12 Unique Body Paint Photoshoot Ideas

4. Blacklight body paint photoshoot

This suggestion comes to us from Digital Camera World: blacklight body paint portraits! You’ll be taking photos with your subject under ultraviolet light, so you’ll want to purchase some UV body paint and UV lights and then start getting creative. You can buy a UV body paint kit here from MidnightGlo on Etsy. To protect your subject’s eyes from UV light, make sure they wear UV-blocking safety glasses when the UV light is directly on them.

5. Optical illusion body paint

One cool effect that you can achieve using body paint is to create shocking optical illusions using paint that’s the same color as your backdrop (often black paint and black background, because this is the most effective).

For instance, you can make it look like your subject’s body has been tied into a knot (see this guide on YouTube for the how-to) for a majorly creepy effect! And there are tons more interesting ideas out there if you do a bit of searching online.

6. Focus on the hands

Instead of painting your subject’s entire body, focus on the details and create some body paint illusions focused only on their hands. As a start, this guide from Time Craft contains how-to demonstrations for ten different styles of hand art illusions.

7. Combine body paint and photography with photo editing

Consider using the photo editing software of your choice to get even more creative. By combining three very different mediums – body paint, photography, and photo editing – you can create some seriously impressive images and go that much further with your creativity.

8. Pop art body paint photoshoot

Pop art is an incredibly recognizable art style that’s associated with the 1950s and 1960s, creating a distinctly retro aesthetic when used today. You can use body paint to make your subject look like a living cartoon or comic book character. There are lots of guides out there explaining how to do this, but here’s an easy-to-follow one from MoreThanARose on YouTube.

9. Butterfly body paint

Have your subject hold a pose and then paint their whole body to make them look like a butterfly, inspired by this incredible work of camouflage/optical illusion body paint created by Italian artist Johannes Stötter. Your work doesn’t have to be quite as detailed, but Stötter’s work shows what’s possible with a little bit of paint, a willing model, and some creativity!

Love this idea? Then check out our butterfly party ideas for more photo and event inspiration!