# Shot for a Makeup Artist



## BrianStyles (Dec 19, 2012)

Hey guys.  New to the forums.  Did a shoot a while back for a makeup artist and decided to share.  Don't crucify me too bad!


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## leeroix (Dec 19, 2012)

the processing is weird to me... yellow, magenta? in her hair.


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## BrianStyles (Dec 19, 2012)

leeroix said:


> the processing is weird to me... yellow, magenta? in her hair.



There are series of photographs on the web that implement this type of post process. Many artists and retouchers do similar things along these lines to complement colors already on the palette. It's just a different take.

We felt it complimented the yellow and magenta tones already in the makeup.  Was recently published in a newsstand magazine here in the city.  Fun stuff!


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## e.rose (Dec 19, 2012)

Love it.  :sillysmi:


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## e.rose (Dec 19, 2012)

leeroix said:


> the processing is weird to me... yellow, magenta? in her hair.



You've never seen anything like that before?  You see stuff like that in magazines all the time.


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## BrianStyles (Dec 19, 2012)

e.rose said:


> Love it.  :sillysmi:



Thank you much, rose.


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## mommyof4qteez (Dec 19, 2012)

Nice!


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## tommyboy (Dec 19, 2012)

I like it except my eye keeps looking at all that hair, perhaps because it's not typically worn that way.  It seems to fight for attention with the make up a  little for me.


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## cgipson1 (Dec 19, 2012)

Well done! Lovely image and lady!


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## BrianStyles (Dec 20, 2012)

tommyboy said:


> I like it except my eye keeps looking at all that hair, perhaps because it's not typically worn that way.  It seems to fight for attention with the make up a  little for me.



Awesome! That was our intent!


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## o hey tyler (Dec 20, 2012)

BrianStyles said:
			
		

> Awesome! That was our intent!



Were they also a hair stylist on top of being a makeup artist? I would reckon you'd want to accentuate the makeup, and not the hair if the shot was for a makeup artist... Maybe I'm not following your logic.


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## BrianStyles (Dec 20, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> BrianStyles said:
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It's ok.  I just didn't clarify. Yes, the MUA was also the MUAH so with that said, we were accentuating both assets.


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## nycphotography (Dec 20, 2012)

the face pops, but the overall effect is meh (to me).

Why?  While I love the exposure and the crisp details around the eyes and features... I love the treatment on the face... 

but the hair seems... i dunno flat to me.  I wonder if you could have selectively added contrast (or other adjustments) to make the hair pop as much as the face does?


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## amolitor (Dec 20, 2012)

The lighting  together with the makeup gives a weird optical illusion that she's partially closing her left (our right) eye. Not a fan of the hazy yellow overlay, but yep, it's definitely a thing.


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## cgipson1 (Dec 20, 2012)

Love the way the hair frames the face.. and not seeing any optical illusions either.....


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## e.rose (Dec 20, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> and not seeing any optical illusions either.....



Me either... and believe me, I tried really hard to see it.


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## amolitor (Dec 20, 2012)

Since nobody else seems to see it, I dug a little deeper. There's some asymmetry going on, both in the model and the makeup, I *think*.

Here are the two eyes, one flipped, for comparison. Note the makeup above the inner eye, quite different between the two. Her eyebrows are also quite asymmetrical, but that's how people are made. Can anyone sort out for me why the makeup appears asymmetrical?

Anyways, it's this radical asymmetry that I was picking up on. I think the larger area of dark makeup around her eye makes her appear to me to be closing it, or something.

I totally haven't got the chops to tell is this is awesome makeup that is asymmetrical on purpose to fix something, or if it's sloppy, or if the whole thing is an illusion caused by.. something or another. Anyways, it's interesting, and I'd be charmed to have it explained!


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## nycphotography (Dec 20, 2012)

amolitor said:


> Since nobody else seems to see it, I dug a little deeper. There's some asymmetry going on, both in the model and the makeup, I *think*.
> 
> Here are the two eyes, one flipped, for comparison. Note the makeup above the inner eye, quite different between the two. Her eyebrows are also quite asymmetrical, but that's how people are made. Can anyone sort out for me why the makeup appears asymmetrical?
> 
> ...




Great eye... did you notice her ears too?  I noticed them immediately, then let it go as I probably wouldn't have controlled for it in the studio... but with the other asymmetrical elements... interesting.


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## BrianStyles (Dec 21, 2012)

nycphotography said:


> the face pops, but the overall effect is meh (to me).
> 
> Why?  While I love the exposure and the crisp details around the eyes and features... I love the treatment on the face...
> 
> but the hair seems... i dunno flat to me.  I wonder if you could have selectively added contrast (or other adjustments) to make the hair pop as much as the face does?



Initially, my editorial retoucher and I wanted to add more "flare" to the hair in post but the MUAH put, in order of importance, that makeup was primary and "hair design" was secondary to her skillset.  With that said, we adjusted accordingly.

Great input! 



cgipson1 said:


> Love the way the hair frames the face.. and not seeing any optical illusions either.....



Thanks, what we were going for.  But amolitor is correct, there is a slight illusion the image gives off.  Only if you're closely observing would you notice much.  For the normal observer with no trained eye, the picture works.



amolitor said:


> Since nobody else seems to see it, I dug a little deeper. There's some asymmetry going on, both in the model and the makeup, I *think*.
> 
> Here are the two eyes, one flipped, for comparison. Note the makeup above the inner eye, quite different between the two. Her eyebrows are also quite asymmetrical, but that's how people are made. Can anyone sort out for me why the makeup appears asymmetrical?
> 
> ...



