Bay Area professional beauty photographer. I am a professional beauty photographer serving the San Francisco Bay Area, including Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, Marin, Santa Clara, and all cities and areas in-between. Beauty photography is a specialized genre of photography where the objective is to reveal one’s inner and outer beauty on camera. Beauty photography includes both commercial and editorial imagery, and depending upon the objective, can be achieved via multiple lighting setups. My mission is to meet the objective of each individual, and bring out a beauty look custom tailored to each client.
Beauty Photography: RINGLIGHT BEAUTY HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHY
This is a unique type of headshot that is one of my favorites. The images captured below were created with a ringlight I custom built by hand, which allows for this uniquely soft and beautiful look. The shallow depth of field with tack sharp focus on the eyes provides a unique catchlight, and softness in beauty headshots that make them timeless and stunning. When paired with my extensive collection of colored backdrops, my custom-built ringlight can offer a truly one-of-a-kind beauty headshot.
Beauty Photography: CINEMATIC ARTISTIC IN-STUDIO HEADSHOTS
This is a vibrant style for an in-studio headshot. For this type of headshot, all shots are taken in-studio with a complex lighting setup that uses colored gels and unique background materials to achieve this stylish look. As you can see in these shots, there’s bokeh in the background, and the only changes applied to the shot are the different colored gels shot into both the background and as side kicker lights on the subject. This allows for versatility and unique color combinations just by changing the gels.
Beauty Photography: MODEL / MODELLING BEAUTY PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION
Many of my clients are models who are signed with modeling agencies, or those aspiring to become a model. A truly stunning beauty headshot is an essential piece to your lookbook or model card. Beauty headshots can be shot in many different ways to achieve different looks for your portfolio. My mission is to capture a sincere unique look, catered to the beauty needs of each individual. As you can see from the wide variety of styles I have shot, beauty photography is best when it brings out the individual beauty of each person.
Beauty Photography: INDIVIDUAL BEAUTY PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION
You don’t need to be a model to have images of yourself that are striking and beautiful. Whether you’re a model looking to add images to your model card, or a married working professional who simply wants a beauty headshot, anyone can benefit from beautiful images that capture this moment in time.
Beauty Photography: MAKEUP ARTIST (MUA) BEAUTY PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION
If you are a makeup artist, your portfolio is the key to displaying your work in hopes of obtaining new clients. It’s also just as important to have a professional beauty photographer capture these images so that your work stands out above the rest. Especially for makeup artists who may often work weddings, the final wedding images rarely focus on the makeup itself, and may make it difficult to showcase your work. A beauty session with me will allow you to express your exact objectives you need for your portfolio, and I can even arrange specific models to come in for your session.
Want to learn more about a photoshoot or have a question?
Interested in a photoshoot? Just use the contact page here to email me with any photo session ideas you may have. If you are interested in portraits or headshots, I shoot professional portraits and professional headshots both outdoors with natural light and/or strobes, or in my San Francisco Bay Area-based photo studio with a wide variety of backdrops and lighting options for many types of projects. Whether you need fashion photography, portrait photography, yoga or fitness photography, headshot photography, an online dating profile photographer, beauty headshot photography, artistic extreme colored gel hypercolor portraits, product photography, modeling digitals for agencies, or anything in-between, I offer various packages for many budgets. I look forward to hearing from you. Let’s shoot!
(Below are some brief testimonials from past clients. For more testimonials, please visit my testimonials page.)
This was my first Photoshoot and Mike made me feel extremely comfortable and helped me throughout the process. He’s very funny and has so much positive energy it makes you excited about the shoot and also about working with him. He’s extremely nice and had so many great ideas to ensure I got the pictures I wanted. He has a very nice studio and some really cool spots to shoot at in Berkeley. Would definitely go to him again for future shoots!
I’m a huge fan of Mike McGee Photography. On Instagram, I have been following his work for a couple of years. When I needed new headshots for my SF casting account, I contacted Mike immediately and schedule a photography session at his studio. The studio was easy to get to, in a nice location and it was set up very professionally to the trade. Mike was happy, positive and friendly. He was an effective coach and his direction was very helpful. We shot several different looks/styles and I felt comfortable and at ease the entire time. Mike delivered the proofs via email on the same evening of our shoot. His final edited images were delivered via Dropbox a few days after I made my selections. I am very satisfied with my headshots. I highly recommend Mike McGee Photography and I will hire him again in the future.
I contacted Mike because I found a photo he took on Instagram and I wanted to take some new headshots in the same style. Mike went above and beyond what I asked for and I couldn’t be happier with the photos I got. He was super quick to respond and set up an appointment, sent me all the photos to make my selects, and was really helpful when I asked for his opinion on the best shots. To top it off, he was incredibly fast in getting me the final edited images. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten photos back so fast. I highly recommend Mike for anyone looking for clean, beautiful headshots!
Seriously had such a blast with Mike during our shoot! I had originally found Mike on instagram and absolutely LOVED his work. I was in need of headshots to send to agencies so I then contacted him to get my headshots taken. He was very quick at responding and we scheduled a date that worked for the both of us! When I had arrived to the shoot, I immediately got an awesome vibe from him! Very easy to talk to and just overall friendly! I did not once feel awkward behind the camera. I feel that when I comfortable with a photographer I am able to do my best when I shoot. He made me feel super confident! The final edited headshots turned absolutely amazing, I loved every single one of them and have no complaints. I couldn’t have chosen a better photographer! Definitely want to work with him in the future as well 🙂
Mike McGee is an amazing photographer! He is friendly and very easy to talk to. As someone who often hates taking pictures Mike makes any shoot painless and fun.At times I’m way too self conscious and choosy about which angles and sides work best and Mike is beyond accommodating. He’s got an arsenal of locations and pose ideas sure to flatter.Shoots with him are so relaxed and often over before you realize you’ve taken hundreds of photos. His edits are beautiful and sometimes even unnecessary; he’s so gifted at finding that golden natural light. He’s great in and out of the studio and always my number one choice for headshots and lifestyle pictures. It’s always such a treat to work with him, I know when I do I’m in for lots of laughs, smiles, and amazing photos.
If you’re looking for a photographer in the bay whether it be for headshots, lifestyle, fashion, etc…. Mike is the best option.
He is so friendly and makes photo shoots such a great experience! Makes you feel very comfortable and confident whether you have experience shooting or not. His work is amazing and he returns edited photos very quickly. 11/10 recommend!!!!
San Francisco Bay Area Portrait Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Headshot Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Beauty Headshot Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Fashion Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Hypercolor Creative Portrait Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Yoga & Fitness Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Fashion Photographer • San Francisco Online Dating Profile Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area High School Senior Portrait Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Personal branding Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Product Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Modeling Digitals & Polaroids Photographer • San Francisco Bay Area Natural Light Portrait Photographer