Sometimes, you see portraits of models, celebrities, and influencers or you watch a movie, and you are astonished at how one person can look so beautiful and perfect.
You might even have asked yourself if it was possible for you to look that picture-perfect. Or there's a part of you wondering if this beauty is real or it's just 'photoshop'.
Is it possible that these models are also this beautiful in real life?
Well, yes and no. Everyone is beautiful. Be that as it may, beauty can be enhanced under the right conditions. In the case of these models, a lot has been done to enable you see them in the best light they can ever be.
They are humans, very much like you and me, and have their own share of flaws. The reason they look so perfect on camera is largely due to the fact that there’s usually an army of people behind the camera whose duty is to make the models look their very best.
For example, there’s usually a hairstylist, make-up artist, wardrobe stylist, and on top of all these, there's the photographer who comes in with creativity, lighting, angles and finally, post-production (what you would call photoshop).
Even people who look flawless naturally are still slightly adjusted during photography. This is because what generally looks good in real life may not necessarily look good on camera and tiny skin details that would not have been a problem a few years ago can now be seen in high definition. So a little photoshop plastic surgery is usually included.
Some of the contributions to those flawless looks include makeup, hair, and wardrobe styling, but a greater deal of it is the lighting set up.
Most portrait photographers would opt for a softly diffused lighting setup which adds nicely graduated soft shadows on your facial features and this flatters your face.
Photographers know how to position lights, bounces, negative fills to shape people’s faces with light and this makes your face more alluring.
There’s also the impact of the lens the photographer uses. A 50mm lens will by and large look more flattering on your face than an 18mm lens which has a bit more distortion on your facial features.
The point is, portrait sessions go over and beyond to make people look the best they can. Portrait sessions give you the full nine-yard treatment.
A lot of the time in the middle of the portrait sessions, the makeup artists, hairstylists, and wardrobe stylists would have to do touch-ups, dab at pools of sweat, powder noses, comb, brush, gel, tuck away and spray loose hair, tighten ties, run the lint rollers, change into a freshly steamed blazer, etc. just to ensure you look the best at any point in time.
Imagine having a team of 5 people following you at all times to get rid of unflattering shadows, ensure your shirts are always perfectly tucked in and never wrinkled, that your lipstick is never smeared, that your feet never hurt, and make you look like you are not capable of sweating.
These are altogether the off-camera activities involved to make the models look their best.
Finally, there’s the issue of post-production (a.k.a. photoshop), especially with the improved technology at our disposal, portraits can now be airbrushed, improved, and moderated.
Portraits are now painstakingly designed to make you appear really beautiful and attractive.
When you combine the latest techniques and technology in cameras, makeup, and beauty, then people can appear more beautiful and vibrant than they ever will be in real life. In conclusion, everyone is beautiful, yet under the right conditions, that beauty can be further enhanced at portrait sessions.
And so, the way you would look under the influence of a top-notch portrait session (like the one Akorede creates) will be different (at least slightly) than the way you would look in real life.
I hope this answers some of the questions you have about portrait sessions
.Let me know if you have other questions.
My name is Akorede and I create premium portraits for royalties!
See you soon!