 Alright, so you got this new photography equipment, you got new lights, new camera, new lens, new something, and you want to try it out. But there's nobody around to try it out on. You want to see if the softbox makes somebody look good, right? Well, a mannequin head is a really good place to start because it's the size and shape of a human head, it's got hair and everything. But the reason a mannequin isn't the best thing to use for realistic results is because the face is perfect. A mannequin heads are like airbrushed, they're perfect. That's not what a really human being looks like. So if you want to see what an effect that a softbox has on a human person, you need to have a more realistic face. So that's what I'm going to show you how to do because this is what I did. All I did was take a mannequin head. You get a mannequin really cheap online in China or something like that for like 20 bucks. I mean, they're not that expensive. And then you get a wig and you put it on top. So what I did is I got a mannequin head and I just sculpted some human features imperfections on there because we have nasiolabial folds or skin pores or pros, feet, wrinkles, bags under the eyes. There's so many things that a human face has that a mannequin doesn't that we need to kind of mimic. So we get a closer approximation of what a human face looks like. So what I did is you can get this online, go to any art supply store, get it online, it's called super sculpti. It's a plasticine type putty stuff that you can mold and stick to anything. It's very pliable. It's like what we would play with when we were kids. You can just apply it right to the mannequin head and then you use some sculpting tools. You can get a sculpting tools either at an art supply store or you can get a dental supply store. Some of these things are dental tools that a dentist uses. But you don't even need these. You can use the pencil or a kitchen knife or anything. So you just start sticking it on the mannequin head. You can spray glue the mannequin head to make it stick better if you want. You don't have to. You only have to do the front part. And then you just start carving in the wrinkles and the folds and you add some muscles in there because the body's got a lot of muscles. The neck and face has a lot of muscles that mannequins just don't show. And this stuff's really easy to work with. This moves out really well. You add some texture. For skin pores, I use the hair brush or you can use a pencil or anything. Just anything to add to holes and wrinkles and lines and stuff that the human face would have. It's got a lot of imperfections. Again, that mannequins don't have. You want to show this stuff when you're doing light testing. And this is what you want to try to deal with as a photographer. You want to have this stuff in your test model. If you can make this look good, you can make anything look good. Then you'd use a heat gun to dry it because heat makes this stuff hard after a while, which is good. This stuff's already skin colored so you don't have to add any color. But I like to add makeup because that's what the model does. You add some fake eyelashes, paint on some eyebrows. You try to make it as close to possible as what a real person would have. Then you add some hair and there you go. You've got something with more imperfections like a real person. Now, it's not the most pleasant thing to look at compared to the others, but you can make this look good. You can make anything look good. That's the principle here. That's the concept. So you don't want a perfect face. You want an imperfect face. It's more human. That's what a real person looks like. So this is for me a more usable, practical subject to test my lights on. If human beings look like this, we wouldn't need soft boxes. But this is what people look like. This is why we need to test it on. And again, these things are cheap. You can get a mannequin head online for like 20 bucks from China or something like that. And then you get a wig at your local wig store. Those are pretty cheap too. And then you have somebody that's ready to go at all times. Anytime you need to test bam, they're ready to go. I just have them sitting on light stands. So there's another weird quirky, but practical tip from Marcus said. Marcus picks for photography. And girls, if you don't take care of yourselves, I'm going to add imperfections to your feet. Oh, yeah, okay. Okay. You know what? Have an attitude. Anyway, subscribe to this channel. Stay tuned for more. Lots of free giveaway stuff and great tips for photography video and audio to help you have better results. Marcus picks. That's the channel. See you in the next one.