JT Spunk | Photography

Use Contouring and Highlighting to Subtly Enhance Your Features

It’s surprising how often people don’t realize how much of a difference contouring can have on your features. Contouring is a great technique that lets you to add subtle shadows to your face, enhancing your natural beauty and making your makeup look more polished.

It’s important to always highlight and contour with natural colors, as other colors end up looking bizarre. Darker browns work best for contours, and lighter browns are best for highlights. If your contouring and highlighting ends up not looking natural, swing by your local makeup counter and ask for them to match you with quality contouring and highlighting products.

When contouring, try to think of the light striking your face from the front, slightly above head level. Darken or lighten your features as you see fit. Remember to smoothly blend everything, or else it’ll come out looking blotchy and unnatural.

Thin your cheeks out by highlighting the top of the cheekbones and darkening the sides of your cheeks. This gives the appearance of narrower, more shapely cheeks by appearing as if light were striking the cheekbones more than the side of the cheeks. Apply a bit of blush to your cheeks after contouring to give them a nice rosy finish.

You can thin your chin by darkening the sides or lightening the middle of it, ensuring that you blend everything! Again, a narrow chin catches more light at the middle, so darkening the sides of the chin makes it appear narrower.

This same works with your nose. You can give the appearance of a narrower nose by contouring the sides of the nose and highlighting the center. The eyes can be contoured by darkening their outside corners, giving them a more intense look and seemingly pulling them away from your browbone.

This also applies to your forehead: You can narrow a broad forehead by darkening the outside edges and lightening the center, which gives the appearance that your forehead curves more than it actually does. Make sure to bring the contoured (darkened) edges close to the hairline, or else you risk breaking the contouring effect.

Finally, blend a bit of your contouring shade below the jaw and on the neck. Smoothly blending the edges of your face makeup prevents your makeup from looking mask-like and standing out from the rest of your body. This is important even if you aren’t contouring the rest of your face, as far too many girls have face makeup that makes their face skin tone contrast with their neck and shoulders.

Unlike other makeup techniques, this should never be overused. Overdoing contouring will cause your face to look like a horribly overexposed photograph, so subtlety is paramount. If you find yourself in need of some inspiration, a quick search online for professional modeling shots can result in some great ideas as contouring is almost always used in modeling photography.

With practice, you can use highlighting and contouring to enhance your face in ways that many other makeup techniques simply cannot, subtly bringing out your best features and making you look like a model every time you go out!

About the Author

Amy writes for Asian Beauty Blog, a free makeup website that includes a
makeup forum
and a section for
makeup tips
like this article. Join Asian Beauty Blog today for more great tutorials!

CowboyStudio Photo and Video Studio Umbrella Continuous Lighting Light Kit- 2 7ft Stands, 1 Mini Stand and Carry Case $59.99 Daylight balanced bulbs: These high-output daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs are ideally suited for digital photography. They also have very low heat so they don’t get hot like the more common photo bulb choices. Light stands: Versatile, Hardworking & Lightweight; Black anodized aluminum; Stable & Quick Setup; Maximum Height: 2000 MM, 80 inches; Minimum Height: 810 MM, 32.4 inches; Maxim…

Making Faces $10.95 Kevyn Aucoin Making Faces 1 piece Learn the basics of makeup application and how to use them. Kevyn Aucoin Making Faces Illustrates the basics of makeup application Step-by-step instructions make learning a snap Teaches you how to apply everything from concealer to fake eyelashes Shows how the basics are used to create dramatic looks Perfect for an aspiring makeup artist…

Makeup: The Ultimate Guide $19.20 Simple, step-by-step outlines that emphasize exactly how to apply makeup complement high-fashion images and make this a gorgeous, glamorous guide that will inspire creative, festive faces. Even the most sophisticated and artistic makeup is easy to achieve with these tricks, techniques, and trade secrets. This reference explores all the essential tools needed, how to find the right products—and a…

The Makeup Artist Handbook, Second Edition: Techniques for Film, Television, Photography, and Theatre $30.65 Get professional techniques usually known only by Hollywood makeup artists in this full-color, comprehensive book from accomplished makeup pros Gretchen Davis and Mindy Hall. The two come to you with impressive backgrounds in film and television industries–their projects have included Pearl Harbor, Rent, Stuart Little, and The Nanny Diaries, and Mindy Hall is fresh off her Academy Award win for h…

The Makeup Artist Handbook: Techniques for Film, Television, Photography, and Theatre $33.95 No Synopsis Available

