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First Beauty Look

Lesson 19 from: Beauty + Fashion

Matthew Jordan Smith

First Beauty Look

Lesson 19 from: Beauty + Fashion

Matthew Jordan Smith

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Lesson Info

19. First Beauty Look

Lesson Info

First Beauty Look

Pay special attention to they're a poor that we have one said it's not just about photography it's about the relationship between you and your subject where they're doing again portrait ce weddings, kids, whatever you're shooting it's about that relationship you have and the report so watch our report and watch how I speak to the model because that's very important if I'm shooting a celebrity I'm making the same way as shooting a model is the same chemistry so laura my god you look amazing let's go to work come on over I want to introduce you to the world wide web way have a fantastic model here name is laura she is incredible she's just come from hair and makeup through aaron and did a fantastic job she had the swipe to look at and figure out the look and she did a great job and did her own interpretation of it and this is the beauty of a creative team making the magic happen so this is your spot right here can't get it out of box for her feet so when I'm on set shooting there are nor...

mally ah lot of people around it's very rarely just you in the model it's the hair and makeup there's assistance there's clients and if it's advertising it's ten times appliance but I like the sit quiet I'll have music playing and music sets the tone we're not using music today because we have we're being taped and we're doing the video and it's a little harder to use music and in the situations same thing on top model we can't play muse but today we're going the giving you the energy, the atmosphere and uh you can do the rest play your own music at home but we'll create the experience and I'm ready to go oh my god lorrie looks so beautiful this looks so amazing so laura we're working on this all these moves the very small it's like looking down at me soft to here from here to here to here is three very distinctive moves as we shoot was although small tighty incredible your eyes are the hero your eyes are the hell he looks so incredibly amazing aaron thank you thank you thank you and aaron as you see anything you want to touch your feet just to come in there so aaron I mean laura let me see your shoulder around little bit that's nice. You bring a little bit more in the face right at me that's why I want you could make it open so this is a dance between both of us your lead, the dads I'm following you so whatever you want to do is still a fine looking away coming back up all of that stuff I want all that it's gonna work so guys, I have the uh the eighty five and the eight nine hundred do a fast check so doing the break john and I was just doing going through different variables and testing the light to make sure as I move around things don't change too much my eighty five on back here I might go back even further with under mackerel I won't be here go even closer so when I come in here I had john test make sure I'm not blocking any light and things were great that's so great that's nice that's nice three sixteen to hold on for one second john I loathe that's nice this is the process as we create hair make ups coming in coming in we're all getting it ready to make the magic that's beautiful that's beautiful I'm so happy we decide to stay with the nose ring in is perfect this is modern it's now get sixteen to sixteen zero sixteen zero perfect perfect someone shoot at sixteen beating sixteen can ugo up a tad on reflector just a little bit extra inch higher not too much that's nice that's nice nice right there just like that just like that that's nice just like that just like that just like that lovely lovely there there his tanks attacked by that's nice that's nice now notice it's the first shots I didn't look at the back of the camera we did all the testing doing hair and makeup we know what it looks like. I can concentrate now on just my model all the time we have and make it we're testing the lights with the assistance tweaking but I know what it looks like now it's about making the magic happen and finding that right moment you know what looks like you know your life you know your settings you know the light works there's no need to look back here again you lose them when you're looking at the back of the camera you're losing her. I want to keep her involved and get that moment that split second I looked down maybe the perfect shot might be the shot of the day oh that's because I think it's like thanks like that nice eyes they're nice they're beautiful you just like that in the face back to me a little bit aaron come in just for a second air in the back of the head gets a little flyways again and I think the piece coming down might be fighting a little bit. I want to get rid of that let's lose that. Yeah, I think it's a cleaner without let's have a remote for one second and take questions as well will you bring in because you're only doing it had shot any heaters typically on a set or blankets or what do you do? That's a very questionable if it's code one set what do I do to make sure that the models comfortable very often when you're shooting fashion your shooting out of season you're shooting of bathing suits when it's cold you do everything you can to make sure they're comfortable I just that the warmth for her comfort not for mine were in situation now because we're shooting video we can't have the sound of the here's going but we tried make them comfortable having a blanket around her having on our shoulders in between takes having all that to make her comfortable during the shoot way are it's gonna work that's beautiful dad's beautiful that's nice beautiful laurel about love that love that right there that's something back to me but of a soft mouth very solved that beautiful beautiful nice nice I love dave like this a beautiful girl great light perfect lynn's perfect camera past nice last night you come back to me come back to me last night right there I love that laura a little bit right there right there that's nice that's nice sexy amount there that's it that's it nice nice now did straight to my face directly on me right there and just that beautiful stare like that like that guy's fast nice, beautiful, beautiful so on a job you for one second I take that away from you my client would probably go to a computer monitor and look at the images and say oh I think a lot more space on the top for cover lines because he had to make a decision if they'll have the cover go over the top of the hat if I should crop and closer who make all those decisions right then we'll talk about the very beginning we had that strap coming down I'll go back to that again some nice images in there laura those eyes are fantastic even shot looking away is we quite nice she has this incredible stay there it's kind of like it's very haunting beauty go to matthew photo dad would like you to talk about the auto focus points is set on the eyes now that's the very question of different got before thie auto focus points where my placing them placing them right on the eyes not middle the face not the nose right on the eyes that's a great question thank you for that one another question taking another questions right now before I go back to shooting my amazing model question that is uh does matthew find he chooses his best images from towards the beginning the middle or the end of the shoot oh that's very interesting it changes it depends on the model and how long were working together and how comfortable we are in the beginning for brand new mal it's my first time shooting her it is pi toward uh the middle middle to the end uh girl who had worked for a lot I might get it right away like the model for the butterfly story yuki we work together so much I don't get this shot right away very comfortable together even my muse my personal work christine christine I get image right away with tyra we get it right away but takes a moment to get comfortable together and find where you all come together that's it good questions guy great questions keep them coming so when our first shot we had this string coming down and in hand make up it looked great but I felt a stronger taking it away so I felt this kind of fighting a little bit and her image oh my god go profile again that's beautiful camera camera camera stay like that stay like that stay like that just like that just like that just like that past nice that's nice that's beautiful come back me little by little very slowly that's nice that's nice, beautiful and settle right on me there there passed nice fast nice, beautiful head down to tack right there right that beautiful beautiful keep coming down a little bit that's nice that's nice oh that's magic that's magic that's magic I'm looking for those moments that just happened without me giving her e direction things that just happened and she's moving perfectly little by little I want you back to the full there with the whole process I love when I turned and so her just like that and then I can go through and have her move little by little trying to find that moment her eyes are incredible laura oh my god I'm looking for that one special moment where's that twinkle that special moment it stops you cold that's nice that's nice let's change one hundred macro matthew roaming tyra would like to know if you if you are your digital tech typically allow the model to seethe shots as they're being shot I don't like that actually I don't want them to be pulled away because people see themselves differently than everybody else. I don't want that distraction so I typically try teo keep them the monster away from the model where's actually away from everybody except the client I liked having private like back in the film days they can't see it till it's done. Ok, perfect already jeez owed for five minutes. Okay, perfect. All right, beautiful. I have time to play that same movement that you did before that same thing why focus on just the eyes and if you can just commit were like opening the eyes just a little bit right to me fast pass just like that just like that me fast check again in three powerful sixteen two beautiful that's gonna work right right there pass you like that right there right there, right that's not nice beautiful beautiful pasqua eyes nice good good their love that this makeup is so beautiful aaron uh, great job there just like that just like that very soft mouth, big eyes because that's it that's it that's it that's it just a hint of a smile that's good a tad more nice slice ice there look royal your eyes is so beautiful I love this I love that that's nice last night beautiful let's take a break and ask laura how she feels and if they want to ask laura at any questions about her experience as the model what makes her comfortable? Just I actually do like seeing the images of myself because I kind of like to be able to play off what I'm doing already and if it's something that I like then I can sort of continue doing it and evolve it a little bit and if not, then I can change it to improve the shot um also just I think that one important thing for models to be aware of is your eyes and the intensity of your eyes it's actually something that I learned from top model uh is that you do have to have that fierce stand and it's something that I've worked on over the course of my career, but you have it down now. Thank you. I have a question for you actually, fat pixel would like to know what kind of direction would you like during this type of shoot? Um, I don't know, I guess I just like it when a photographer tells me sort of what kind of attitude they'd like me to have or, you know what kind of sort of vibe they want me to put off in this case? It was it was a pretty easy interpretation for me because I thought that, especially with the head wrap, it reminded me a lot of the bust of nefertiti, which is so famous, so I what I'm trying to go for is sort of that regal queenly look also purple is a color that sort of exemplifies that as well, so I just try to incorporate a lot of things from the shoot into my posie have another question free laura from sam cocks do you get into a zone or a kind of trance during the shoot? Um, sometimes I guess uh, sometimes you're more aware of your surroundings than others, I would say there's always maybe a moment or two, where I snapped back to reality a little bit and I'm more aware of what I'm doing and and actually those tend to be the shots that are more uncomfortable just because I'm I tend to get posey you know and I think that's a problem for a lot of models but especially with a star photographer like matthew it's it's easy to get comfortable and and just teo you know be in the moment of the shot a little bit I have another question for you from digital purposes what poses are hard to do and how to look relaxed and natural while the poses quite hard definitely full body shots are really difficult for me I'm a dancer so a lot of people will ask me to do dance shots in particular and they don't really realise that you have to hold it for a long time and it's very uncomfortable eso it tends to be the more extreme the body position, the more awkward you tend to look so um it's harder to get comfortable in those types of shots um when you're working with different photographers does your comfort level depend on maybe the portfolio that you've seen of theirs or past experience with them? How do you judge may be working with the photographer and your comfort level as faras that goes um I don't I wouldn't say that portfolio has a huge amount to do with it it's mostly you know, first impressions and whether or not I'm able to get really comfortable comfortable with a photographer um initially before the shoot I've had shoots of some photographers that just didn't turn out well because I didn't feel super comfortable working with them and it's nice when somebody gets personal with you um that way you're able to connect a little bit more and and find that moment um that really creates magic laura I have another question from our friend guitar goddess how long have you been modeling I've been modeling for almost a year now and just so people who are not in the chat room um where can people find more information about you? I am on a model mayhem dot com ww dot model may ham dot com slash loris sam it's just s am grace so um yeah it's where you confined my information and contact me I'm available pretty much all the time so yeah so laura made it as our beauty model after I went through one hundred forty odd models trying to find that want the right look for beauty because not every model has it but there's something about her eyes that gets courtney like my gosh she has amazing eyes I could see her being transformed and becoming my sketch when I saw her the search was over and I'm so happy now seeing her transformed I knew she was I made the right decision one hundred forty odd girls but she was the only one that fit into the beauty mode laura how how does that make you feel all right it makes me feel pretty good this is probably the biggest shoot I've ever been on so um yet it's it's hard to find really good shoots like this is really great photographers but it's it's fun it's really fun and I feel lucky we're looking to have you here I think people around the world are really enjoying it too thank you yes you say fit into that beauty mode you mean for what you're trying to achieve here tio okay absolutely. When I was casting the models I was looking for the girl has that spark in her eyes great skin great energy that they make you want to stop when you should cover of a magazine the girls who are on covers of magazines it's very few models that fit into a cover mode it's a very special model that's a girl like a tyra banks when you walk by you stopped like who is that girl laura has that so I looked for that special thing which is kind of hard to describe what that special thing is but when you see it you know it one hundred forty girls didn't have it and laura had it and years and years of casting and seeing models and find that girl who's the right look for the client you find it and that's part of being a photographer in the fashion beauty industry you learn to find the right model and tell your clients why? Because before big advertising job, we had this meeting as the pre production meeting where the photographer must speak about the entire job, how you'll light it, your ideas for the model, how you feel about the model and why you want to choose her, why you went to bat for that model on the job if she gets here and in my haste, sir, they look at me. So I'm very picky about the models that I shoot and making sure that that model fits the brand for my client. That way you have the client forever and ever and ever that's the beauty of it with processed your work, it's not just about photography and the beginning. My career, I thought, was just about photography. I don't care about the models. Are you showing my photography, but everything affects you, reflects you and your work, your assistance, the hair and makeup that you select, the models that you select, the client looks at everything every aspect reflects on you, not just about photography, the lights and the cameras. The client could care less about the camera and the lights you're using. Other photographers want to know about that clients don't care, they want to know the image can you deliver? Who you select as the model as hair as makeup who is your team they want know you could do the job and do it well over and over and over again not have one mistake and get a great shot once they will see your book and see consistency throughout with the models with the hair the makeup it all reflect x on you as the photographer and the team you surround yourself with why do you like her look that make up that hair that retouching all reflects on the photographer so be picky choose wisely and figure out what you like and when she figured out what you like stick to that thing that's part of your brand the girls that you discover before the famous the makeup aren't you discover before the famous it's the entire crew surround yourself with the best people possible and be very picky it reflects on you forever when I first thought it off doing always testing and shooting any model I could and I'm sure my book like oh why do you choose that girl about photography at all they're talking about why I chose that model and that hair and that makeup like about photography it's all one big package they look att everything so you want the best hair best makeup best model not being redundant for reason so I can sink in choose wisely let's get to work I'm going back to my hundred macro yeah I want nice and close way that's beautiful are right there right there bass bass that's beautiful thank you taylor came out possibly I get pc button popping on so notice also in how you talk to the model oops sorry sorry sorry maybe I may have pulled it out there I think possibly so the way I talked to the model I like it quiet on the set so I can whisper because we feel differently when you're whispering oh you look beautiful vs oh you look beautiful amazing so different energy it's a different energy I wanted to feel sexy and beautiful and special so I speak to the model is very important and how my crew is my crew knows when I'm shooting they must be quiet is that myself talking on the side having their own conversation and it's interfering with the energy I'm off said so on the set a bis focused right here because this shoot is all about laura and her energy and matthew is that the same uh when you're in different types of shoot so for beauty where it's so focused right in on on laura versus fashion or at the ocean's different it's a different animal altogether uh energy is different mine is very different for fashion very different when I'm here is very intimate and cozy and personal fashion it's very different and you discover that tomorrow it's all very deliberate questions about this if I capture this moment see um so therese had said I understand the concept of whispering but does any model ever feeling comfortable with that? Oh good question I have not had the um situation where mara has not like that but I guess I could ask the models and find out how they feel so yes laura how do you feel? How do you feel about the whispering or him talking to you and that voice I'm fine with it you know it increases the intensity of the moment and you'll notice that um the intensity in matthew's voice will increase when I'm doing something that he's really liking so so that's a better indication for me as teo you know what I should be posing like or you know what sort of look I should be giving off so I mean it's just a good indicator and communication is really key when you're in intimate shoots such as this one lord just so you know you have a lot of fans a lot of fans thank you let's go to work. Oh, wow that's beautiful that's beautiful that's beautiful just like that just like that right there right there head down just a tad past nice pass nice that's nice that's beautiful comeback ranks a tad to me even more even more last night lovely, lovely lovely just like that just like that very soft maffei soft face off nice, nice, nice. That siri's just now is where we mailed it, and you feel it, you feel it out the entire shoot, the serious just now is where we nailed it. Now I'm comfortable to stop and take her back to hair and makeup because I had my shot, I felt it in that siri's crashing more, absolutely. I want to be energy in the same place because I have my shot. I shot more, pull back with the eighty five, I shall close with the hundred macro. I had my coverage. Could I go in closer? I want to, yes, but we'll save that for the another shot.

