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

 

 

Hasselblad Celebrates Centenary of Founder's Birth

In recognition of founder Victor Hasselblad's birth on March 8, 2006, the company unveils the 503CWD Anniversary kit, a prestigious high-end photographic system that offers state-of-the-art digital technology integrated with a classically designed Hasselblad 503CW body. The camera combines the black and chrome V body, with its central shutter-based lenses with the technology of the CFV digital back..

Hasselblad Celebrates Centenary of Founder's Birth with Launch of Limited Edition Hasselblad 503CWD Digital Camera

In recognition of the centenary of Victor Hasselblad's birth on March 8, 2006, Hasselblad unveils the Hasselblad 503CWD Anniversary Kit, a prestigious high-end photographic system that offers state-of-the-art digital capture technology elegantly integrated with a classically designed Hasselblad 503CW body.

Combining the rugged reliability of the black and chrome V System body, with its range of high performance, central shutter-based lenses, and the technology of Hasselblad's new CFV digital back, the exclusive Hasselblad 503CWD perfectly melds the heritage of the old Hasselblad with the focus of the new Hasselblad on digital high-end photography to create a new digital workhorse. Of undoubted appeal to the Hasselblad connoisseur, the camera delivers the perfect blend of versatility and simplicity in a compact, professional tool that gives the user complete control over digital image capture and is a pleasure to operate.

Christian Poulsen, CEO of Hasselblad, comments: “Hasselblad's reputation for excellence and outstanding quality was built on the V System. Therefore the Hasselblad 503CWD – a truly professional tool that is fully compatible with the Hasselblad V system, offers great value for money, and is built to the same exacting standards that have become the signature of the Hasselblad company - is a fitting tribute to the design process that Victor Hasselblad started himself in the 1940s. Having been passionate about photography, Victor would also have loved the concept of digital photography, and in the 503CWD kit, with its stylish retro body and advanced digital capture technology offering the ideal balance of old and new
Hasselblad, he would recognize the culmination of his own work.”

The 503CWD Anniversary kit will be supplied as a limited edition of 500 cameras, each one numbered and engraved with Victor Hasselblad's signature. Reassuringly solid, the kit comprises a 503CWD body with waist-level finder, specially marked focusing screen and chrome winding lever, a Zeiss Planar CFE 2.8/80mm lens and a CFV digital back, and will be supplied with a beautifully produced book marking Victor's anniversary.

Not only does the Hasselblad 503CWD satisfy the aesthetic needs of V System fans, but it also boasts very advanced and, in some aspects, unique digital technology, such as Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, Instant Approval Architecture, and versatile storage and workflow, alongside files captured on a CCD 50% larger than a full frame 35mm DSLR.

Hasselblad Natural Color Solution

Color management solutions have in the past imposed limitations on professional digital photographers, because of the forced choice of a specific color profile to suit the job: for example, capturing various skin tones, metals, fabrics or flowers. To combat this, Hasselblad has developed the Hasselblad Natural Color Solution to be used with its FlexColor imaging software. Working with the powerful, new Hasselblad Natural Color Solution enables professional photographers to produce outstanding, reliable out-of-the-box colors, with skin tones, special product gradations, and other difficult colors accurately reproduced.

Instant Approval Architecture

Some of the potential benefits of capturing large numbers of images can be lost if the photographer cannot quickly review and select the best images to present to the client. Hasselblad's Instant Approval Architecture (IAA) assists by labelling images according to technical parameters and allowing the photographer to downgrade visually poor images, having previewed them on the clear, bright OLED viewing screen. Sorting the red, amber or green flagged images is then very quick. Audible and visible signals facilitate the selection process by giving instant feedback during a
shoot.

Three modes of operation and storage

Optimum portability and image storage are critical for the professional photographer. Hasselblad 503CWD offers a choice of the portable CF card storage, the flexible Imagebank, or the tethered operation with extended, special capture controls. With these three operating and storage options, the photographer is able to select a mode to suit the nature of the work at hand, whether in the studio or on location.

For the studio photographer, the most accurate colours and highest degree of control can be achieved by using 3F RAW (3FR), Hasselblad's raw file format, in Hasselblad's workflow software, FlexColor. The file format also includes lossless image compression, saving 33% of storage space. In tethered operation tools such as live video and overlay masking bring increased productivity to advanced set composition. The newest FlexColor version allows the photographer to manipulate color temperature and compare image details across multiple images for precise image selection. Alternatively the 3FR files can be converted directly into Adobe's raw image format DNG (Digital NeGative), which can be opened directly in Adobe PhotoShop CS2.

information from dcviews.com