For a master who seeks to promote his profile on social networks, it is obvious that competent advertising is a real marketing engine. It is impossible to attract customers without beautiful photo works.
Many bloggers strive to learn how to beautifully photograph nails. Today, there are many experts in style and beauty who write about trends and interesting techniques, new techniques and unusual materials.
Beautiful photos of nails can also make money. They can not only be used to advertise their own services, but also sold on photo hosting sites.
Overview of Common Errors
Before you learn how to take pictures correctly, briefly consider a list of what you should not do.
The main mistake is negligence. Extra items that are not related to manicure, dust and a poorly polished surface - this is something that should not be in the photo.
Professionals do not recommend composing the composition so that equipment gets into the frame: lamp, hood, dry heat. No place in the production frame and bottles with professional liquids.
Unforgivable blurry photos. This happens if you take a picture while holding the camera or phone on weight. A dusty or fogged lens is another way to hopelessly ruin a shot.
Common mistakes are related to hand position. The pose should not be tense, forced.
Light works wonders
Light in photography is the foundation of the basics. Correctly selected lighting allows you to make an exquisite photo of discreet nails, which can be used even for advertising on billboards.
The main rule of beautiful photography of nails is that the light should not be yellow. It gives the skin an unpleasant hue, hands seem old and tired, small natural folds turn into wrinkles. Materials, even the best, also lose: the saturation of shades is lost, the top seems dull, burned out.
Remember: most incandescent bulbs give exactly yellow light.
To shoot a manicure, you can use the same lamp that the master uses to illuminate the workplace in the process. The vast majority of such professional lighting products give exactly white diffused light. It is advisable to direct the lamp not at the nails themselves, but at the reflector (it can easily be made of foil; even a sheet of glossy white paper is suitable).
More is not better
An important question: how many fingers should be in the frame? Some masters are sure that all 10. But such photos look inorganic. This is especially true for frames in which fingers are intertwined. In this case, it is difficult to understand the idea and track the logic.
To show how the cuticle is processed, whether there is an even flare, how the end is framed, it is enough that there are 4 or even 2 nails in the frame.
You can put one hand in the foreground and focus the camera on it, and leave the other visible in the distance, but slightly blurred.
Hand setting
Speaking about how to photograph nails correctly, special attention should be paid to the position in which the brushes will be. The more natural the pose, the better.
Hands look good with their fingers touching a wall or table. The hand, palm down, looks dull and uninteresting. You can put it on the back side and slightly bend your fingers, turning your nails to the camera.
Background for frame
Today on sale a huge variety of gorgeous photophones that are quite cheap. Very popular backgrounds that simulate textured boards, cork, matting.
The surface can be any, even black. however, mottled spots should not be. Choose backgrounds with uniform shades.
Answering the question, on which background to photograph nails, some advise to order a special name sheet from the printing house with an anagram or initials of the master. You can also print the addresses of pages on social networks and advertising a beauty salon. But the shots made on such backgrounds look like commercial advertising, and not the art work in which the talent is invested.
Decorative elements to create a composition
To prevent your hands from looking boring, add interesting elements to the composition. Pick up a colorful tea cup, sunglasses, a bottle of perfume. Well, if the additional decor resonates with the plot chosen for the design of nails. For example, if mischievous Moomins are depicted on the nails, you can photograph the brush on the open book of Tove Jansson. And for shooting nails decorated with sweets, caramel can be added to the frame.
Here are some ideas:
- Open tin cans with monpansier.
- Green and dried leaves, chestnuts, nuts.
- Cosmetics and perfume bottles.
- Refined sticks with crystalline sugar.
- Jelly and chocolate candies, marmalade, marshmallows.
- Bottles with the varnishes used for work (this will give an opportunity to show what materials you work with).
- Small figurines that fit into the theme.
- Fresh and artificial flowers, physalis.
- Candied fruits in a beautiful glass bowl.
- Feathers (pheasant, peacock, guinea fowl).
- Craft soap.
Old calendars, pop art posters, handmade notepads, sketchbooks, fashion magazines - all this can become not only a colorful addition, but also a background.
