Just last week I had the unique pleasure to demonstrate beauty lighting at the Las Vegas PAC (formerly the Las Vegas SmugMug group). We were kindly hosted by the newly opened 3rd Street Studio in downtown Las Vegas, where about 20 local photographers gathered to learn beauty lighting and photograph our model. I started the demo with explaining the lighting setup which is commonly used for makeup, hair and fashion images that you see in magazines.
Typically for beauty images, it is a head and shoulders image, shot tight on the model's face with clamshell, or butterfly lighting. In this case, I utilized a beauty dish directly above the model's head, and filled the underneath shadows with a reflector. Below is Paris sitting in for our model so I could test the lights.
I also had a second light on the backgroud to give it a nice, even gray tone. After I demonstrated the lighting setup, our model Olivia stepped onto set and we each took turns capturing images of her so that the members could practice.
After our first look of Olivia in a clean, Clinique-type look, we upped the ante and talented makeup artist Shali went avante garde with a dramatic look. I had also brought some tulle and we wrapped that around Olivia to give it a high-fashion, edgier look. It was such a fun night and was rewarding to see the lightbulbs come on from the participants, knowing they would take this knowledge and practice, and apply it to future shoots. Thanks to 3rd Street Studio for hosting us, model Olivia Lakis from Envy Model Management, and makeup artist Shali.
Here's a couple images I captured of Olivia from this event.
