Last night I held a little zombie party. And that prompts me to tell you about the importance of two things in photography.

One is the make-up artist (the “MUA”), who is present at many shoots. Without one, you are limited. You cannot, for instance, change anyone into a zombie, like this:

Or this:

Here’s Melissa, last night’s MUA, working hard on making me ugly (not all that difficult, according to some):

But even for simple shoot, a make-up artist can be essential. Why does professional photography involve so much time (each make-up job took over an hour, in two parts: make-up, then blood and wounds) and money? Because doing a professional job takes real effort, knowledge, and time. Accept the extra expense and do it, next time you have a shoot that needs a professional look – whether that look is beauty or zombie. Same thing, for a good Make-Up Artist.

The second thing is post-processing. While I do what I can in the camera, some things cannot be done there. Like the “Walking Dead” look in these pictures. Here’s Melissa, the Make-Up Artist:

So to get this look I quickly created a Lightroom preset, which I call “zombify”. That makes image 1 below into image 2 below:

Lightroom “Zombify” Develop Preset, by Michael Willems:

• Temperature 6150K (with my studio flashes)
• Tint -44 (my version of “Walking Dead Green”)
• Exposure +0.5
• Contrast +12
• Highlights +7
• Shadows +11
• Clarity +65
• Vibrance -42
• Sharpening 80
• Noise Reduction 20
• Post-crop vignetting -27 Highlight Priority

Do those settings (tune to taste), then save as a new preset and you are all set for Halloween. You’re welcome.

The Angel of Death is watching.

Enjoy your Halloween, later this week.

___

Come to me for a little Lightroom coaching, and I’ll set up your Lightroom structure professionally while we are at it, too. www.michaelwillems.ca