Hi girls!

I wanted to share some photo-taking tips. I've been going through potential photos for the gallery and I have to choose the ones with the best lighting that show the makeup and your natural beauty.

I am just going to bullet these to keep it simple.

* take your photos in front of a window where the light is diffused. I am always facing a window in my photos. It is usually a grayish day, or when there is no direct sunlight. Diffused light is the best light source for showing your overall look. Fill flash can be used to add some POW to your eye makeup and allow us to see it up close, but natural light is best.

* Avoid standing in front of a window and taking your picture with the window behind you.

* avoid direct sunlight streaming in through the window.

* focus. I can only use photos that are in focus, I typically set my camera to the portrait or closeup setting. This works best for my little Kodak digital. Experiment with yours for best results.

* digital file size. Too small is unuseable and too large is too large. I try to make my photos I post to the site and forum 4x6 inches at 72 dpi and I save them at the highest quality I can .jpg.

* Load your makeup on. It will disappear when you photograph it, mysteriously. When I do a look for you, in person I have about ten times more on than the photo looks. after I get my shots, I tone it down with a layer of illuminator and a kabuki and make everything wearable for my day.

* Experiment with your camera and take lots of pictures to find your best angles, poses, etc. Sometimes I will take up to 80 photos to get 4 good ones!

I will add more if I can think of any.

I'm hoping this helps because I feel so bad passing by potential rocks! makeovers because I can't use them because of lighting, resolution or out of focus.

I hope some of these tips work out for you all.

xoxo

Kristen

I pretty much do all that you have suggested, Kristen, except with my Sony, I can't get it any more smaller than what I post. If you have any helpful criticisms on the way my DH takes photos, please don't hesitate to clue me in. We usually take about 50 or so photos and hopefully get around 8 to choose from.

Loida

Loida, yours are great and Amber Leigh's make great use of that natural light I was talking about- the lighting is always excellent and captures the makeup well. I just have so many new people to update that I haven't had a chance to update members who have existing galleries- but it is on my list. Unfortunately, the fact that a lot of photos I can't use will make the task go by faster, but sadly, it makes me feel badly when I can't use photos and someone has spent so much time...

Kristen, I liked your 4th of July eyeshadow look, and could not help but notice (yet again) how pretty your complexion is - can you share your skin care tips? ie what kind of cleanser/toner etc you think is okay to use or ingredients you avoid like the plague. If I can get my skin to behave then my photos will be much more presentable....

I need some help, please. I don't mean to sound like an idiot, because probably everyone knows how to do this, but - how do I take a picture with my digital camera and just get my face to show up? I'm trying to stand in front of my bathroom mirror, with the camera in front of me, and all I can get at the right level for a face shot has the camera in front of it. I mean, I'm messing it up, you totally can't see my face OR the makeup. My camera doesn't have a self-portrait function (where you look into the viewing window on the back and see your face instead of what's in front of you). So I don't know how to do this - can anyone help, please?

Thanks!

Let me see if I can help. I used to have a digital camera where you could only see the viewing window when you were the one taking a picture. I'm guessing that's what you're saying you have. So what I used to do is stand in front of a mirror with the camera lens facing me (arm stretched out as far in front of me as I could reach) and I would use the mirror in front of me to see what the camera view-finder was seeing. It's like a set of eyes on the other side. Do you see what I mean?

Yep, I'd say either stretch your arms out as far as they will go, look straight into the lens, and shoot "blind" (you'll get an idea for how you frame up in the shot as you get some practice), or else put a mirror behind the camera.

Robyn, yes! That's the kind of camera I have. Perfect, I totally get what you're explaining - I don't know why I didn't think of that! I'll try it tonight or tomorrow (probably tomorrow - my boyfriend and I are going out to dinner tonight, so it'll be late when I get back) and try to do a couple of decent looking "FOTDs" so you guys can see.

Thanks to both of you - you too, Sunnyday!