Something New
I have, for a long time, wanted to work on bigger beauty style shoots with hair and makeup to produce magazine style high end shots - editorial work. Recently I have been fortunate enough to find a few beauty makeup artists and hair stylists that are keen to collaborate on portfolio work. I have now had the pleasure to work on three individual shoots with more in the pipeline.
It's nice that for these types of shoots you get to work with a group of makeup artists, hair stylists and models giving a variety of images from each one.
"Let me introduce you to the models I have worked with on the three shoots I have done to date.
Georgina, LEona and Libby
Tilly, Kamie and Tenecia
Jodie, Grace and Laura
"An awe inspiring team make the magic happen ...
I would like to thank the incredible makeup team Kerry-ann Wells, Becky Downton, and Sharon Owens and amazing hair stylists Tarryn Gee and Lisa Kennedy, assisted by Megan Coull. I would also like to thank Nicky Thomas for inviting me along to the first shoot and using his studio upstairs from my own.
introducing grace ...
GRACE
My first time working with Grace but I very much hope to work with her again in the future
CRIMPED!
I was, and still am, totally in love with this hair style created by the very talented Tarryn Gee. It was straight hair when Grace came into the studio.
Kamie
kamie
I have had the pleasure to work with Kamie a number of times now and she never fails to deliver a good shoot. This was something totally different from our norm though.
This incredible makeup look was the work of Kerry-ann Wells.
Pearls
Makeup for this shot was by the very talented Sharon Owens, a professional MUA specialising in bridal makeup.
Curls
This hair style was delivered by Lisa Kennedy. We will be seeing a lot more of her fantastic styling in shots to come.
Lisa is also known to take the occasional photograph and is not too bad at that either!
tenecia
tenecia
Another new model for me and it was an absolute pleasure to work with Tenecia. Already looking forward to the next time.
Hair and Makeup
Hair for this look was styled by Tarryn Gee and this fabulous gold makeup by Becky Downton.
georgia
georgia
Georgia is a model I had seen a lot of work from but never had the chance to work with her myself. Makeup artist and hair stylists seem to have a lot of pull for collaborative work which in turn works out great for me!
Attitude!
This makeup style was by the wonderful Kerry-ann Wells from our first shoot together. The beautiful intricate hair braiding is the work of Tarryn Gee.
Big Hair!
This subtle makeup is again the work of Kerry-ann Wells but this time this incredible hair style is the work of Lisa Kennedy.
leona
leona
Leona is yet another model I had not had the pleasure to work with before. These few head shots we managed to get show a stunning natural beauty.
The killer red lips are the work of Becky Downton.
elegance
The hair styling for the simply elegant look was by Lisa Kennedy.
Classic Beauty
I cannot help thinking there is just such a classical elegant look to this portrait.
libby
Libby
Another fresh face for me to work with and this time it is really fresh! Libby was lovely to work with but I had to wait a while on the day ...
ice maiden
This makeup took a long time to be expertly applied and is the incredible work of Sharon Owens.
behind the ice
Taking the look a stage further we used some clear perspex sprayed and glittered to look like ice. I cannot take all the credit, I was shooting in a friend's studio, Nicky Thomas, and he originally suggested the idea but he was already getting some killer shots down the other end of the studio so I nicked it!
tilly
tilly
Yet another new face for me. Tilly is more naturally a dancer (which is obviously another alley way I will need to explore) but is also an excellent model!
warrior
This amazing look was created by Becky Downton providing the war paint and Lisa Kennedy supplying the braids.
jodie
jodie
Just wow! Another model whose work I had seen but never had a chance to work with and this fantastic sweet as candy look worked incredibly well.
sweet as candy
This amazing look is the work of Kerry-ann Wells and Jodie's incredible red hair styled by Lisa Kennedy (although Jodie is a hair stylist herself).
This elaborate corset was designed by Michelle Tia Liddiard, founder of Artifact Salons.
laura
Laura
I have been lucky enough to work with Laura on many occasions, for some strange reason she keeps coming back to shoot with me. Again though, this style of work is something we had not worked on together before.
just laura
This particular shoot was not like the others, it was just Laura modelling in my studio. This incredible look was put together between Kerry-ann Wells and Tarryn Gee.
Patience, you learn on these types of shoots, is an absolute virtue! Both makeup and, especially in this instance, hair take time. These curls of hair were stuck in place and really did not want to play ball!
the low key look
Most of the time for this type of work I elected to use a high key lighting setup which I will talk about later. Working with just a single model though gave us time to swap the lighting style and get a couple of different looks from a single makeup and hair style.
Like I Said ...
... she keeps coming back! These next few images are from one of the other editorial shoots.
Once again working with Kerry-ann providing makeup and this time Lisa Kennedy styling the hair.
lighting
For this type of work you are mainly showcasing the work of the makeup artist and hair stylist so I usually opt for a high key beauty setup - clamshell lighting. I use a light above the model which is the key light and then a light in front of and below the model to act as a fill light. The fill light prevents harsh shadows under the models chin that the key light could cause. The fill light is usually set at about half or even a third of the power of the key light. Too much fill light can cast upward shadows that are not very nice! If lights are at a premium, or maybe a softer look, you can use a reflector below the model instead of the fill light. A third light is then used, sometimes, against the background.
The low key shots of Laura were shot against a black wall in my studio with a octagonal soft box as a key light and a 30x90cm soft box camera right acting as a small fill as shown below. Keeping the key light as close to the model as possible makes the light softer and will drop off more quickly keeping the background dark.
"The larger the light source relative to the model the softer the lighting will be, wrapping around the model, creating softer shadows. Remember the effective light size can be changed by moving it closer to or further from the model.
The Background
You will have seen a variety of background styles in these shoots. In the majority of them a textured grey collapsible background has been used but not always lit in the same way. In some cases it was not lit at all resulting in a black background. In other cases the same grey background has been lit with a gel over the flash to create different colours. This has been an extremely effective and cheap way to create a variety of backgrounds. Typically a collapsible background will be from £100 upwards and even paper rolls are around £50. I purchased 36 different colour gels for about £35.
Some of the shots of Laura were shot against the white infinity cove in my studio with the clam shell setup as shown above and no gel to give the white background.
Behind the scenes chaos
