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Intro to Beauty and Fashion

Lesson 1 from: Beauty + Fashion

Matthew Jordan Smith

Intro to Beauty and Fashion

Lesson 1 from: Beauty + Fashion

Matthew Jordan Smith

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Lesson Info

1. Intro to Beauty and Fashion

Next Lesson: Point of View

Lesson Info

Intro to Beauty and Fashion

Good morning everyone good morning wherever you are in the world good morning we are about to get started today is broken down I'm gonna break down first the schedule the first part is doing the foundation today is all foundation give you all the knowledge that you can use four days two and three and we have a lot of fun doing this I will take you through the process of ofthe board of concept of visualisation, of shooting of lighting and even if you're not into fashion and beauty if you're not in a fashion and beauty and you just do portrait ce or weddings or children or travel or landscapes there's something here for you today and first of all I want talk about one thing's very important it's not on here but I thought about it just now it's very important to have goals it's very important to have goals even in photography every year I set goals for what I want to do for the year and I write it down pen to paper I think this is very important pin to paper to write down your goals and p...

ut it somewhere we can see them every day and then I say them every day and then a day by day it becomes riel write them down write down your goals and say them every day that said let's get started so they to all be about beauty and when I shoot a mock cover of a magazine the magazine is the creative live magazine so we should cover and out act like I'm shooting it for client how shoot it will be based on shooting a beauty light and I discuss what that isthe they three will go into fashion and this day we have two models I mean backup they won for beauty putting two sorry day two on the beauty shoot we have one model and we'll go through different looks with makeup one day two we have two beautiful models and we go through a fashion story and both days of very different but very much full of fun and excitement and you guys have a great time online and here live we have a great time so let's jump into this let's talk about beauty what is it what is it to you guys what do you think beauty is when you hear fashion and beauty what is beauty shot very king just the face but that might be very limited but that's what I imagined when I think about beauty well I always imagined something very organic that doesn't have a lot of extra things that all the focus is put on one single subject okay always think of what's in your heart it's like just your heart speaking to you because I think all of us have a different definition of beauty I think we all see things differently and I think it's what's in your heart that comes out that you're able to capture er I really like that because we all see things differently remember that we all see things differently I will talk about that a lot over the next three days I guess I would sum it up in one word soft um that's just I guess the word that I would put to beauty is it's not the kind of ah more edgy editorial it's more of a soft feeling what does beauty mean in vegas? I don't know after that uh I mean I always look I like natural but I think every anything natural like landscapes everything that's natural you know it's not eggs zach what vegas is about but the truth about tricking in vegas I like natural everything that looks natural alright so coming from oh good. I want to say I wanted to share some of the folks online who are sharing what beauty is to them oh, so anna lena says beauty is emotion and aaron are says portraying something specific jerry pena says beauty is something in life that makes your heart swell oh, I like that scary and then sherry says in the eye of the beholder I like all of this the internet we loved it you hampshire what is beauty? I think three with adam to me natural is the best words for beauty to me what beauty like carlo said it's a picture you know head and shoulder shot just clean natural perfect perfect more simple all right so you all right you all right but I want to talk about this in terms of business you can have a career just shooting beauty you're gonna have an entire career just shooting beauty how is that possible let's take a look beauty is all about the face hair skin is the business of photographing skin care haircare makeup and jewelry that's that's what you're but beauty is this all that skin care hair care now think for a minute all the products out there in the world that encompass all of that you can have an entire career just shooting beauty just having you focus right here that's an entire career ah very lucrative career because in good times or bad times bad recession good re session there's work out there because women and men bye hair care and skin care you cannot go on vacation but you wanna buy your shampoo your lotions your soap all those pox sail all the time no matter what anywhere in the world and they have to advertise and who do they go to photographers skincare hair care jewellery for skin care this is yes a tip of all the companies ole loreal estee lauder skincare they're trillions those companies out there looking for you and your vision of what beauty is everybody just said on the online and here live what you think beauty is and it's your interpretation of that if you show that visually you stand out from the crowd how you shoot how you feel about