Half & Half Photography

She is Him, which is just one name among many, is a technique that involves some slight digital manipulation,some creative makeup, some small props and either a male model or a female one.

However it works better with a male since the face hair grows naturally and will save some steps while if you use female models it is more difficult to make half of her appear as a man. It is easier to put make up on a face to make it look like that of a woman than the other way around.

The technique is often referred to as half and half, since it features models whose features are half male and half female.

Usually the facial features are the ones who undergo the changes and doing the entire body can be cumbersome and costly.

With some makeup, fake eyelashes, wigs and some contact lenses you are pretty much set to start what you have to do next is to draw some sketches to get an idea as to how you want your models to look.

The digital manipulation is mainly used to smooth out or blend in the edges where one gender meets the other.This is not an absolute as a good make up stylist can do this just as well but it helps in the event you find some rough edges and areas where the make ups connect do not appear to be as smooth as they should. The seams should be made to appear flawless as if they are a normal continuation of the other.

There are many poses that you can use such as eating, talking on the phone and so on, but nevertheless this can get to be a long process. Much easier is just to do portraits.

A far as models, if you can have some professional drag queen actors, then even better since they are masters at transforming themselves and know what makeup, hair style, props, and other accessories look better on them. take advantage of their acting experience to suggest poses and take their suggestion in mind too.

To help you understand more about what the idea is you need to know that this is similar and almost exactly as if photographing drag-queen actors. A drag queen actor is a man who dresses,and acts, like a woman. Most often this is done for entertainment like on shows and the "women" are often representations or doubles of famous ladies.

Keep in mind that most often drag queens are males but there are other drag actors/actresses who are women dressing in male clothing and acting like them too, again for the same reason as most males.

The project's intention is to capture images that show half a man and half a woman on the same face/body at the same time. You can do this digitally but its more photogenic if done live.

Regular photographic gear like a 55 mm lens and a flash unit plus a reflector will do. Once you have your images it is worthwhile to run them through a digital editing program to smooth out blemishes and perhaps enhance some colors.

Like with most photography endeavors, you need to be creative but since these is a rather simple project dealing with portraits your creativity should be deposited into the makeup, the hair, accessories and wardrobe accents.

The finished project is suitable to use with photography publications and book productions. Prints can also be sold online as well. Depending on what type of makeup you use the photographs can be submitted to some makeup producers and they can use them in their advertising campaigns.