Taking Great Hair Photos

[SwanFeathers]

Lets face it, we all love to see great hair photos, but how many of us are great at taking them? Lets all pool our knowledge and share any tips we've learned along the way. I'll jump start it with sharing this blog post. https://www.hairromance.com/2017/10/pro-tips-photograph-hair.html

[Begemot]

I consider that article very helpful, thanks for sharing! (I'm commenting because I hope to see more of great tips and tricks for a not so talented hair photographer like me...:uhh:)

[lithostoic]

Nice article!

[Danglish]

I'm horrible(like really) at taking pictures of my hair, so thanks for the article. I obviously don't have any tips to share on my own, but I will return when I've gained more wisdom

Edit: shoot in full daylight. That's all I know

[lapushka]

My mom takes them for me. Apart from her telling me to "fluff" my hem a bit, there's no "beautifying" the pictures in any way, shape or form. I just sit there and my mom puts the camera on 10sec. timer on the cupboard (so the angle is about the same every time), sees it's OK and then that's it. Let's face it, I can't get to the chair in 10sec., so I need the help!

[ArabellaRose]

If it's an up do I'll take a photo myself with some contortioning. I do it in my bathroom because I get great natural light in there and I angle myself so I can see my phone screen in the mirror to check I've got my hair in the shot.

For length photos I either take rubbish ones in my full length mirror in my bedroom or get my mum to take the photo. I've tried to teach my 6 year old but they're always blurry and mostly show only the top of my head or my feet :D

[MusicalSpoons]

Interesting article, thanks for linking it! I've certainly found lots of light is better.

The main thing I've learned is: Practice practice practice! I can get my arms in the right position for a back of the head selfie because I've done it So. Many. Times just trying to find the right position. If it's a longer bun or a braid or something, that gets trickier and I end up having to delete most of the attempts :lol:

My phone camera and my hands do not play nicely together so most of my photos have to have the flash to get the camera to compensate for my slightly trembly hands. It does usually end up in focus that way.

Length photos - no chance, I have to ask someone else (and there's not usually enough clear space for me to stand far enough away from the camera, so my last length shot was at my sister's flat). I can do hemline shots though, holding the phone camera straight down along my thigh.

Edit: to clarify, that's not to say my hair photos are 'great' - they're not, but they are fit for LHC purposes most of the time :)

[SwanFeathers]

I will confess that I like to rubberband my phone into place and use the "cheese" voice function instead of the timer.

[AmaryllisRed]

I will confess that I like to rubberband my phone into place and use the "cheese" voice function instead of the timer.

Yes! I forgot about the cheese function!

:cheese:

I am terrible at this. I take hair photos pretty much daily but the lighting in my house isn't good and it's cold outside.
I can position my hands for an over-the-head selfie, but if my arms aren't strong at the moment, it comes out blurry.
And I haven't yet found a good place to put my phone.

[ArabellaRose]

I've heard a pineapple works wonders XD

[Bill D.]

The article states that light hair is easier to photograph and then shows photos of only light or medium hair. What they're calling "dark hair" isn't dark at all. Lots of people have fairly or really dark hair so this is just not very helpful for sizable proportion of people out there! They should have tried to be more inclusive in recognition of how varied hair can be.

I'm not a professional or expert on this but I have photographed a lot of long hair of various sorts at LHC meets and even before LHC. My own suggestion for loose hair of any sort, but especially dark hair, is to set up lighting so that the hair is showing shine (reflections) fairly evenly along its length. This can be done outdoors by being in sunlight and orienting your head so your hair is well lit along its length. Indoors you'll need a strong light source at the correct angle so the camera sees the shine of the hair. Diffused lighting may leave hair looking dull.

If parts of the length look shiny due to being lit or because of the angle of reflection while other parts don't, hair may look somewhat discontinuous if it's against clothing of a similar color. This can happen if you use flash on the camera, which will strongly light up sections of length that lay at one angle on the body while other parts of the length look flat and dull.

I've also had good results shooting updos and buns in cloudy conditions outdoors if the hair is varied enough internally to show up well. The particular example I'm thinking of is EdG's hair in a bun, where the different shades of black to nearly white in adjacent strands provide lots of variety to make the different sections of hair look distinct. See his avatar (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/member.php?u=13745).

The article seems geared to shooting styles to show them off. That's fine but there are other possibilities such as shooting light that's shining through hair such as here (https://www.123rf.com/photo_78349341_charming-young-woman-long-healthy-hair-portrait-outside-in-sunset-backlit-.html).

Bill D.

[TatsuOni]

I agree on the dark hair not being dark at all.

Good light and a good background is the two most important things for me when I take pictures. Especially if I want details to show in my updos.

Not that I really put energy in all of my hair pictures.. Mostly I settle for decent and visible hair/updo. I put more energy in the pictures during summer when I can take them outside. During the colder seasons I mostly use our bathroom walls as background since they're light and neutral.