A sub-set of fashion photography, which you see more in commercial makeup advertising than in personal branding shoots, is photography aiming to capture the natural beauty of skin. Even though the model is wearing makeup, it’s specifically crafted to look like a “clean”, or no-makeup look. It’s meant to highlight natural beauty, and subtle shapes and colors. Your focus then is not on the makeup, but on the model.
If you are not a makeup wearer, but want a professional makeup service to give you that little bit of an edge and empowerment, the “clean no-makeup look” is what you want to convey to your MUA. Take a closer look at these photos, and you’ll see the artfully-applied makeup.
My goal in retouching these photos was to keep the natural look, with bringing down some of the high-gloss and having the face luminosity and body more seamless. Slight dodging, cloning, & deglossing. The biggest edit was removing a finger, since I didn’t like how it jutted out, but loved the shot otherwise.
In each of these photos, you’ll see the finished image first, and the straight-from-camera second.
Credit where credit is due:
Retoucher: myself
Model: Adelina @adelina.tereshchenkova
Creative Direction: Lindsay Adler @lindsayadler_photo
Hair: @Jacquidavishair
Makeup: Mark Williamson @markwilliamson
Styling: @thecannonmediagroup