beauty hair care pantene a vada revlon goes on and on yes tons of companies out there for just hair care jewelry harry winston tiffany's that diamond ring you know cartier there's so much work out their hair care skin care jewelry this is all the line of beauty this is all just beauty if there's a lipstick how would you show your version of shooting a lipstick? There are lots of ways there are lots of ways to shoot every product you can't just look as being always just a lipstick no really figure out how you could make it your own version so for this shot we did a red lipstick and then I had the makeup artist put glitter all over her lips that took two hours for that one shot but then I want to see an editor at a big magazine she's going through my portfolio and she stops here she says, can I have a print of this my wall something this gigantic print and sent it to her I mean shoot for the member since shoot your version of beauty, shoot your version of beauty, use your imagination, be creative and have fun this is you putting your finger print on your work your version your vision a beauty more back for a second so even looking for the perfect lips for the shot took a while cyprus I went through like seventy models trying to find the girl with the perfect lips a lot of fun let's get back to beauty clients and skin care skincare think about all the different versions of what you khun due to photograph skincare and having fun doing it a girl washing her face also becomes a very beautiful shot she's just washing her face but as photographers you have your way of shooting that so here's one way and there's another they're very different but is the feeling there and class all the way for your version of how you take their product and bring it to life how you bring it to life how you shoot it? What lens will you use? What will you use but more importantly, what's your intent how do you feel about this? We all wash our face in the morning and don't even think about it start thinking about everything you do that you take for granted and figure out how you can do it differently how you brush your teeth, how you wash your face happy to give a spin to that and make it look beautiful you all have your own version of beauty and how you feel about it how do you show that? How do you show how you feel there's? Lots of ways to do everything there are lots of ways to do everything lotions that could just be showing skin beautiful skin thereby lotions and oils and all types of stuff but clients who she had these products want to see how you interpret skin how you light it sunlight backlit front lit hard light soft light we have all these options and tools to play with but how will you show how you show your version of beauty skincare eye make up there's tons of different things mascara, eyeliner this tons of products how do you show that? And like fashion, beauty is always changing with every season as well. So if you go through the magazines like allure magazine is a beauty magazine until issue the trends on beauty because is beauty trends change the same way that fashion trends change and fashion is definitely all about change? Fashion is change so his beauty not as often but it does change jj there's look from the forties that's very specific to the forties and fifties and the sixties what's the look now and which your spin on that look what your spin on that look hair care now flagging toe hair care every picture no matter what you're doing no matter if you're shooting landscapes or still life or children or weddings every picture has a hero. Every picture has a hero what's your hero when you're shot what's the hero in the shot and this shot the hero is all about hair hair is the hero so you have a client and your client is pushing ah, lipstick the lipstick is the hero if you doing still life and you're shooting ah can or an apple the apple is the hero who should get landscape made the lighting is is the hero going across the landscape or a building in the landscape? Every picture there's a hero it's up to you to find that hero and this separates you from everybody else whose just playing around photography you guys a serious find your hero when you look at your image they find and no what the hero of the shot is that's a successful picture you find the hero and make the hero stand out more than anything else find the hero find the hero and all your work you decide what you want to stand out. You have that that intent as you shoot, find the hero and make the hero in your shot shine above everything else. Find the hero now on the shot I don't care about the skin as much because the hair is the hero I want them to pop out more anything else to have the viewer's attention because you had that instant on ly to grab their attention, find the hero it make that stand out from everything else less is mohr and because less is more everything we do tomorrow and the next day be very simple and clean because less is more less is maur less? Is mohr fine? Your hero and forgot all different ways? You make your hero stand out let's say you're doing a movie. You're the director, you have a z in ways to shoot your shot to frame it. Same thing in photography find your frame, find you a shot and how you want to frame it. You have this entire palette to work with, but you can find your hero anywhere. So when I'm shooting these shots, I have my image now they're fine my hero. So as I'm shooting, I'm going through trying to find the hero, even though I'm only working here for beauty, I'm trying to find the hero in this face, some shooting it which