The Great Makeup Dilemma

One of the trends in makeup today is no makeup! Lots of people want to look natural so they come to photography sessions with no makeup. Here’s the challenge with that idea: In everyday life when you look at someone, you see the whole person and the background around them. Unless you are studying his or her face, you don’t notice minor flaws because that’s just the person. However, in a photograph, those same flaws, which are nothing in real life, stand out because people look more deeply at a photo than they do at a real person. In a photo, you are not going to look exactly the same as you do in real life. 

Photo editing can minimize flaws which stand out, but to do it so that the photo doesn’t look “photo-shopped” is time consuming and costly. Most people think they want to look natural in a photo, but when they see their natural self, they are surprised because a minor flaw may stand out that they haven’t even noticed before. So to have photography that looks like you in real life, it’s best to use a little bit of makeup to minimize those minor flaws.

Here’s an easy test. Take a photo of your face with no makeup, then add just enough to minimize any flaws you see. You don’t have to remove them, just minimize. Then re-take the photo with your phone and see if you look more truly natural. The camera sees everything with no judgment. It wants the great color of your eyes to show up as well as the pimple on your neck. So it’s best to give the camera the face you want it to see.