The Anatomy Of A Fashion Image
I want to make more of an effort to discuss the technical side of fashion photography, because I know that so many of you will be wanting that key info! Honestly I hesitate to do it, because I'm so not a technical photographer, and I've been taking photos for so long I almost don't even think about what I'm doing anymore... but I'm hearing your requests, so I thought that today we could chat over the anatomy of a great fashion image... because there are a couple of key elements that (I feel) every fashion image should have.
The focus should be on the clothes: This was drummed into me at uni, and rightly so. It's very easy to forget that the purpose of a fashion shoot is actually to sell or promote clothing! I'm easily drawn to a beautiful face, and I can swing into portrait territory. Over the years I've had to really make sure that I look beyond a gorgeous face, and make sure the clothes are being highlighted and looking their best.
Each element should be given love and attention: Fashion photography is about team work, and you need to make sure that you're spending time on each of the elements that make up a fashion image. That means paying close attention to make up, hair styling, set design, the way the clothes are styled, etc. Slacking on these drags down an image as a whole.
Lighting is important: There are no real rules with lighting, but I do feel like the light in an image needs to make sense. If you're going for a moody vibe, the light should feel moody. If you're shooting to sell clothes for a website, the light needs to be crisp and clear.
Sharpness: shooting at f1.4 is lovely, but its not always the best move for capturing clothes. Try different apertures and see if the results are better.
Skin tone: When you're shooting a model, make sure to watch skin tones. So many people whack on a VSCO filter in Lightroom, and ignore what it's doing to a models' skin tone. Try to keep your skin tones looking as natural as possible. Not too orange, not to blue!
Know it's purpose: The qualities an image needs to have will vary on it's purpose. Is it for selling clothes online in an online shop? In that case, you're probably going to want to shoot in an "e-commerce" style, and avoid distractions. The lighting will need to be very plain and simple, and the clothes need to be sharp, and well presented. If you're shooting editorial for a magazine, the main element will be storyline. Does the image give off emotion, whilst still showing off the clothing in the image?
If you want to really master fashion photography, you need to spend a lot of time studying other fashion imagery. This is such an individual kind of career, and the requirements are different to most other photographic industries. Spend time looking at the greats, and what they have done. Buy magazines, and study the editorials. Go onto brands' websites and look at their campaigns. Pick them apart and see if you can identify the most important elements of each of these kinds of images.
So what do you think? Do you agree with me? Do you have anything more to add to the list?
