(no subject)

[psocoptera]

Just had an interesting conversation with saxifrage and trysha about wedding photography, in which it was argued that one needed to wear makeup in wedding photos so as to not appear weirdly bleached or washed out. It occurred to me belatedly that many weddings involve at least one person of a male identification, who in our gendered society are not generally expected/pressured to wear makeup. Do men usually look washed out in their wedding pictures? Do they usually *wear makeup* for their wedding pictures? Or is this whole "washed out" thing something that only applies to women, because of our expectations of how they'll look (from seeing other pictures of women who were wearing makeup)?

Comments

[q10.livejournal.com]

don't know about guys in makeup, but can i say that there's probably another solution that involves having part of the wedding during the day and shooting in natural light?

[motyl.livejournal.com]

Yep, the lighting determines most of it, as far as I can tell. I was talked into lip gloss and eyeshadow, but no base or lipstick and my photos turned out just fine.

I think with the guys versus girls thing, women tend to care a lot more about how they look in photos, so put the extra effort in to compensate for issues like bad lighting.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

The main thing I can think of is the stereotype that women tend to be paler than men, because they tend to spend less time out of doors (which obviously is going to be true in some cases, law of averages wise, but not all), and a slightly darker foundation could help make up for that. However, if anything I would think that the woman being in all white would counteract that, since the lighting would have to be such that the dress, which will almost certainly be paler than the woman's skin, will not be washed out.

I do suspect that the expectations of how women should look based on other photographs of women with makeup have something to do with it — in particular, it's expected that a woman's lips, eyes, and often cheeks should stand out from the background color of her face.

[carnap.livejournal.com]

My guess, based on my qualifications in the form of total ignorance of the black art of photography, is that it's mostly about social expectations.

[franzeska]

People look better on camera and much better on stage if they wear makeup, but I don't think it makes such a difference for wedding photos. Most actors do wear foundation though.

Wedding photos

[prof-fran.livejournal.com]

After years of having insisted I do not come out on film, I found myself having to have my wedding photos taken. We took them outside at Swat in between summer rain showers (so the natural light was lovely) and I wore a little lipstick. They are my favorite photos and I think I look as good as it is possible for me to look--overtired with dark circles but clam happy with my best friend and husband.

He, on the other hand, decried the inability to wear makeup (and has on several other occasions). Not out of his natural theatricality but from a sense that he'd like to hide things like acne scars. I think what prevented him was a sense that people up close would see the make-up and so it wasn't worth it for the pictures.

Besides, like thinking 'all' brides are beautiful, I think 'all' weddings (not all marriages, obviously) are happy and beautiful. What more do you need?

[kelilah.livejournal.com]

I think that photography, particularly wedding photography for which one often pays an arm and a leg, is not going to bleach people out. You want all your photos to look good, and that includes those of guests who might not be wearing makeup, and for heaven's sake, it's not like the photographer is using super-heavy-duty lighting. They just don't want it to look dark.

Also, it's not something that I've heard mentioned in *any* of the wedding-related communities I've been reading. The only thing about makeup and photography was that one should avoid sparkly or shiny makeup, because it'll look like odd light spots in photos.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I don't even remember if I wore makeup at my wedding; probably a little. We had a non-professional photographer and were outside for the photos, and I still look like a doofus because I am one, but not bleached out or anything. I think when people really go the whole 9 yards with professional photogs, the men do wear some makeup, too.