What is fashion photography?

Learning goal

You will be able to see that a fashion photograph carries not only a garment but also the feeling that garment evokes and the identity of the brand that makes it, together. You will tell where a job stands on the range that runs from the catalog frame, which shows a piece alone in flat light, to the editorial series, which tells a story over several frames. You will notice the consistency of the choices of light, color, place and people that make a brand's frames recognizable, and see that this consistency is not a rule but a decision. Instead of fitting a brand's color scheme to the models' skin, you will plan to show the skin correctly within that scheme.

The question

A designer working in a small workshop in the town wants to have their first jacket collection photographed. Your friend suggests hanging the jackets on a rack and shooting them in front of a white background in flat light; the seams, the pockets and the texture of the fabric will show clearly. The designer nods but says something is missing: their jackets are the jackets of someone who leaves home early in the morning and sets out on the road. Your friend doesn't know what to shoot. Clothes or story?

Context

In the posing lesson you learned to direct a model by thinking about their body, their weight and their hands (Lesson P.4). In lifestyle product photography you prepared the style guide, the short document that defines the surfaces, colors, light and people to be used in a brand's frames (Lesson U.5). In the light modifiers lesson you also worked on shaping a flash's light with a softbox, an umbrella or a grid (Lesson 19.7).

Fashion photography brings these three together: a person, a product and a light. But its difference from product photography is that the product is shown on a person, in a place and at a moment; its difference from portraiture is that the frame tells not about that person, but about what they wear and the life that garment stands for.

Simple explanation

What does fashion photography show?

Fashion photography is photography that shows a garment or an accessory together with the feeling it evokes and the identity of the brand that makes it. In a frame, three layers sit on top of each other. In the product layer, the viewer must be able to see the garment's cut, fabric and color. In the feeling layer, they sense how someone wearing that garment feels, where they are going, what they are living through. In the brand layer, they read an attitude that sets this frame apart from another brand's frame.

The weight of the layers changes with the job. On an e-commerce site the product layer is in front: the garment must show whole, in the right color and with its folds readable, because the buyer will choose it without touching it. On a promotional billboard, on the other hand, the feeling and the brand come forward, and the product may show only in the movement of a sleeve or a collar. Which layer comes forward comes from the job's purpose and from the conversation with the client.

How do you get from the catalog to a story?

Fashion photography stands on a range. At one end there are catalog frames, which show the pieces one by one on a plain background and in flat light. In the middle stands the lookbook, which shows a season's pieces on a model, in a consistent light and place. Further along come campaign frames, which carry a message of the brand. At the far end is the editorial series.

A fashion editorial is a series of fashion photographs, shot for a magazine, a publication or the brand's own storytelling, that tells a story, an atmosphere or an idea over several frames. Here the garment is inside the story: in one frame the whole jacket shows, in another only its collar moving in the wind. The series' frames are read not one by one but together; what one leaves out, another completes. But even in an editorial, making the product unrecognizable is a decision that hasn't been discussed with the client.

Why is a brand recognized?

Brand visual language is the recognizable attitude that the choices of light, color, place, pose and people repeated in all of a brand's frames add up to. One brand chooses the hard noon sun, saturated colors and people in motion; another, soft window light, muted tones and still gazes. Neither is right, neither is wrong; each is a decision, and the photographer's job is to apply that decision consistently in every frame.

Brand visual language also has a human side. When a brand chooses a muted, cool color scheme, if this scheme is applied as a tone over the whole frame, dark skin can look gray and lifeless, light skin sickly. The color scheme is built in the background, the clothing and the light; skin, meanwhile, is kept in its own color within that scheme. The garment's color also reflects onto the skin: the collar of a yellow jacket warms the neck and chin beneath it. If models of different skin tones will be working, the light and color decisions are tested on all of them.

Visual evidence

Your friend puts two series side by side. First they shoot the jackets on the rack, in front of the white background, with two soft lights: the seams, the pockets, the fabric's texture and the color are clear. These frames are enough for a sales page; but none of them has a morning, a road or a person in it.

Then two of the designer's friends put on the jackets: a dark-skinned young man and a light-skinned woman. In the morning's first light they come out of the workshop door, wait at the bus stop, cross the bridge. In one frame the whole jacket shows, in another only the collar lifting in the wind and a hand. The series tells a story, and the jackets are inside that story.

The designer wants a muted, cool tone. In the first try your friend applies this tone to the whole frame; the young man's face leans toward gray, the woman's toward purple. In the next try they leave the coolness to the background, the street and the sky, and keep the skin in its own color. The collar of the mustard jacket slightly warms the man's chin; your friend doesn't correct it, because it tells the garment's color truthfully.

Common mistakes

Summary

Fashion photography shows a garment together with the feeling it evokes and the brand's identity, and a job takes its place on the range from the catalog to the editorial series according to the weight of these three layers. Brand visual language is a decision and is applied consistently in every frame, but while the color scheme is built in the background, the clothing and the light, skin is kept in its own color.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will build two different frames with the same garment; a jacket, a shirt or a dress from your own wardrobe is enough.

1. Shoot the garment on a hanger or a surface, on a plain background and in soft light, bringing the product layer forward.
2. With their agreement, shoot someone wearing the same garment in a small three-frame series, in a place and at a moment, bringing a feeling forward.
3. Apply a color scheme of your own choice once to the whole frame and once only to the background and the light; compare the person's skin in the two versions.

Check yourself

• In the two frames, which of the product, feeling and brand layers comes forward?
• Does the three-frame series tell a story when read together, and does the garment show whole in at least one frame?
• When the color scheme is applied, does the person's skin stay in its own color?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Which three layers sit on top of each other in a fashion photograph?

• A) Foreground, middle ground, background
• B) Product, feeling, brand
• C) Light, shadow, color
• D) Model, stylist, photographer

2. Which layer is most in front in an e-commerce frame?

• A) Brand
• B) Feeling
• C) Product
• D) None of them

3. How are the frames of an editorial series read?

• A) Together; one completes what the other leaves out
• B) One by one; each frame shows a separate product
• C) Only the first frame matters
• D) The order doesn't matter, because there is no story

4. When a muted, cool color scheme is wanted, how is skin protected?

• A) The scheme is applied to the whole frame at the same strength
• B) The models are shot only as silhouettes
• C) The skin is painted in the scheme's color
• D) The scheme is built in the background, the clothing and the light, and skin is kept in its own color

Answers

1. B — The garment, the feeling it evokes and the brand's attitude sit together in the same frame.
2. C — The buyer can't touch the garment; they need to see its cut and color correctly.
3. A — The series tells a story and the frames complete each other.
4. D — A color scheme can be built without making skin look gray or sickly.

Summary card

• Fashion photography: product + feeling + brand, in the same frame.
• The weight of the layers comes from the job's purpose.
• The range: catalog, lookbook, campaign, editorial series.
• Brand visual language is a decision; it is applied consistently in every frame.
• The color scheme in the background and the light; skin in its own color.

Bridge to the next lesson

After shooting the morning series, the designer already wants to talk about the next collection. This time they have in mind a seaside town, a windy pier and muted blue tones, but they struggle to put these into words, and your friend can't see what they see. Is seeing the shoot in advance possible? The next lesson takes up building a shoot on a board, with reference images, colors and style choices, before it even begins.