photo:eyebags
eye bags or puffy eyes and portraiture
introduction
many women and men, even teenagers, have a tendency to develop puffiness under the eyes - “eye bags”
this appearance is not something most want emphasised in
portraiture as it tends to age people and suggest a tired, stressed, depressed appearance
a related issue is dark “circles” under the eye
causes of eyebags
there is a strong genetic pre-disposition to the tendency to develop puffiness, to the extent many have permanent eye bags which tend to become more prominent as they get older.
exacerbating factors which increase the amount of local tissue fluid are said to include:
lack of sleep in the previous 3 days
sleeping with the head down which encourages fluid accumulation
fluid retention due to high salt intake
local eye inflammation such as hay fever
rubbing the eyes
crying
dehydration (inadequate water intake or excessive dehydrating drinks such as alcohol or caffeine)
reducing eye puffiness
sleep at least 8 hours per night
do not sleep with your cat - many people have some residual allergy to cat dander
avoid sleeping on your stomach face down
sleep with head elevated a little
avoid alcohol, caffeine, and excessive salt intake
treat hay fever early - eg. antihistamines
avoid cosmetics which may be causing irritation to the eyes
avoid rubbing the eyes as this increases local blood flow and swelling
gentle massage or facial exercises may increase lymphatic drainage and reduce the fluid
cool compresses usually applied for 4-5 minutes may help - popular options include:
some recommend facial products such as:
Arbonne face serum
“The Arbonne Daily Eye Cream works wonders as well. It takes away my eye puffiness in about an hour. Just add a few dots under your eye and your entire eye lid if you'd like (some people get puffy there too) rub it in gently and presto… no puffiness! It works even better if you apply the night before! ”
1)
eye makeup:
photographic lighting:
an elevated main light such as used in typical butterfly lighting tends to exaggerate the puffiness by making it appear darker
consider lowering the main light a little
women with prominent cheeks and dark circles under the eyes should have lighting above eye level to avoid the cheeks casting shadows onto the dark circles and emphasising them - this is particularly a risk with on-camera flash with camera below face level
Photoshop post-processing
photo/eyebags.txt · Last modified: 2012/10/22 13:27 by gary1