Beauty Photography differs from Portrait Photography in many ways. The main difference is in MEANING. Beauty photography is mostly about makeup/skin and the model is the canvas to demonstrate it. The personality, feelings and emotions of the model doesn't matter for the majority of beauty shots. The model's face can be changed significantly to meet 'beauty standards' so it's often difficult to recognize the woman in a model. Different equipment and techniques are used: lenses, angles, lighting. For beauty shots I use harsh light and often 2-3 lights in order to show the textures and details better. In portraiture, the light is usually much softer. However I use 2 - 3 lights for the portraits often, when I want to create more 'fashion' look or to get a certain artistic effect. Another important difference is in editing. Beauty shots are edited according to the common standards of beauty, when skin and face features can be changed, often significantly. This is the reason why the most models look very alike in photographs. From this point of view beauty editing is not appropriate for portraits, where we aim to show individuality and original features. Also, in portraiture the expression and emotions in the eyes are the most important which is usually lost in beauty shots. Beauty Photography is a genre in commercial photography and it's about products or services. Portrait Photography is personal, it's about a person, emotions, feelings, connections. Both genres are artistic. They can be combined and this is what I'm bringing into my work: a perfect blend of portraiture, beauty and fashion photography.
