Fashion photography is probably the toughest among the photography streams as it requires more creativity than anything else and is more challenging for the same reason. But with a little bit of creativity, out of the box thinking and good resources and of course a good model, you can pretty much excel at it.

So what are the pre-requisites for fashion photography?

Fashion photography is all about delivering the right quality images that relate best to the theme/brief you are given. Normally, fashion photographers are given a brief or an idea of the theme either by magazine editors or the event managers and you have to deliver images that relate best to it. Sometimes, it’s more about clicking photos of a fashion model based on a set of themes. Either way, a fashion photographers job is to take excellent high-quality photos that stand out and excel in quality and creativity.

Fashion Photography Tips

Fashion photography is all about creativity and going that extra mile to bring in a lot of meaning to the photos. And every element of photography should be used very wisely at it. The lighting, costumes, styling, backgrounds – all need to be in perfect sync for the shoot.

• Pre shoot preparations
  A very important lesson in fashion photography is the preparation. Be it editorial photoshoots or fashion show or a model portfolio, study the requirement very well. Understand the theme and the requirements well so that you get an idea of the subject and the theme very well. If possible, do a good research on the theme and how older photos from the theme has been. you can get clues from other photographers work and even plan your work to do better than them by not repeating what they’ve done.
• Planning the set
  A set composes more of the background, lights used, props and the whole theme as such. Set is very important because it determines the whole mood of the shoot. you should make sure that the set is relating to the theme given to you.
• Planning the style
  In most cases of fashion photography, you would be working with a stylist who will get you the style concept according to the theme. They will decide the dresses, the props, the make up, hair do etc of the model. Work closer with the stylist to get to know the best from her, and make sure your concept is as similar to hers or there would be differences in opinion.
• Planning the lights
  Lighting is the most complicated in fashion photography. The colors, shades etc will all decide how successful your photo shoot is going to be. Plan it well.
• Get your equipment ready
  Fashion photography requires the best equipment, the highest resolution camera and the most advanced digital cameras. After planning your frames make sure you have the best equipment ready.
• Discussions with the model
  After you have well prepared everything, get to talk to your model and study their features, thin or voluptuous, boy or girl, hair type and facial type etc. This will help you a great deal in deciding what lights to use and what lenses should you carry.
• Post shoot processes
  One of the most important points in fashion photography is the quality of your post production work. How much of photoshop you use, how well and how effectively,what filters and effect you use etc. Because Photoshop and other image editing softwares can give you that extra edge to your photos even if they are average.

Photo courtesy – defrost.ca