You can see a lot of photographs in your day-to-day life. Photography is undoubtedly an art that attracts its viewers. In this photography world, there are many types of photography taken by lots of photographers. Who doesn’t like glamour? A photo full of glamour is liked and attractive by every person. Fashion Photography is the most glamorous photography you can ever see. Some days back, I, with my friends went to a photography exhibition where many kinds of photographs were exhibited. All the photos were good, but we all got stunned seeing a high fashion photoshoot that was being exhibited in the same exhibition.
Trust me that was the center of attraction of the event. So fashion photography is becoming very popular nowadays. If you go shopping, you see the fashion photograph first. But delivering a good and glamorous fashion photograph becomes tough sometimes if the photographer does not have knowledge about fashion photography. As a beginner, you need to know some hacks about fashion photography tips and tricks for beginners so that you can deliver some awesome fashion photography as well. You need to have some basic fashion photography ideas. Here we present you Top 15 Fashion Photography Tips for Beginners below.
Choosing the Best Camera
Since you want to do fashion photography, you need to buy a high definition and latest DSLR camera which are having all the latest settings. As a beginner, you may get confused that which camera you should use for fashion photography. There are some cameras for fashion photography in the market which are specially designed for clicking fashion photographs. You should always choose a full frame DSLR camera. For you, I am going to write down some camera names and models which are good for high fashion photography. These are –
- Nikon D800
- Nikon D7100
- Canon 70D
- Panasonic GH 3
- Canon 5D Mark 2
- Canon 6D
- Sony A99
These are some cameras which are highly used by all the professional fashion photographers. These cameras are having all the latest settings and the shutter speed is also good. Try them out for starting fashion photography.
High-Quality Lenses
The lenses of a camera are equally important like the camera. If you do fashion photography without lens, the photo will not come clear and the object will be out of focus. For fashion photography, you need to choose the lenses very carefully because fashion photography focuses on many things started from head to toe of a model. If you do not know about fashion photography lenses, I am here to give you the idea. Just see below to know which lenses you should choose.
- Sony Sonnar T* FE f/1.8 ZA Lens (Used by Chicago based Sony Ambassador and Fashion Photographer Manuel Ortiz)
- Sony FE 24-70 mm f/2.8 GM Lens (Used by Butch Fashion Shooter Frank Doorhof)
- Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8 E ED VR Lens ( Used by Maryland based Runway Photographer Theano Nikitas)
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS 2 USM Lens (Used by New York-based Fashion Photographer Lindsay Adler)
Set the Lightings
For every kind of photography, lighting is one of the most important elements to enhance the beauty of the photo. But in fashion photography lighting matters a lot. There are kind of photography which may work in one particular type of lighting. Since there are varieties in fashion photography, there are varieties in fashion photography lighting as well. Different fashion photography needs different lighting kit. Suppose, if you are clicking portrait fashion photography, you may use mono light. This lighting kit let the beauty of the facial expression comes out as it is required in portrait fashion photography. Here are some Fashion Photography Lighting Kits you should use while fashion photography.
- Monolights
- Power packs
- Tungsten/Hot Light
- Beauty Dish
- Giant Parabolic Umbrella
- Large umbrellas
- Backpanel
Other Equipment for Fashion Photography
Apart from cameras, lenses, and lighting, there is some other equipment you need for fashion photography which makes the photo look perfect and which is actually used by every well-known fashion photographer. As a beginner, you should know about the other fashion photography equipment as well. A Tripod essential equipment for clicking fashion photography, A tripod helps to hold the camera and helps the photographer not to put pressure in their hand too much. Sometime keeping the camera and shooting for a long time might a hectic and some photos can come out shaky. Using tripod is the solution of not getting the shaky photos anymore. Reflector is also playing an important role in fashion photography. Reflector is a paper which reflects the sunlight or any light to the fashion model to provide a light. An External Flash Light is also being used for fashion photography.
An In-House Studio
Fashion photography in my opinion can be done anywhere. But the best thing would be creating an in-house studio by yourself and shoot there. As a beginner, you should not hire a studio which cost high. Building a studio at your house would cut your cost extensively. To create an in-house studio, you just need a broad space at home, your camera gadgets and gears, set of lighting, better background and of course a model.