Good observations!  The eyebrows were even more different from one another pre-post.  We adjusted as much as we needed to without taking away too much from who she really was.  As far as the makeup, there were minute differences in the eye shadow that we didn't have time to fix because of deadlines.  However, to the untrained eye, it's _almost_ unnoticeable.  Had this been made for a large wall print, we would have spent more time in post production.



nycphotography said:


> Great eye... did you notice her ears too?  I noticed them immediately, then let it go as I probably wouldn't have controlled for it in the studio... but with the other asymmetrical elements... interesting.



It's like they say, one foot is larger than the other (and is actually true, in my case).  It's the natural "imperfections" of the human body that make us so unique.  You are correct, one ear comes out a bit further than the other.  We didn't want to adjust too much as to take away from her normal features and was actually requested that we do not by the editorial it was published in.


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## cgipson1 (Dec 21, 2012)

BrianStyles said:


> nycphotography said:
> 
> 
> > the face pops, but the overall effect is meh (to me).
> ...



Brian.. I love the way you imply that those of us who applauded your  shot are clueless, and have "untrained eyes"! Thank you! My comment was  more along the lines "the shot works"... nothing "really" objectionable  noted, as I am sure some of the others were! Or maybe I am reading more into that than you meant!


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## amolitor (Dec 21, 2012)

The only reason I spotted the makeup differences was because I felt a slight "winking" effect and then went looking when others didn't feel it. If I hadn't been digging in pretty deep, the makeup differences would have totally slipped by me. So, it's.. pretty darn subtle!

I *was* kind of hoping there was some super cool reason behind it, though!


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## Derrel (Dec 21, 2012)

amolitor said:


> The only reason I spotted the makeup differences was because I felt a slight "winking" effect and then went looking when others didn't feel it. If I hadn't been digging in pretty deep, the makeup differences would have totally slipped by me. So, it's.. pretty darn subtle!
> 
> I *was* kind of hoping there was some super cool reason behind it, though!



This famous quote springs to mind... "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." ~Napoleon Bonaparte. You probably know the story behind that quote, being a learned man.


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## jamesbjenkins (Dec 21, 2012)

leeroix said:


> the processing is weird to me... yellow, magenta? in her hair.



Hipster profile pic guy acts like he doesn't read fashion mags. Riiiiiiiight...


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## e.rose (Dec 21, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> BrianStyles said:
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> > nycphotography said:
> ...



Charlie, you know I love you, but I think you're taking his statement a little too personally.  

I don't think he meant US so much as the random, non-photographer, who-evers will be buying whatever publication it was printed in and flip past it to the next page after only viewing for a few seconds.  

And if THAT statement was offensive somehow... then I give up.  There's only 6 more hours left in the day, which means we're BOUND to blow up any second now and I don't have time to be concerned with such things...    :hug::


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## cgipson1 (Dec 21, 2012)

e.rose said:


> cgipson1 said:
> 
> 
> > BrianStyles said:
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hahaha.. just giving him some grief! And you didn't see the PM I sent to him, explaining why The response occurred!    lol! 

(besides... the world can't end yet... you have not posted a closeup lovely portrait shot of yourself lately (in a long time) so I can gaze into those gorgeous eyes! I think that might make the END almost bearable!   )


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## e.rose (Dec 21, 2012)

cgipson1 said:
			
		

> hahaha.. just giving him some grief! And you didn't see the PM I sent to him, explaining why The response occurred!    lol!
> 
> (besides... the world can't end yet... you have not posted a closeup lovely portrait shot of yourself lately (in a long time) so I can gaze into those gorgeous eyes! I think that might make the END almost bearable!   )



D'aaaaaaaaaaaw


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## BrianStyles (Dec 21, 2012)

Derrel said:


> This famous quote springs to mind... "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." ~Napoleon Bonaparte. You probably know the story behind that quote, being a learned man.



This can imply that:
1)  amolitor may have seemed like he was being a jerk because he was "stupid," not intentionally being mean, or
2)  I may have seemed like a jerk in my responses because I was "stupid," not intentionally being mean, or
3) Someone else seemed like a jerk but it's only because they were "stupid," not intentionally being mean.

Either way, don't be mean, Derrel. Play nice. Unless your meanness is just attributed to being stupid, not stemmed from malice. ha! jk 



e.rose said:


> Charlie, you know I love you, but I think you're taking his statement a little too personally.
> 
> I don't think he meant US so much as the random, non-photographer, who-evers will be buying whatever publication it was printed in and flip past it to the next page after only viewing for a few seconds.



Did we grow up together? You know me all too well. 



cgipson1 said:


> hahaha.. just giving him some grief! And you didn't see the PM I sent to him, explaining why The response occurred!    lol!
> 
> (besides... the world can't end yet... you have not posted a closeup lovely portrait shot of yourself lately (in a long time) so I can gaze into those gorgeous eyes! I think that might make the END almost bearable!   )



Got your PM.  You know what I meant, silly. But it's all good, jelly bean!


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## Lmphotos (Dec 21, 2012)

The way her skin is so creamy and she looks like she is dimensional and going to pop off the page how do you achieve this? Is it mostly post processing? In camera? I try so hard to duplicate this look always a fail!


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## BrianStyles (Dec 22, 2012)

Lmphotos said:


> The way her skin is so creamy and she looks like she is dimensional and going to pop off the page how do you achieve this? Is it mostly post processing? In camera? I try so hard to duplicate this look always a fail!



Creamy skin/enhanced colors = post
Pop off page = lighting/operator

I really can't give you a step-by-step as things change so much depending on the kind of environment you're shooting in.


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## sundaysmile (Dec 22, 2012)

This is so beautiful! Lovely work


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## BrianStyles (Jan 9, 2013)

sundaysmile said:


> This is so beautiful! Lovely work



Thank you.


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