Off the wall portrait

[Manfred M]

I was helping a makeup artist work on her portfolo a while back and she came up with a very off the wall makeup job that I thought I would share here.



I shot this with a Nikon SB600 flash using an umbrella, almost from the side and had a silver reflector pretty well opposite. I wanted fairly harsh lighting that reflected off the thick makeup that highlighted the pores and other skin imperfections under the heavy makeup. The straight-on "mug shot" pose adds to the feeling of things being a little bit unreal works well in this setting, I think. The makeup artist only did the model's face and somehow I did not like the look, so the neck black and while is pure Photoshop.

The shot was taken in a classroom at a local community college. The background is one of the blackboards with chalk smeared by a blackboard eraser.

The original image that I took and then re-worked is:

[Donald]

The make-up is a work of art and the image more than does it justice as a work of art in its own right. Super bit of work ... by both parties.

[Maritimer1]

I love the idea, but seem to be having a hang up about wardrobes these days. The grey cardigan ruins the whole effect for me. Bare shoulders or black top with your technique would take it to stunning.