Fashion Photography Tips

There are many techniques for creating beautiful fashion photography, but it begins with getting the right lighting. Light is the tool you'll use to sculpt your photograph. How you use the light you work with will typically be the deciding factor between a photograph that is truly worth a thousand words and one that can be tossed in the trash. Here are some lighting tips you can use to turn your images into something memorable. 

Lighting

Soft Lighting 

 

Soft lighting is almost always the way to go in a fashion shoot. Soft lighting helps hide blemishes. Harsh light not only brings out flaws, it can create the illusion of flaws that aren't actually present. Fluorescent lighting is a particularly off limits. Soft yellow or amber-based lighting works well, but it's best to use natural lighting whenever possible.

 
Avoid Built-In-Flash

 

Built-in flash is too weak to properly light a subject more than 13 feet away. Also, built-in flash almost always produces red eye when the subject looks directly into the photo camera. Use speed lighting or strobes when you want flash to light your subject. If you find yourself in a situation where you have no option other than built-in flash, have your subject turn slightly away from the camera or bring up the ambient light in the room. 

Creative Lighting 

 

To bring out the best in your model, you will want to apply a few creative lighting techniques. Some of these include using strobes on both sides of your model to create shadows that will add depth to your shot. Another effective lighting technique is to backlight your model. Backlighting involves lighting your subject from behind, as the name implies, which helps minimize the background and bring out the contour of your subject. 

Natural Light Effects

If you want warmer tones using natural light, do your photo shoots in the morning or in the evening, during the magic hours, which are the first and last hours of the day. In photography, these times are also called the golden hour. Schedule shoots for these times when you can. Shooting at midday, when the sun is above you, creates a blue overcast and harsh shadows. This may be useful to obtain a specific look, but it typically doesn't work well for fashion shoots.

Three most important Fashion Photography tips 

 

1. Be sure that you are controlling the situation. Photographers need to have the leadership skills needed to take control of various situations. You should be able to tell your subjects to move a little bit here or maybe change location entirely if the background is not right. It is your discretion which will help create a good quality photo for your subject. Remember, it is better to take command than have second rate pictures.
 

 2.  Be sure that you focus on the eyes if you are dealing with humans and animals. This is true when you are shooting portrait photographs, or if your subjects are people or animals. They say that the reason for this is due to the fact that we usually focus on the eyes first in looking at pictures.  This will help increase the quality of your portrait photograph.

 3. Avoid cluttered backgrounds. This will make sure that the subject is not drowned in the sea of background. A cluttered background will drive the focus away from your subject. Make sure that your subject is in focus to eliminate background noise.

 

Fashion Photo Gallery