Posts Tagged ‘Falls Church’

Nam Nguyen Hair and Makeup

Studio Shoot

Having talented friends is a blessing! This shoot was for Nam Nguyen, hair and makeup artist in northern Virginia. Previously, I knew Nam for his fashion expertise. He worked for a client of mine as the inventory manager and stylist for a ballroom dress company. While I was there for photo shoots, I was impressed with his talent. Not only did he excel in styling dresses for imaging on the website, but he was great with customers. Being that dancers will be performing in front of large crowds, they want to look their best. If Nam approved of your look, you would be ready for the judges!

On this occasion, Nam had some ideas for a stylized shoot. Since his days at the dress company, he studied hair styling. When I heard that was his plan, I knew he would be successful. Together with his overall fashion aesthetic, I knew he would be a sought-after stylist. We collaborated on a few photo shoots over the years, and I enjoyed having these images in my portfolio.

These models offered to help him create marketing materials for his hair and makeup services. Of course the hair would be done nicely for the camera. Then, the makeup would color match extra props that would be added to the hair. In particular, blue makeup with grapes, yellow-orange makeup with yellow birds, and red makeup with hydrangea flowers.

For this purpose, I setup a plain white backdrop. Along with the Eyelighter to make the eyes pop, a large softbox created a soft light on their faces. The lighting worked with this setup for all three of the models. Given that the photos were sent right to a large TV for review, we hit the goals of what Nam was looking for! I wish him the best of luck with his growing business!

Nam Nguyen Hair and Makeup

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Headshots – Northern Virginia DC Photographer

Headshot photography - ©TimeLine Media

Spring is coming soon – hopefully! We had another bout with the snow yesterday, so I had plenty of time to edit photos inside. Every so often, it is good to update your headshots. I have plenty of different images that I use for avatars and profile photos. These are from many test shoots before my clients arrive. I use myself to test lights. Thus, I end up with lots of images to choose from in the collection. This day was no different – T. and I have been coordinating a shoot. Before she arrived, I setup the lights and the background. With the small space that I was working with, I decided to use the beauty dish for the main light on the subject. This modifies produces a very nice quality of light for faces, and there is a huge drop off from the subject keeping the light from illuminating the background cloth.

Home Studio Setup

Portrait lighting testing - ©TimeLine Media - headshots of blog author
Portrait lighting testing – ©TimeLine Media

Keeping the light off the background is important to separate your subject from the background. It works really well for portraits as it gives your subject some space in the photo. This is a piece of feedback I give to a lot of photographers when viewing their portfolios. When you are taking the time to pose a subject, and you are trying to find the best angle to place them for a photo, do not place them too close to a background element. This could include walls, plants, statues, or anything that is behind them. When you place your subjects there, you can get some strong shadows behind your subjects from a flash, and your background will be in sharp focus. I try to minimize both when making portraits – I want the subject to not have any competition from distractions in the background. If you need an updated headshot, contact me at 703-864-8208 or Rassi at timelinedc.com and we can discuss what I can produce for you!

Headshot photography - ©TimeLine Media - headshots example
Headshots photography – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Enjoying Sunday

©TimeLine Media - Butterflies in Garden

It’s a beautiful Sunday out there! Just a perfect day to work on the garden and the yard, so I won’t be too long on the blog today. There are flowers and critters all over the yard, so I’ll just head out there to make some practice photos. Hope you are enjoying your day off too! This coming week in the blog, I hope to finish the article on the Great Gatsby poster, and put up a post on shooting some interior rooms. Lots of new techniques for doing this that I am trying. Without as much help from the sun and clouds, and window light bouncing around the room, there is a lot of experimenting that is needed to get nice photos inside. In the meantime, here are some photos from outside!

©TimeLine Media - Butterflies in Garden
©TimeLine Media – Butterflies in Garden
©TimeLine Media - Butterflies in Garden
Butterflies in the garden ©TimeLine Media

Luckily we have these flowers in the backyard that attract the monarch butterflies. To be sure patience is needed as they do not follow directions very well – lol! While I was out there, I was as quiet as possible hoping that my calm will wash over them and I could snag some photos of them.

©TimeLine Media - Sunday Butterflies in Garden
©TimeLine Media – Butterflies in Garden
©TimeLine Media - Crepe Myrtle bloom on a Sunday in the garden
©TimeLine Media – Crepe Myrtle bloom on a Sunday in the garden

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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