🇺🇸A photo is a bit like many things in life: if you properly prepare a wall to be painted with a primer, the better and neater the results will be. If you have the proper recipe and good quality ingredients for a cocktail, the yummier it gets! (Right 🙂 ?!) Same logic here! The more the professional portrait is neatly executed directly ‘in camera’, the better the final image.
That’s why having a pro take care of your hair and makeup is highly recommended.
Not booking one would be like not putting all the chances on your side for a strong image and “missing" half of the process.
HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU DO LIKE YOUR MAKE UP Overall though, when you book the hair and makeup artist that will take care of you, there are elements to look for and questions to ask to make sure the experience is at the level of your expectations and needs.
Often, photographers also team up with a Hair and Make-Up artist for you to book on-site at their photography studio.
Here are questions to ask to make sure everything leads to your expected outcome:
What are the usual projects you work on? Portraits shoots? Wedding? Fashion? TV? : Here, you will prioritize someone who is doing mainly bridal and portraits projects. Why? Because they are used to apply makeup on people like you and me, and respect the tastes of that person. The conversation will be more flexible to have them do what YOU love and what makes you feel good.
How do you make sure your client share with you what they want?: Here you want someone that is opened to YOUR habits and YOUR tastes. Of course, you have to be opened to their professional point of view and advice as they will have tips and tricks to really enhance your face. But at the end of the day, the person who will be wearing the makeup will be you. So you have to like it 😉
What if I never wear makeup? Here you want to make sure that you hire someone you know how to manage quantity and textures to make sure it ends up with a natural feels.
What if I don’t like the makeup or the hairdo/blowdry? Through that question, you push the transparency that is needed to have exactly what you want. The person you hire has to be able to welcome the feedbacks, distill his/her own expertise and create for you a hairdo or makeup that makes you looks like you, but in even better!
We all know how it feels when you have makeup or a hairdo that you don’t like: It’s feels very bad and you don’t want that on your images. That's not the experience you want to book !
So transparency and communication with your hair and makeup artist is key! Because we all know as well how empowered and confident with feel on a good Hair and make up day !!
EXAMPLES AND BOARDS A great tip is also to show what you want.
Sometimes we have different words for different results.
Or for some a smokey eye makeup is pretty intense but for others, it’s more on the natural side.
As it is often said ‘an image is worth a thousand words’ so show examples of makeup you like and hair you would want. At the Portrait Madame/ Portrait Executive portrait studio we use makeup boards to determine the intensity and the tones. We also use this type of Pinterest boards.
WHAT ABOUT MAKEUP FOR MEN? We all have seen TV anchors and politicians get powdered. What powder does is that it avoids shines and rednesses. You might not need to book a professional make up artist for only that, a professional headshot photographer should always have in his kit some rice powdered paper.
But if for you the idea of makeup on your face feels weird and uncomfortable, don’t go this way: if you feel awkward, it will be felt on your portrait and again, it’s not a way you want to be portrayed.
We want to be and feel empowered & confident.
THERE SHOULD ALWAYS A BACKUP
In case the makeup is too strong, the hair lacks the volume you wanted or you are a man and for you wearing powder is a no go: no stress If you booked a proper professional headshot & corporate portrait photographer, this one should be offering editing and retouching on the photos (or she or he works with a retoucher) and all those details can be managed in a natural way in post-prod, to have you enjoy the images at the level of your expectations.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN YOU BOOK A MAKEUP ARTIST,