Most Studios use a Makeup Artist (MUA), especially if this is a commercial shoot and it is a model posing for the studio.  So what can go wrong with everyday makeup?   You may have seen celebrity or wedding photos, or even some of your own, taken with a camera flash, resulting in a ghostly, zombie-white complexion.  Some look like raccoon-white rings around the eyes, or perhaps just a side of the cheeks, like dusty white.  It was not the camera; it is what is known as FLASHBACK from the strobe lights and your makeup.  Sometimes the effect is planned as it is here, but often it is a surprise that was not expected.  The makeup industry created a really great idea—put sun protection into your foundation creams and powders for daytime outdoor wear.  It provides skin protection from the sun and makes your complexion look flawless.  However, the downside is that the main ingredient in most products is titanium dioxide—the same white pigment in paints and the white cream lifeguards put on the nose for sunburn protection.  When a brief but powerful burst of the strobe lights illuminates your face, what comes through is the reflective white pigments in the foundation.  In a studio, the lights are much more intense than a 50-watt strobe light on your home camera —more like 1,000 watts, and usually several of them together.  

Luckily, there are products available to you that can overcome this problem, and it is really just being aware of what is in your foundation.  So let me say upfront I do not endorse any particular brand, and I recommend you do further searches online to see what others have experienced, but I can tell you what I have tried and what works for me.  First, when you are shopping and surrounded by all of the many product lines and see the SPF on the label, that should be an alarm bell to look more closely at the ingredients.  Often, companies will sell outdoor protection and also nighttime wear and an HD-ready product for picture events.  I will say that you can pay a lot or not so much for HD products, but they will work fine.  Revlon Photo Ready, Make Up For Ever HD, and Smashbox Liquid Halo HD are all brands I can say worked well, and really more and more products arrive each day competing in this space.  Your choices will be whatever works for you, but do give them a try at home with your camera before venturing out onto the Red Carpet as some of the celebs have.

Ok, so we have talked about the foundation, but as many of you know, there may be a concealer and a primer under the foundation and then a setting powder on top of all of that.  Worse, we now can buy many of these products with glitter or sparkle baked into the product rather than added on.  Adding glitter is a really fun look except when it is photographed under strong lights and does things that were not really the intended look.  This is where you need to think about what look you are trying to achieve and try it before doing the shoot.  As you may have seen, there are some really exotic high fashion looks and everything from black glitter lips to jewels and reflective items added to the face to make striking photographs.  The first step is to know what lights are doing with your makeup and then to make adjustments.

The discussion above is more for those of you who are adept at doing your own makeup and are comfortable with foundations, highlights, bronzer, blush, etc.  But for those of you who do not normally wear makeup for whatever reason, please understand that the makeup is important to head off problems like shine from oils in the skin.  Especially in the forehead and nose areas.  Shine is a problem whenever working with studio lights, and a good foundation really helps.

With the right makeup and good lighting, the pictures will look stunning.  Please contact us if you have questions.