This is the first in a series of articles designed to improve your photography. Your job as a photographer (whether you're an amateur or professional) is simple. You have to make your subjects look as good as they've EVER looked without your tricks and techniques being obvious. That's a task easier said than done.
A number of repairs and improvements can be done in Photoshop, but unless you are a true master at retouching, it's hard to do too much without ruining the portrait. The more problems that you fix "in the camera" the better off you will be and the easier it will be to get seamless retouches.
Today let's talk about wrinkles and acne.
You won't have to do many portrait studies to realize your models all have a few traits in common. Your older subjects want to look younger, even if they don't say they do, and younger subjects want to minimize their acne. Let's face it, as we get older our wrinkles become more pronounced and actually deeper. Wrinkles are the first photographic signs of our age but they're a problem that is actually fairly easy to fix.
What defines a wrinkle? It's the shadows filling in the crevices. As we get older and those crevices get deeper, the shadows become darker and darker. How to get rid of wrinkles and take years off your photographic model?
Lessen the shadows.
If you have light that is glancing across the face from above or to the side of the subject, the deepest part of the wrinkle crevices are not getting any light and appear darker. This makes our model look older. Depending on the directionality and intensity of the light, this can add a lot of "visual" years to our subject.
To make your model look younger, have your light shining directly into their face. This way the light is able to get into the "bottom" of the wrinkle. The wrinkles are filled with light which lessens their shadow effect and the years drop off dramatically. The time spent in Photoshop does too!
Acne? Use the same cure. Acne scars, pimples and other facial blemishes are at least partially defined by the shadows they cast on the face. Again, light skimming the face from the side will cast longer and harder shadows thus making the acne scars more pronounced and pimples will appear larger. Shine your light directly into the face and they will be minimized or disappear altogether.
Use a reflector of some sort or even your on camera flash in addition to the sun to fill in the shadows. Your smooth faced teens and wrinkle free adults will thank you.
Dan Eitreim has been a professional photographer in southern California for over 16 years. His data base exceeds 6000 past clients, and he says that selling YOUR photography is easy - if you know a couple tried and true marketing strategies. He's created a multimedia presentation that can teach ANYONE how to sell their own photography and generate freelance income in as little as two weeks. To learn more and enroll in a FREE photo marketing course, go to: http://www.PartTimePhotography.com or http://www.FreelancePromo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment