tips for digital photography

Posted on: 20 July 2015

If you are hiring an expensive makeup artist to apply your makeup for your wedding and wedding photo session, then you may want to save a few bucks by applying your own makeup before your engagement photo session. That can be a great idea if you are used to applying a little makeup every day. You only need to make a few small tweaks to your everyday makeup regimen to achieve a look that photographs well. Follow these techniques that the pros use to help you look your absolute best in your photos. 

1. Choose Cosmetics Wisely To Avoid Flashback

It is important to wear makeup during your engagement photo shoot that does not contain ingredients that will cause flashback in case your photographer has to use the flash at any time. Common makeup additives that provide you with sun protection, such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, are some of the worst flashback offenders, so choose a foundation and concealer with no SPF.

Other makeup ingredients that can cause flashback include silica, which is in some setting powders, and mica, which is an ingredient in shimmery makeup. 

At the drugstore or makeup counter, look for makeup that is labeled as "matte" and that includes no sunscreen. Most of those products do not contain common flashback-causing ingredients. 

2. Make Everything Bolder Than You Normally Would

If you typically only wear light, neutral-toned makeup in real life, then remember that makeup in photos will always look more subtle than it does in person. 

Bolder makeup colors won't appear as "washed out" on camera, and even when they look like a little "too much" to the naked eye, they may look perfect in photos. For example, facial contouring that looks unnatural in person often photographs well and looks very natural in photos.

A good rule of thumb is to find the color of an eyeshadow, lipstick, or blush that you would normally wear and then choose the next darkest or boldest shade in the line. You can also apply each product a bit more heavy-handed, and complete your look with a pair of false eyelashes that make everyone's eyes look more beautiful in photos. 

3. Test Your Look With Trial Photographs

Once you have chosen the makeup products you think will look best in your engagement photos, go ahead and apply the entire look to your face and have a friend or your fiance photograph you with and without the camera's flash. You can then see how the look will actually photograph, and you can tweak any part of your look that you want to change before the real photo shoot. 

Follow these three tips to make sure you look your best in the final photos. Ask your photographer for any more tips he or she may have to address any other specific concerns.