Behind the Scenes: LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTIONN!

I've been lucky to work in different areas of the industry and no two areas of the industry are alike and what may work in one, may often not fly in another. So let's talk about one subject I'm really thinking a lot more about these days: Light.

 

actress on set for "The Johnsons",season 2

Ignore Ann. By the way, Ann is the chicken, not the girl.

Look at her face. It does look shiny, right? However, to the naked eye, my young client here looked perfectly fine. Observe the strong shadows behind her. They were caused by the harsh lights on her ( and when i say "harsh", I mean standing under them melted cheap thick hair cream to oils.). Those harsh lights would wash away almost all, but the strongest of makeup.

And that's the point of my post: as a makeup artist, it is your job to understand what your Lighting guy (tv and film), your photograper or your Lighting crew (theatre) is doing. In general, photography uses the least strength in Lighting, while theatre uses the strongest. So you as a makeup artist should tone your makeup application down, in this order from light to heavy: bridal, red carpet, runway, photoshoot, television, theatre. This arrangement depends on what your brief is sha. Cameras see a lot better than the naked human eye (thank you, HD): if it looks plastered on in real life and all you're doing is attending Tinuke's wedding, and not being interviewed on ChannelsTV, it will look heavy in pictures and AGE you. I've seen a lot of makeup artists make this mistake, and sometimes I'm guilty of it too. And by the way, if it looks normal (bit of shine) to the naked eye, well, definitely it's going to look greasy once the lights hit it. The trick to use a foundation that is rich in pigment, and go easy on the application. 

A scene from the tv show "The Johnsons", MNET, when it was aired

I'll finish this post with a suggestion of foundations in my opinion have worked for me. You, dear non -makeup artist readers of my blog, should give the commercially-available ones a try.

Black Up oil free liquid foundation

RCMA cream foundation

Black Opal cream stick foundation

Mary Kay Oil free liquid foundation

By the way, we all grew fond of Ann the chicken.

Love and Peace