On February 6th, hundreds of us gathered together at the historic Palace Hotel to celebrate and strengthen our community in the Bay Area and Israel. The event raised more than $400,000 to support families hit by the economic crisis, provide scholarships for youth, care
for frail seniors, and help children who have experienced trauma. Multiple generations—including a record number of young
leaders, enjoyed world-class entertainment and danced the night away. It was a great party for a vital cause!

Full Gallery
Special thanks to members of my team: Eliot, Alex and Mark for volunteering for this event.

I was invited to photograph a make-up training event a Sephora. Another photographers’ dream come true!

What a great opportunity this was to show what a difference professional make-up, together with carefully chosen angles as well as taking advantage of natural light can make.

The images on the left were taken before make-up was applied. In order show what a difference shooting at the best angle can make, I purposely shot the before photos without taking advantage of the best possible angle and I didn’t shoot to improve the available light. There was no professional lighting at the training session.

The photos on the right are the after photos, with make-up and with my choice of the best angle and working with the not-so-great lighting. I didn’t retouch these photos in Photoshop other than very simple tweaks to sharpness and contrast.

So what accounts for the dramatic difference in the before and after photos? Is it the:

1. the make-up
2. the photography
3. or is it both?

Your comments are welcome! Let me know what you think!

P.S. Girls are models and photos posted with their permission.