Boudoir Photography (Paperback) $38.63 The complete manual to boudoir, one of the fastest growing trends in photography  Once popular mainly with brides, boudoir portraits are now enjoyed by women of all ages to celebrate everything from anniversaries to birthdays to their own independent spirit. This isn’t old-fashioned glamour photography—it’s an altogether new genre, with a focus on flattering the subject and creating stunning, intimate images. In this one-stop guide, successful boudoir photographer Critsey Rowe reveals all you need to get started with your own boudoir studio, whether you’re an amateur shooting at home or a professional looking to tap into this exciting new revenue stream. Inside you’ll discover:           A complete guide to boudoir, from equipment, makeup, and styling, to lighting, shooting, and step-by-step retouching.          Thirty poses to flatter any subject, whatever her body type.          Essential postproduction techniques to lift, smooth, and tone.          Tips on making clients comfortable and collaborating with them to produce portraits they’ll love.

40 Digital Photography Techniques $14.15 No Synopsis Available

Techniques of Classic Color Photography $6 This book is in Used condition

130 Projects to Get You Into Filmmaking $18.69 Brand new in Barron’s ” Aspire Series ” for students of various arts, this book offers expert guidance in the principles, practice, and techniques of filmmaking. Author and filmmaker Elliot Grove introduces students to the craft of making movies by explaining simple techniques and advising on use of readily available, low-budget equipment and software. He devotes special attention to– The Lingo: film industry vocabulary and money-raising techniques Getting Organized: necessary equipment and how to get it The Shoot: cameras, lighting, sound, storyboards, and more Looking Good: makeup, stunts, special effects, and more Post Production: the editor’s role, and much more Additional chapters describe the role of directors and advise students on how to publicize, market, and distribute a film, how to choose a formal film course, and how to turn film training into a professional career. More than 250 color photos and illustrations.

Costume Craftwork on a Budget: Clothing, 3-D Makeup, Wigs, Millinery & Accessories $42.19 Part of your job as the costume designer is to be creative and use what materials are available to you to execute the design elements in a production. This book will show you how to use inexpensive materials to create durable products in a short amount of time that are practical and technical. It is written in an easy-to-follow manner and each step is shown with a wide array of illustrations and photographs. From creating armour out of laundry baskets, to detailed tricks to create a prosthetic nose for a witch, this book will show the techniques needed for you to produce end results that are beautiful, economical, and fast to make. *gorgeous full color illustrations *written by award winning costume designer and author *clear, illustrated step-by-step instructions

Face Fashion $59.84 The first of its kind, “FACE FASHION, 1/e “shows how to draw the sleek, youthful, glamorous look of the fashion face. Unlike fine arts books, this text goes beyond traditional drawing techniques and emphasizes the differences between the natural face and the fashion face. Throughout it explains why the fashion face is an integral part of fashion drawing and how to use it to draw attention to the fashion garments. With unique chapters on hair, makeup, and accessories, this book details how to draw the fashion face so it enhances the style, tone, and aesthetics of the garments themselves.

Fantasy Portrait Photography: Creative Techniques and Images $6 Used – These expert tips guide photographers through the creation of elaborate and fun portraits that reveal subjects as imaginatively rendered characters, such as a fairy princess, a 1950s greaser, or a 1940s Hollywood starlet. More than 60 acclaimed portraits are accompanied by a detailed discussion of each image–from planning the image with the client, building the set, and selecting the right costuming to styling the hair and adding makeup. The technical aspects of the images are also discu

Fashion Photography: A Complete Guide to the Tools and Techniques of the Trade $19.3 Fashion photography is glamorous. Fashion photography is hot. Fashion photography pays well! Now is the time to get into fashion photography, and there’s no better way to learn all the tricks and tips of this trade than “Fashion Photography.” Insider Bruce Smith explores every aspect of fashion photography, from high-end couture and beauty for both editorial and commercial clients, to runway, swimwear, lingerie, and more, with full information on how to break into the business. Topics include equipment, styling, backgrounds, hair and makeup, locations, lighting, production and directing, Photoshop, prepping images, marketing, and much, much more. Interviews with Nigel Barker, Dirk Franke, Barry Lategan, and other top names give insight into succeeding in the field. Fast-track your career with “Fashion Photography”!

Make-Up Techniques for Photography $36.47 Used – Photographers who know makeup techniques set themselves apart from the competition. All aspects of professional makeup, from initial evaluation to final application, are covered in this guide to makeup for portrait photography. Topics include evaluating a makeup job; recognizing trouble spots; bringing a face into shape, balance, and proportion; creating highlights and shadows; and dealing with problem situations such as sunburned areas.