How to photograph skin?

Due to the fact that for this project I would like to photograph scars from close up, I decided to take a look at examples and how to photograph skin from close in order to show all the details and texture.

First of all, I looked at photographers that photographed skin from close up. One photographer that I found is Anatasia Pottinger, who photographed bodies of people who are over 100 years old. She did anything as long as no one could be identified from the images, so most of them are really close up shots of skin, which is exactly what I am planning to do for this project. The full face cannot be seen in any of the images, which means that the viewer focuses more on other details, such as wrinkles, skin imperfections, blemishes and so on. I also looked at the way artists light the images. In order to show the texture, she used the light from the side.

I also was inspired by one of my friends’ Eliza Kurowska photos. She photographed some close up portraits. A few images from her project “Space in body”:

Second of all, I looked at more technical side of photographing the skin. In order to get every single detail clear and in focus I am planning to use macro lens, which means that I will be able to get very close to the subject. I am also planning to use ring flash for some of the photos, because it would everything nice and evenly, just the edges darken slightly as the light wraps to the rear. This type of flash is used very often in medical photography where even lighting of up-close subjects is required. These same qualities make a ring flash especially good for macro photography, where the camera is too close to the subject for most other types of flash to produce good results. This kind of lighting may work where the scar is not raised, but if the scar is different texture I believe that the flash from the side would give some shadow from the scar and it would be better to see it.