Beauty Shot

By Albert Pedrosa

THE face is one of the most expressive parts of the body, and when you put it in a frame where all the elements of the face are up close, it becomes critical. By looking at a face, a small raise in the eyebrow or a skin curling in between eyebrows will immediately suggest anger or disinterest.

The mouth can be sensual just by opening it a bit, while the eyes will tell the whole story just by a small difference in opening of the eyelid. It’s complicated and it can easily mean something or the opposite. The face can do a totally complex visual language that we all experience everyday but cannot be explained.

When I’m shooting beauty shots, I normally tell the model to think about it and feel it in her heart, then show it to me. Talk to me using no words but only emotions and feelings through your eyes. Surprisingly, eyes can talk and the rest of the elements in the face, too. We can only understand what it means, but we cannot explain. It’s more than words.

Photography is about capturing the emotions and feelings. It allows you to tell the story visually. It’s a form of communication, and if your photo is not saying anything, then you failed to communicate. You failed to share all the excitement, emotions and doubts on that very moment. The moment that can be frozen in time and forever written into a photograph.

One of the difficulties when shooting beauty involves the eyes. The eyes don’t hide anything; everything can be seen in the eyes. If the emotion is not there, then it can kill the look that you’re trying to capture. It’s the photographer’s job to see and revive the model when the eyes look blank.

Photography at this stage is about the subject and the environment. A shiny new camera with very expensive lens will not save you at this stage. It’s all about how you capture the image that will connect and engage with your audience. This is the stage when the camera becomes a tool to allow you to express your thoughts and imagination.

Keep on shooting, everyone!

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