is in this version will be full this's my full version of beauty, then, like a movie, I go in and shoot tighter shots here, just the mouth or half the face or just the eye. Or just tied on the face pull back your entire face I'm getting different angle so when I go toe edit I have all these options to find my hero gets any questions don't be shot ask anything it any time you're hero doing editing but you take all the shots just to have options yes, absolutely her question was do I find my hero in the editing and any is selecting the image yes because as I'm shooting I'm making sure I'm getting coverage so I shoot I'm shooting my model first full getting entire face that I'm going close and changing lenses going from like, say, eighty five limbs to one hundred macro lin I'm shooting close on just the eye just the mouth or sections of the face on dissecting my beauty and then we get to editing selecting the image then I find the shots that work well together but I've gotta shoot it first if I just shoot just this on lee just this only have on ly that option to work with. I want tons of options to play around and find my image and also to tell my story to tell my story quick question from the internet sales good question from chief on fashion magazines we see many shots of makeup products without a model just close up shot of lip class or foundation still outer, for example does that count as beauty photography it does it does it's in a different world so it's a different realm you'll have batons who shoot fashion and beauty and shit the models and then you have of still life photographers people do still live you'ii work with just products on lee and it's, a different version, but they're people who work with just still live just doing beauty products there a lot of them and that's also a great career just doing still life and their worlds apart lighting still lifes lighting a product is very different about lighting a person, but even I love it. I love shooting people in the questions before you start moving on from online I have one from california nine and nine who would like to know if you do your own editing? Okay, let's just define editing because I know a lot people say anything that mean retouching um I don't do my own retouching I have I have three retouch is that I go to four of the work I have one in new york and have to in l a and it could because they're all busy I've got who's available for what who's doing a specialty is, well, some great ones skincare, sum's, great one hair care, some great compositing I have all those, so give me that question about it any again in terms of really editing and where I could define editing is being selecting my images I use light room for that light room and capture one use both brought products actually uh when I'm getting the shots I do the editing myself sometimes I know what my client but I like doing it myself when you're doing a big a big campaign, you don't have that option sometimes the clients doing it very often the clients of doing it I'll give my input when inge is that I like, but the end of the day the client my client is choosing the chest they want for their product for example say I shoot for ole I'm showing an ad for oli I'll shoot all these images and on those big jobs like that we're shooting there's a monitor on set the clients all there they may be thirty clients on the job we're shooting the model, the clans all there looking as we shoot each image is coming as we shoot and at that moment there make a selection of images that they like now they're thinking about their client and making sure that the image uh, fits that brand because every client has their own brand loreal is different than the revlon they might show their products sits bits within that brand I'm thinking about a beautiful shot there thinking about the brand so they've taken image that fits the brand where I look for picture that fits a beautiful shot and they could be very, very different good question though more absolute how often does the client she's the same photos that are your favorite oh that's a very good question how often is the client pick the same image? Never well, very really very, very really oh, man, I gotta get moving tell me I've got to get going. I have a lot to go through here so it is very rare that the client with the same is that that I pick I'll give my suggestions and then they pick theirs. They're very rarely the same good question though from the internet thank you guys. So jury products there's a world of work just doing jewelry now the hero is the jewels rings the necklace, the bracelets all the good stuff all the good stuff all the good stuff and you shoot it based on your client they know who they are where they are. So here we have no jury on a model and this is for a japanese client. This is actually my girlfriend's line of jewelry and because it's japan in japan the nails are really big feel how the nails had done very different when they have a duck nasa done here in the states so because it's going to that country it's done in a very different way then we shoot here in the states you'd have very simple clean nails not there casting models for beauty what do I look for casting models for beauty? What do I look for? Great skin, great skin I know people are thinking like oh, we just do retouching and clean it all up doesn't match with the skin looks like that's not true that's hours more work for my client it cost mohr to retouch a girl who has bad skin, the grass, great skin so what? I'm casting models for beauty cosmetic hair care I look for