3 Before and After Portraits

Ray Dauphinais · August 18, 2012

I am primarily a people photographer. I truly believe two things – people are a funny lot and each face is beautiful in its own way.
I strive to bring both the personality and inner beauty to light.

The other night I teamed up with a MUA and a Hair Stylist for a bit of fun and a test shoot with models - Katie, Fallon Nicole and Amber Jean.
I took a ‘Before’ naked face picture of each girl as they arrived and selected one of my finished images for the ‘After’.

Amber Jean

I discussed the ‘look’ for each model with Ashley (MUA) and Sammy (Hair) as each girl arrived at the studio.
There is more to creating a memorable portrait than putting a person in the studio and snapping the image.
There are three major areas that can be controlled in a portrait session; good lighting, good make-up/hair and good post processing editing skills.

Katie

I used a 47” Octobox, creating a large light source, as the main light and a 22” Beauty Dish as the hair light for Katie.
For Amber and Fallon I used a 86” PLM, bare silver reflective for Amber and diffused for Fallon’s picture.
These lighting setups help to give lighting that will hide the most blemishes and provide a good, well lit image to work in post.

Fallon

The key to a successful model portrait session is having a make-up artist put on a good base, designed for studio lights along with the right colors to match the model’s face and outfit. A professional hair stylist is critical to these kinds of images. Then it’s image selection and into Photoshop, to remove the blemishes, smooth the skin, add a adjust color and make the image pop.

I’m interested in your comments.

Ray

divamum · August 18, 2012

SO true that the MUA, hair and (when available) clothing stylists really can make a shot happen in a way that is tough when you as the photographer are doing ALL of it.

I like these a lot - they also show how a model can look pretty "meh" before the magic in the studio, but will also know how to "switch on" for the camera. I think all of these shots show this, but none more than your blonde in the 2nd group - before and after are almost unrecognizable.

Curious about the 3rd model - she seems to have a very straight waist which, despite the semi-exposed breasts, gives her quite a masculine look, espeically as she seems pretty muscular with ripped abs. Faced somethign sort of similar myself this week - one of my shoots this week involved a gal who is quite slim, but has a classic inverted-triangle shape with HUGE shoulders and a thick, short neck (you'd believe she's a swimmer - she's not, but she looks like one). She also has very short hair which made it surprisingly difficult to create a soft, feminine look in many of her shots.

Really nice work on this set.

Qarik · August 19, 2012

wow..that's pretty amazing transformations. A good MUA is like good "pre-shot" post processing.

Sam · August 19, 2012

Absolutely great set set and explanation!!

The second is the killer..............

Little girl walks in and a beautiful young lady walks out.

This could be the best before and after I have seen.

Sam

kdog · August 19, 2012

Awesome thread, Ray. Would you mind if other added before/after pairs to this thread?

Ray Dauphinais · August 19, 2012

Thanks for the comments and compliments everyone.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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Divamum: Fallon is well proportioned in a sports sort of way. She is not difficult to flatter though. <G>A very classically shaped face.<o:p></o:p>
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Qarik: I agree but don’t forget the Hair Stylist, depending on the shape of the face, hair can really be the more important ‘pre-shot’ process.<o:p></o:p>
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Sam: Katie has an extremely oval shaped face with a pointy chin, the challenge of the evening.<o:p></o:p>
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Kdog: Share away.<o:p></o:p>
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Here are one more of each of the girls:

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<o:p>Lighting was key to Katie oval face.</o:p>
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<o:p>Amber Jean's square face required thoughtful angles.</o:p>
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<o:p>Fallon's classically shaped face and body were uncomplicated to light. Gaining her trust with posing was key.</o:p>
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divamum · August 19, 2012

Ray, one of the things I'm really keen to learn is not only how to "see" face shapes - I'm ok with that - BUT then know exactly how to pose/position/light to taste and to flatter. I think most of us shooting lit portraits understand the benefit of light/shadow to sculpt a face and understand the basic "rules" for flattering (shoot from above slims, jawlines, 3/4 turns to gain cheekbones etc etc) but you're dealing with some real subtleties here and very sophisticated results here. How did you learn this? Is there a book/website/seminar which deals specifically with these kinds of things? I'm desperate to learn more - and haven't done too badly figuring out quite a few things on my own just through practice - but I know I could do sooooo much better with some more knowledge!! Curious as to how/where you learned

kdog · August 19, 2012

Great shots, Ray.

Ok, here's my input. This was a shoot for a friend of mine who's trying to establish herself as an MUA. So I found the model, and my friend did the hair and makeup.

Before

After

Dreadnote · August 19, 2012

divamum wrote: »

Ray, one of the things I'm really keen to learn is not only how to "see" face shapes - I'm ok with that - BUT then know exactly how to pose/position/light to taste and to flatter. I think most of us shooting lit portraits understand the benefit of light/shadow to sculpt a face and understand the basic "rules" for flattering (shoot from above slims, jawlines, 3/4 turns to gain cheekbones etc etc) but you're dealing with some real subtleties here and very sophisticated results here. How did you learn this? Is there a book/website/seminar which deals specifically with these kinds of things? I'm desperate to learn more - and haven't done too badly figuring out quite a few things on my own just through practice - but I know I could do sooooo much better with some more knowledge!! Curious as to how/where you learned

I'd be interested as well. What you have done here is outstanding!

Hackbone · August 19, 2012

Great makeup does it but you added another super step in the process with your talent. Great work.

Ray Dauphinais · August 19, 2012

Thanks you guys, you’re very kind.

Divamum and Dreadnote: This is self-taught, I have been asked to “teach me the way you see people”, I truly wish I could. Here’s the best I can offer:

I study people every chance I get, I have lost the thread of conversations because of being distracted by the catch lights in the eyes of the person in front of me.

I am a slow picture taker, I started with film and learned to compose, expose and fill the frame before pushing the shutter button. Digital sped me up but compared to most I’ve shot with, I am much – much slower.

I always spend a few minutes with my subjects to:

understand their needs and wants for the session
learn their personality
explain my style of shooting (slow, I talk, etc)
develop trust

I study their face to determine which side of their face they sleep on? (It is a small difference in the shape of their face but can make a world of difference to the portrait.)

I discuss with hair and makeup how I want their facial features highlighted or concealed.

Sorry for the long winded reply, I don't mean to preach.

Kdog: Very nice result, your MUA friend did well.

Sam · August 19, 2012

After seeing the results of Ray and now kdog I think I need a live in MUA to fix me up every day.

Sam

Quincy T · August 19, 2012

Really incredible work. I will be watching your posts closely, Ray! You are apparently a wealth of talent to draw experience from.

Ray Dauphinais · August 19, 2012

Sam: Me too. <g>

Quincy: Thank you very much. I just get lucky sometimes.

kdog · August 20, 2012

Ray Dauphinais wrote: »

Kdog: Very nice result, your MUA friend did well.

Thanks! I'll pass on your kudos. She and I are both fairly new to this.

Bryce Wilson · August 20, 2012

You my friend are a photographers photographer. Excelsior!

I know I've seen Katie somewhere before, have you posted images of her prior to this?

Ray Dauphinais · August 20, 2012

Thank you Bryce.

I don't think I have posted Katie on DGrin bfore.

Ray

Bryce Wilson wrote: »

You my friend are a photographers photographer. Excelsior!

I know I've seen Katie somewhere before, have you posted images of her prior to this?

3 Before and After Portraits

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