Selection of the Model
Since we have done talking about the technical things, let’s come in the main and physical important stuffs of fashion photography. When you hear about fashion photography, one think that blink in your mind is a good looking model. Selection of a model really affects fashion photography. Now-a-days, there are lots of models who are working highly for fashion modeling. You can find best models in different agencies, Social Media and even you can find some models within your community or known people. Select models who you think are photogenic.
Try the poses
Poses are the way of conveying the message through photographs. It is the poses which can make the photo and the object/product beautiful or shabby. Before hiring a model, audition them by trying some poses out. You can check some latest poses on YouTube or get the suggestions from other professional fashion photographers. At first, you try the poses by your family members. Try not to give the poses which are not appropriate or related to the product you are shooting for. Fix some poses before start shooting for fashion photography. Once you are done fixing the poses, try them on models.
Create a Concept
When you are trying for fashion photography, try to deliver a story from that fashion photography. Fashion photography concepts should be glamorous. Suppose, you want to photograph beachwear, you can just create a fake beach with sands and use blue in the background as sea. That creates a concept, tell a story and also promote your product and give you awesome fashion photographs. Creating concept is a great fashion photography idea. You need to make sure you follow this fashion photography tips and tricks for beginners.
Try Clicking from Different Angles
There should be fashion photos, which are clicked by various angles. Clicking by various angles will give you the idea that from which angle you can get the products to get highlighted. There is another benefit of clicking fashion photos from different angles. You may get the perfect expression of the model with the perfect side of the product. If you are running an e-commerce business, you can post the fashion product photo of various angles.
Make the Fashion Model Comfortable
Some models are furious and some models are delicate. There are models that are shy and uncomfortable with the photographer at the initial stage of shoot or throughout the shoot. This can ruin the whole photography. If you are a photographer, try to make your model comfortable. If the model is not comfortable enough, the result could be shyness and stiffness of the model while photo shoot. So, try talk to the model before shoot. Do mockery and crack jokes with the model to make her feel comfortable. Do not be very rough and tough while fashion photo shooting. This is one of the most important fashion photography tips and tricks for beginners.
Select Best Dress Color and Make-up
When you see fashion photographs, what attracts the viewers the most is the color of the cloths and the make-up. You should choose a vibrant color for the fashion products which creates contrast with background of the photo. The make-up is also an important fact in a fashion photograph. A loud make up may not work in a fashion photograph. Try to put mild make-up on the model while fashion photography.
Shoot Fashion Shows
Shooting fashion shows would be a great learning for fashion photography. In the initial stage, if you get the opportunity of shooting a fashion show, go for it. Don’t lose the opportunity. In a fashion show, you will get to see many professional fashion photographers. You can also assist them while photography by which you will learn how to shoot professional fashion photograph. You can also learn about what kind of models and dresses or products you should choose as a beginner.
The Location/Background
In every kind of photography, the location of background is really very important. A location or background can make the fashion photo look best and also worst. You can shoot outdoor and select locations containing gardens, Trees, hills or seas. Or you can also select locations like roads, malls, high rise buildings etc. You can also shoot indoor in some studios and make locations as per the requirement of the type of fashion photograph.
Experiment with Props
Sometimes the plain fashion photographer may not get people’s attraction. The viewers or customers may get bored seeing the plain fashion photographs which are boring. For a change, people want some fun through fashion photography. While photo shooting, try adding some props to experiment. Experimenting with the props while fashion photography, can be very beneficial for the photographs. Suppose it is a rainy season and you want to shoot for monsoon fashion collection. You can add umbrellas and fake rain to the photo to get the feel of monsoon. Trust me, it works like anything. This is also a fashion photography tips and tricks to note down.
Fashion Photography Post Processing
After being done with fashion photography, you may feel you need many of the changes in the photo. If you are thinking how you can improve the fashion photos you have already clicked, the solution is the post processing of the photos or photo editing. If you know how to edit photos, you can edit the photos by yourself. But if you do not know editing, you can hire different photo editing service providers that provide fashion and apparel photo editing services. You can change the background, add effects, remove spots from the photo, change dress color, change the photo format, photo resizing, smoothen the skin tone, add objects, and fix the make-up and many more.
As a beginner, fashion photographers get confused about what to do and what not. It is very important for fashion photographers to know the tactics if he/she wants to deliver some amazing fashion photography. You should follow these fashion photography tips and tricks for beginners and practice on a usual basis if you want to be a professional. So here I’m signing out and hope these tips will help you to do better fashion photography as a beginner.
