Fashion photography is quite an exciting occupation. Becoming a fashion photographer is not that easy as there is a lot of competition. Even if you have immense skill and talent, with just one wrong step your career can be jeopardised. To become a reputed photographer in the fashion industry, you will need to start strong. Your first fashion shoot will hold the most importance and your performance here will reflect on your future opportunities.
Other than technical merit, you will also need to be adept at networking and managing a team in this fast paced, global industry. Then first thing you will need to do is get a photo studio on rent to have a proper place for your photo shoots which you can manage easily. You will find several opportunities to work with creative and talented professionals including famous designers and models. The shoots are going to be fun and stimulating along with beautiful clothes.
You can follow the given tips for your first fashion shoot to increase the chances of it being a success.
- You should organise a test shoot. In fact you should organise lots of test shoots. These test shoots will help improve your technique, build a styling team with whom you can work well, test creative ideas and equipments and also develop your portfolio.
- Build a mood board. This is a very powerful tool which will help you organise and also direct your shoots. It contains several inspirational images which have been collected from various other sources. This will help the model as well as the styling team understand the kind of backgrounds, poses, looks or locations you have in mind for that particular shoot.
- Having your own styling team will come in handy for many situations. Try connecting with other talented professionals who are also trying to get into the industry and contribute their skills. You can meet many trained and talented artists from hair styling and makeup schools. If nothing else you should at least have your own makeup artist. Later you can build your team one by one. Contact photoshoot studio rental agencies to get a studio big enough to comfortably carry out the work.
- You should cast a model. New models or development models are looking for opportunities like test shoots to gain experience and build their book. Most agencies and mostly the reputable ones will want to see samples of your work and would also want to talk to you in person before they book you a model. So you should shoot your most photogenic friends or cast models to build an impressive portfolio to show the agencies.
- Your need to prepare each of your looks properly. You can assemble all the clothes and accessories you will need as inspired by your mood board. The main motive is to make the whole picture desirable enough with a certain focus point, to sell them. Eventually you will end up working with a talented stylist who will be responsible for the total look, but as the photographer you will have the final say on it.