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.
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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
Tried some different settings myself before finding this article. Your settings are great. Getting me a lot closer to what I want. Thanks.