Class Materials

bonus material

MJS Storyboard Concepts.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Thanks Matthew for the super informative courses. I'm from Thailand and I'm very impress with the way you speak. It is super clear and very easy to understand. Your answers to each questions are extremely inspirational. I think you are the best teacher on photographing so far on Creative Live. Each of your answers and information are very motivational and very thoughtful. Thanks again for this great Live broadcast. You are a great teacher and a very nice warm person as well.

a Creativelive Student
 

Thanks Matthew this two days have been amazing, and I am looking forward for the last day,,in which you will be talking aobut the photography i would like to do, since is my dream to be a fashion photographer i have learn a lot from you, and this expirience has been amazing, if i only lived in L.A. and not mexico city, i would definitely write you a letter and try to be your assistant to learn as much as possible from such and amazing photogrpher and person; once angain thanks for everything. Thamks creativelive for bringing this amazing photographers, and letting us learn more and more about the amazing world of photogrphy.

a Creativelive Student
 

This course has been an awesome experience. I have learned so much about the process of beauty and fashion photography. Matthew takes the viewer through the preliminary thought process. He not only covers the technical aspects but also the importance of the photographic team itself--the stylist, makeup artist, model and photo assistants. The photographer plus the team equals magic. I do not use the term amazing lightly. This man is AMAZING and INSPIRING! Thanks to Matthew, I feel confident that I will find my own vision.

Student Work

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