Some years back, my brother called me and said he wanted to come over and show me the photo proofs of my nephew’s bar mitzvah. (For those who don’t know, photo proofs are the basic, un-retouched prints of all the pictures taken by a professional photographer at an event. The final pictures for an album or printing are chosen from the proofs.) I was flattered, as I taught college photography classes for years and thought he wanted my expertise in choosing pictures for an album.
Upon viewing the pictures my delight became dismay, as one glance informed me that it wasn’t my expertise in photography he wanted. Instead, he wanted to give me a heads-up on how bad I was going to look in the album. The photographer’s repeated use of harsh overhead lighting really shone a spotlight on my lack of hair. It not only enhanced it…I looked even worse in the pictures than I did in real life.
“So,” my brother asked, “do you want to limit the pictures of you in the album? Or, should we not worry about it and just include all the pictures of you enjoying this life-affirming event? How do you want me to handle this?”
Together we chose pictures that weren’t too terrible. I encouraged him to ask his photographer about retouching, a way to add or remove marks. With digital photography, retouching is done on the computer before printing. With film photography, it is done after printing on each copy of the picture. It’s time consuming and unless the retoucher has real expertise, it looks bad. These were prints from film and let’s just say that the retouching was adequate but not great.
The good news is that, as is common with albums of events like these, the pictures are rarely viewed. When they are, we get caught up in how much fun it was and how we miss the people who have passed since then. In addition, I look better now than then, thanks to better haircoloring, better haircuts and Mereltä's Root Renewal serum.
While we’re here, let me offer some tips if you’re preparing for this kind of photography at an event of your own: speak to your photographer beforehand and express your concerns. A few years after our nephew’s bar mitzvah, when choosing a photographer for our son’s, I told the photographer my concerns. She took pains to use a diffuser to soften the lighting and to light me in ways that did not highlight my hair issues.
Also, if you are super aware and sensitive to how your hair looks in photos, then, well in advance of your event, use a great scalp treatment that promotes enhanced hair density, and improved health of hair. Most people do not realize that health of the scalp is responsible for the health and thickness of hair. Using some sort of combination of shampoo and conditioner to help with thin hair is simply not enough. In fact, one needs a potent scalp treatment to work at the roots, and to nurture the scalp in order to change limp and thinning hair into thicker, more voluminous hair.
Very important also, search early to find the best hair stylist you can afford and talk to her about your issues. Some styles are better at hiding hair loss than others, especially for photography. All these done, at the event, forget about it all and enjoy yourself. If you fret about your hair it will show on your face and no amount of retouching will fix it.
If you are looking at your photos and you do not like what you see, try Root Renewal serum. Transforming hair has meaning at some many levels in our lives. For a start, it enhances one's vitality and joy in life. What do you think?
Mereltä Contributor: Marti