great hair with his hair care great skin, a skin care we don't want to all that work and postproduction so in for the models I would make sure that had girls have great skin and the girls who do tons of beauty they take hair of their skin they drink tons of water, they get their rest because this is how they make their living and there's a lot of money to be made in this industry doing skin care ah lot ah lot great skin, great skin, great skin, great skin, great eyes, great symmetry I take the face and I break it down in sections lithgow, who has great symmetry, great scan, great smile, great teeth and we have fun and we have fun even doing this shot we had this idea of sugar's of flowers and then this just happened at the end of the shoot and I love this shot now my client chose a different shot for this I chose this one and then later on looking at my work like oh wow who's this shot for I shot that for you guys I love that shot hair model casting he looked for girls with great hair great hair hair is the hero hair is the hero great hair now let's talk about the team for a second the team together each achieves mohr so the team means for me together each achieves mohr because you can't do it by yourself you can't do it by yourself so you guys are part of my team for this weekend so I want you to help your input online I want your help you input your part of the team together we are one big family right now, team so how do I get my team together for mei and beauty? It's the hair and makeup, the assistance the stylist that's part of my team I use my team to make my ideas stronger, better this is for my team hair makeup model and I want to go through this later on about how this came to be I had this inspiration for an idea, and I called my team share the idea and my team helped make it better and stronger than any of my ideas on my own. If I could only keep my idea to myself and guess be the strict director of the photo shoot, I'd have my version of it for sure. If I share it with my team will be much stronger. I want the best makeup, the best hair miss model, the best stylist, the best producer, the best team. Make sure on the same page so I had this idea. I called my team. Now take you later on through that process. But I called my team and here he is my make up bars drawing part of my inspiration and bring it to life now here's a hair salis taking my idea my concept and bring it to life on the model and the cast. The model had to figure out what girl would give me the same the right look to fit this shot and then we bring to life. The team comes together and brings it to life. Now I had this inspiration and I had a different idea. Once I show off my team, they help me home. The idea three stronger and better, and doing this is so much fun doing this is so much fun so make it bars would take it all off and do it all over again take it all off and do it all over again so it's like all day long we thought hair and makeup it's like two hours for hair and makeup and then we start shooting then go back to hair and makeup again come out we should again and all of the time I'm sure my variation it's eyes closed eyes open having fun shooting my inspiration I go to india or iceland or detroit I come back and put that into my work I go see a movie miss by this by this great movie that inspires my work I read a great book and I had my own vision books a great could you have your own visuals of things in the book you put that your work that's inspiration the beauty model versus the fashion model what's the difference we know what beauty is now like for skin care hair care with fashion I'm looking for attitude very different movement energy so now looking for tattoos and how they stand, how they walk and how what their swagger is because with swagger is and little slaying their uh I'm looking for that energy to make the clothes come alive because now the hero is not the face the hero is the fashion the hero is the clothing fashion photography is about the clothing about the fashion and shoot for high end magazines and you'll see hyeon fashion magazines doing clothing in a different way it's not about the hair and beauty and makeup it's about the clothing the hero is the fashion the hero is the fashion if you want to shoot fashion photography learn about fashion the clothing is the hero the clothing is the hero the clothing is the hero showing the texture in black how do you like that very differently than I like beauty so even tomorrow and the next day will shoot beauty one way where's very clean beautiful light and we'll talk about that later on today as well I'll show you how the different screen beautiful soft light versus hard light give me texture officials very flat I'll lose all the texture in that black garment so we'll shoot this very differently tomorrow for beauty and then the next day for the fashion shoot it very differently soft light and then punchy light there's a lot of things you do in fashion as well you have a lot of fun and shooting just fashion photography there's casual wear this is part of the pete wentz line got so pete wins it is the great what's the band uh fallout boy so uh this is his line of hoodies and sweatshirts fashion is the hero fashion is a hero a pete wentz very talented man then it's also swimwear swimwear how you show that how you have fun with that what's your idea of a shooting swimwear? How can you make a different I just shooting a girl on a beach that's kind of boring? How can you make it different? What's the inspiration for that we'll talk about that later on as well make it fun