styling products should be added, and no straightening or curling should be
done. The occasional exception occurs when a hair stylist will ask the model
to arrive with “dirty” hair. This is sometimes the case when the stylist knows
he or she will be creating an updo or some other style that requires a lot of
hold.)
Compare the first two for this session (7-2and7-3). In the second image
the base makeup (called foundation) has been applied to the model’s fore-
head. This eliminated her freckles and gave a smooth surface on which the
makeup artist could work. If we had been shooting for a natural look, the
makeup artist might have allowed the freckles to show through. However,
for this fashion shot, we did not want the freckles to draw the viewer’s eye
from the focus of the shot
Now, let’s get back to the purpose of this series of photographs: control-
ling the look of backgrounds. The first step in this process was creating an
overviewofthescene(7-4)withouttheflashon.Inthiscase,myexposurewas
determined by a light meter to be^1 / 15 second at f/8.
I determined I needed to change my view slightly so as not to see the stop
signoutside.Ialsoneededtocroptheimagemoretightly.Aftermakingthese
adjustments, the flash then was turned on and adjusted to give an output
value of f/8 at the spot where I was planning to place the model. Then, I
took another test shot at^1 / 15 second (7-5). Note that these two scenes (7-4
and7-5) are virtually identical. The second shot is every-so-slightly more lit
at the door due to the flash, but not sufficiently lit to affect the overall feel of
the image.
For the third shot (7-6), the flash output was left at f/8, but the shutter
speed was dropped to^1 / 4 second. Notice the drastic change in the scene—es-
pecially outside the window. For image7-7, the flash output was still f/8, but
the shutter speed was dropped even further to^1 / 2 second, resulting in even
more ambient light recording on the background. I usually run a series of
104 LIGHTING TECHNIQUES FOR PHOTOGRAPHING MODEL PORTFOLIOS
7-2, 7-3.Great styling sets the stage for
a successful shoot.7-4.An overview of the whole scene was shot with the ambi-
ent light only.
7-5.A second overview was shot with the flash reading f/8 at
the spot where the model would be. Note that the flash has
very little effect on the background.