CNN anchor Sean Callebs is a great friend.  I was his producer.  Alas, Sean had one extremely annoying habit: he enjoyed torturing me on air.  But he was also a huge flirt.  When I finally reached my tipping point (normally around lunch time), my revenge was often to point out the fact that he was wearing makeup to the cutest girl I could find, when we were getting lunch.  It worked.  They would take a closer look at him only to discover a man wearing a LOT of makeup…. because he was made up for work. Not that there’s anything wrong with men wearing makeup!

The point here is that video and film do not see makeup the way the human eye sees makeup.   An incredibly smoked up room will often barely look smoky on film.  The art of makeup in television is rarely subtle.  Enter the HD camera and now aging actresses (and actors) who have been relying for years on film tricks like silks (they soften the light and fill in those rascally nooks and crannies) now must get their makeup spray painted prior to going on camera at the academy awards.

While the consumer loves the HD (high definition) cameras, the on camera talent does not because these HD cameras see everything… spying into those little age lines, wrinkles and smile lines never seen by prior generations of cameras.   According to a recent Trendcentral column, cosmetic makers such as Christian Dior, Smashbox and Cargo have now introduced every day lines of cosmetics that are HD friendly.  So rest easy the next time you are out with Paris Hilton partying and the Paparazzi starts to swarm, if you are wearing the right makeup, the HD camera is going to love you!