grab their attention, make them hear music or hear that hear the water in the background how do you do that? It's the emotional purchase for people sometimes pictures speak thousands of words on the beach, each shooting resort where resort where wanted island that could be anywhere it could be the jersey shore could be bora bora now telling you a story with fashion and beauty how do you tell a story before I go to this other? Any other questions from the internet or here in person way have so many questions? Sounds good let's have some questions here. All right, move onto that sam cocks would like to know if you pick models also for personality does the models personality affect the shoot for this shop? Absolutely great question thank you very for that question. Does the models personality playing to being selected for the shot? Absolutely if I'm a casting for product, say it's for the pantin or it's a lot of genes or was pete wins his line, I'm looking for mother have some give me in front of the camera it's not just about having a pretty face I want personality I want to know that they give me something when I'm shooting them so I'm looking for a lot doing the casting and casting target I'll see I might see tuna girls for one picture for one ad for for pantin or lori l I'll see tuna girls to find that one girl as very hard here you're being very specific and looking for the hair, the makeup and also the personality are you going alive and give me something in the shot? So as I look into their portfolio which is now using the ipad, I'm going through the books and I'm looking for not only great skin and hair but their personality are they the same image in different clothes or is it changing? Are they a chameleon or they come to life? They have that that special something. When I first met tyra banks the first time I met her, I knew she had something special the first time it had a clue I knew she had something special, I felt it in the first meeting that's what you want that special spark that energy and when you find those girls out of tuna girls and a casting, they'll be like tin that really shine that's it I'm like those girls who shine well that guy that shines has personality and energy I want that because I'll get better pictures out of those models. The castings very important. We've questioned the audience. Do you have vs who your client you know has in how you talk about uh you have a lot I had a casting once for a big is an advertising shoot is for a big hair care company and the clients were all their room like this were all casting models and the girls coming in my clients are looking for the hair look at the girls look at the hair and they found a girl they liked a lot. I didn't like that girl because I thought in all the pictures she look the same and she was did she had amazing hair but she had no energy in the images. So I talked a client out of using her and they were happy at the end that they did so because this girl had the same look that all her images yes, she had beautiful skin and beautiful hair but she was dead in the images and I want that life because the life will sell the images even mohr having early is that spark that comes alive on the page and jumps off the page that's what I want thanks for the question way have can we go on our way have a lot of questions about casting and models, okay okay asks are your models always agency represented? O good question all the models always agency represented that's a very good question because now the world's changed so much on big jobs yes, they are always agency represented for couple reasons the agency make sure that the girls professional will show up we'll be on time if they don't this might come to call on to make sure that they come um their times we'll go online with girls online through sites like like model mayhem which are perfect for finding model's hair makeup stylists but you must be extremely selective so I'm even more selective online through sites like that them through an agency because the agency's I can depend on on work with those ancients for years and I have a relationship with them so and they know me online it's like work of a stranger and they may come they may not come not sure what's going to get with an agency I am certain what I'm going to get we do one more question okay? Leslie lee photo would like to know what is the difference when you're selecting models for beauty versus fashion? Uh okay so when I'm selecting malls for beauty versus fashion for beauty I'm looking for my hero I'm looking for the energy still but the angie's coming right here the energy is right here great skin, great hair and energy right here in their pictures, so I'm looking through their work. I'm talking in person, sometimes I'm seeing them asking questions, but the entire time I'm thinking about what my going get when I had them on the set, the energy that give me right here in fashion is the engine all over. I want the energy, the smile, the attitude, all that for the entire body. How big are they, how thing are they, how the clothes fall on them? All those factors are very important we do in fashion, so very different. Beauty, fashion, great question, thank you for that, guys. Thanks for those questions online. Keep them coming till I feel another question here, have another one. No good. Ok, we're moving on.

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bonus material

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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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