Cigarettes, even the most elegant and delicate, and bottles of alcohol are a bad idea. But a wine glass with a beautiful ruby wine or a tall glass with a cocktail is quite possible to fit into the frame.
All this is just an addition. The details listed above should not be a drag on oneself. The center of the frame and its main element are nails.
When deciding how to photograph your nails correctly, you can use exclusive ideas. Even a 24-hour-old chicken, a huge squash, or a leather whip can be in a good frame. The main thing is to be able to critically evaluate the result. The irony is acceptable, but there should not be black humor.
Perfect highlights
Equal identical flare - a sign of skill. They say that the master made the perfect alignment of the nail plates.
But not everyone knows how to photograph flare nails. To get them, you need to use not reflected light, but direct light. For ring-shaped reflections, a lamp in the form of a ring with small diode bulbs is needed.
Of course, beautiful glare will not work if the alignment is not perfect. Errors in this arrangement of light will be clearly visible.
Art shooting on the street
Let's consider how to photograph nails in natural light. Nature itself throws wonderful stories: textured tree trunk, a pile of leaves, chalk cliff. Use the full potential of the beauty surrounding you.
You can shoot either until 11 o’clock in the afternoon, or after 17 pm in the summer. In the off-season and in winter, when the sun does not shine so intensely, good shots will be obtained at any time of daylight hours.
About technology
Some people think that the more expensive the camera, the steeper the photo. You need to be able to work with professional cameras. If you don’t have the necessary skills, but there is a technique, select the “Auto” mode, but do not forget to turn off the flash. As a last resort, you can smooth out the sharpness of the flash light with an ordinary white cup of yogurt: just put it on the flash. He will scatter the rays a little.
Nowadays, people are more often interested in how to photograph nails on the phone. Applications created specifically for subject and macro photography can be useful. In the settings, select the maximum photo quality, the "Still Life" or "Macro" mode. If required by the software, experiment with aperture and shutter speed.
Useful acquisitions
There is a special lamp for photographing, made in the form of a ring. It is usually used for selfie, but it is perfect for shooting nails.
A tripod will be a very useful purchase. Then you will have less and less questions about how to photograph your nails on your phone. A tripod will eliminate the problem of hand shake, so the pictures will become clearer.
Why hashtags are needed
The more interesting the photos, the more people will want to subscribe to your page. Come up with interesting ideas, beat everyone’s favorite stories of films and books. Pay attention to trends and the latest news in the world of beauty.
How it works? For example, the recent marriage of Prince Harry, marketers of many brands used in their advertising campaigns. Design and implement a design related to the UK, the monarchy or the Windsor (for this purpose, you can even invite a model). Write a short royal wedding post and attach a photo. Now the most important thing is to add hashtags. They will lead to your page a lot of people interested in the latest news. Some of them will become subscribers, and some will use your services.
A very good idea could be shooting female hands in men's. Even props are not needed - you just need to put an elegant female brush with beautiful manicure in a strong male palm (you need the help of a male friend). The choice of hashtags is very wide: #love, #mylove, #lovenail and much more.
When visiting interesting places, take photos of your own hands (add hashtags related to this place).
If most of your shots focus on the nails, make a small series of frames showing the owners of the manicure. Some examples: a laughing girl covering her mouth with a palm, a brave horsewoman stroking a horse’s mane, an athlete wiping her forehead with a palm. All of these stories are interesting and spectacular, I want to consider them. Although it will be impossible to make out the manicure to the smallest detail, your customers will definitely pay attention to the hands of the models. What hashtags complement such posts? Here the choice is even wider: just describe everything that fell into the frame, not forgetting about your own brand.
Post processing
The main rule of a successful photo is to take it 7 times, but publish it once. Take a few pictures, and choose the best one to publish.
It is acceptable to use Photoshop. With it, you can correct the failed horizon, crop the excess background, remove small errors.
Never try to correct your sins regarding manicure with the help of graphic editors. Do not touch the cuticle, highlights and ends. This will not bring good results. By deceiving a client, you overestimate your own bar, declare a level that you have not yet reached. If they come to you for a service that you cannot provide, scandals cannot be avoided.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the art of photography. As in teaching nail art, much depends on practice. Train, learn new things. Over time, you will certainly get a good result.