The work of a good make up artist should never be underestimated. Although good lighting skills and photography are needed to make the photograph, the process of good preparation should not be overlooked if your aiming for the best results. In my experience the higher quality the make up job the less time in photoshop is needed afterwards to correct skin, colouration and other details which could otherwise easily add hours in post produciton.

Recently one of the make up artists that we use contacted me to ask if I could do a freebie shoot with a model that she would supply. This was for some new images for her portfolio and a hair and make up competition that she entered each year with one of the cosmetic companies. I was happy to help and this shot was one of the results. To capture this image I used a beauty dish at front/above and a rectangular softbox on the my left slightly behind the model and a snooted light on the hair from directly above. A wind machine added a nice effect on the hair to finish the shot and I only needed to make a few simple contrast adjustments in photoshop for the final image.

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