Often time, it is not rare to see beauty photoshoots lacking the essence of what they should embody: enhancing beauty. While this might be attributed in part to the expertise of the photographer, it is often seen to be that the basic details of beauty photography are not strictly adhered to, even by the best photographers.

 Beauty shoots are not necessarily difficult, but they require a lot of planning, skill, and creativity. Lights, equipment, and editing should not be “overkill” because they’d defeat the purpose of the shoot in the first place. 

This article highlights 5 ways a professional photographer can get more out of beauty shoots. 

Always do your research

There are many questions you need to know when agreeing to do a beauty shoot. You must understand the type of shoot, whether editorial or commercial. You must also stick with the objectives of the client when the assignment comes from beauty-themed brands such as skincare, makeup, jewelry, or hair. 

Understanding the target demography of your customer can also help you best create the concept for the shoot. It is also important that you know the type of images they want, and where the images will be shared. Social media photos tend to be more vivid and portray candid emotions whereas catalog pictures are more likely to be more polished and edited to the finest details. 

Answers to these questions will help form an idea and create the type of lighting, composition, and model direction to help in the shoot. 

Have a Team

One thing photographers make the mistake of doing is not having a team, or even having an assistant, as the case may be. For big beauty shoots, the first thing to do after research is to map out your team. Know the type of story you want to tell; this information will inform your decisions of makeup personnel, hair, prop stylist, choice of model, and wardrobe stylist. 

These people will help bring your idea of the shoot to fruition, as their expertise will be very invaluable in the actual execution. For a small photoshoot, having someone to take over lighting can help you focus on shooting creative pictures. 

This is very important as there are many suggestions that could come from collaborators. While it would be foolhardy to reject helpful tips from other experienced stakeholders, it would make sense for you to have the final say, as you came up with the idea and story, and you obviously know what you are trying to achieve. 

You must control lighting as it would influence the directions you’d give to the model in conveying the same story. You must control every single part – should they be looking at the camera or somewhere else, what role will their hands play? 

The personality of the muse or model can also be very important, as it can help to create a spontaneous shot not even in the mood boards.  

Learn how to take breaks

In beauty photoshoots, every single detail matters, and things cannot be wished away or neglected, as can be done in fashion shoots. Breaks are important so that other adjustments can be made and makeup can be touched up. You also need to take breaks so that the model’s face can rest. You don’t want a situation where a model is displaying energy but the face is “tired”. 

Your pictures must always radiate energy, and not taking breaks can be energy-sapping to you, your team, and the models/customer. 

Never ever underestimate the power of post-production

A picture can be enhanced further by the power of editing, but this must be done by someone you know or by yourself. Learn to play around with pictures before sending them to the retoucher. Doing this can lead to a discovery of a goldmine that you never thought of when shooting. 

You can play with colors of makeup and contrast to create different versions of the same picture, with each telling a unique story, though the pictures are more or less the same.