe is Godox 600 pro.

3. Camera, Lens, and Camera Settings

My camera of choice is my Canon EOS R but you can start with what you have. Beginner photographers think I must have an expensive camera to get good shots and that’s not true; I was that beginner that thought the same thing. If you get to know your DSLR and the settings to control the light you will get some great shots with an inexpensive camera. My lens is Canon 100mm f2.8 (the holy grail lens for beauty photography) this is a macro lens so it can get up very close without losing focus. This is by far the cheapest L-lens I’ve seen on the market and this works like a beast. Being a long focal lens you won’t get any distortion which is great with shoot beauty. This was the key piece that took my beauty shots to the next level.

Shooting at a higher F-stop is when I started to see my beauty work involve. I photograph all my beauty shots at f11 or higher and this allows everything to be in focus. To do this you will need a strong enough strobe to compensate for the light you will be losing by shooting at a higher F-Stop.

If you’re a beginner beauty photographer try these 3 tips and you will definitely see a difference in your work. I hope this help and hopefully you enjoy the photos.