by ‘Fashion photography’ is like a blessing to the fashion industry, with its use the industry is approaching the top position and there is no looking back. The ever-growing success of the industry has made people choose fashion photography as their career. When it comes to fashion photography, many fashion photographers opt to shoot indoors with the light setup in a studio. But, there are few who like playing with the sunlight and nature, i.e. fashion photographers who find outdoor shooting interesting. Outdoor photography might seem easy but, there are few factors that need to be considered.
There might have arisen a situation where you have the best model and camera in your hand for your outdoor fashion shoot but still not able to get the best shots. Well, do not worry we will help you deal with this situation before your next outdoor fashion shoot.
With this article, we will guide you through few factors that you should consider before you head for your next outdoor fashion shoot. If you use these tips in right way, you will definitely end up with some amazing professional shots.
Let us get our outdoor fashion photography lessons started
Know the location well
When it comes to shooting outdoors, the most important factor is the location of the shoot. So make sure you finalize the location for your fashion shoot beforehand. Take a tour of the location before the actual day, so you are thorough about the place and do not waste time on an actual day. You can also click pictures of few places which you think are perfect for your shots and simply browse them on the actual day of the shoot. If you follow all these practices, this would save your time as you have already pre-planned and pre-visualized your frames.
Choose the right time of the day
Once your fashion photo shoot location is final, you should make sure that you choose the right time of the day for the shooting. There is no fixed time; as you are shooting outdoors, it all depends on the weather conditions and how you want to use the ambient light. Make sure that you do not shoot at the time when the sun is at its peak as it would create hard shadows on your model’s face. The best and safest time to shoot is few hours after the sunrise and few hours before the sunset as the light is diffused at that time of the day. During a cloudy day, the light would be soft and hence there would be less contrast in the background but, it also depends on the background you are using.
Choose the right background
There might occur a situation wherein you see a location, you love it so much that you start clicking the pictures at that location. But, what if the background of that location does not matches your shoot theme? This would make or break your images so, to get the things right make sure you look into the background before you start shooting. Get creative; think, visualize and then frame your shot accordingly. You need to check if the model’s clothes and background are merging, if they are then you are in need of some other background. When it comes to fashion photography, the main highlight is your model and their clothes, make sure you do not fade their essence with bad backgrounds.
Try mixing ambient and flashlight
As a photographer sometimes it is better to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. You can play with the ambient light and the flashlight; try mixing them together. You can use the sunlight as the key source of light falling on the model and place the flash at the back of the model to give a rim light effect on their face or hair or you can do vice versa. But just make sure you put things perfectly and get the best shot.
Make the model comfortable: Talk and Compliment
If the model is not comfortable in working with you, there are high chances that you won’t get the best shot. The way model poses and carries the outfit are the key ingredients in fashion photography so, make sure he/she is comfortable. At some outdoor locations, there might be people surrounding your work that would make the model uncomfortable for posing and shooting. You can comfort the model with constant interactions, by complimenting him/her and by making him/her feel confident about the way he/she poses and expresses.
Get the best possible exposure in camera
Never be in the misconception that the exposure of the pictures can be adjusted during the post-processing. Yes, we know that it can be adjusted but you will lose the details of your image. If you have clicked few over/underexposed photos, adjusting the exposure of these images during post-processing will not give details as good as a correct exposure would. If you adjust the exposure of underexposed pictures, then you are introducing noise in your pictures and if you are adjusting the exposure of overexposed pictures, you will not be able to retain as many details in the highlights as you would have in a correctly exposed photo. To overcome all these issues and to make sure that you are clicking correctly exposed pictures, make use of the histogram in your camera.
Shoot in RAW format
Shooting in RAW format is the best-ever decision. It might take a lot of storage space but it is totally worth it. As shooting the fashion pictures in RAW files will allow capturing details of the subject better than the JPEG file. Another benefit is that you can edit the same RAW file as much as you want, whereas every time you edit a JPEG file it loses its quality. It is also easier to work on overexposed and underexposed RAW files during the post-processing.
These are the few tips that will help you for your next outdoor fashion shoot. To know more about this, visit this blog. And do let us know how this blog helped you achieve the best shots in the comment section below.
