Fashion Photography

The success behind the portfolio of many a model lies in the hands of a fashion photographer. This genre of photography is dedicated to showcasing fashion apparel and accessories in a way that enhances them. These fashion photography shoots are more often than not undertaken for advertisements and/or fashion magazines.

The first-ever fashion shoot can be traced back to 1856 when Pierre-Louis Pierson photographed Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione, a Tuscan noblewoman. Pierson clicked as many as 400 photographs of the Countess in her official court garb. Over a period of time, this style of photography has developed its own aesthetic with the beauty of clothes, accessories, and models, enhanced by the use of exotic locations, storylines, and/or stylized photographic techniques.

The Styles of Fashion Photography

Fashion photography, while difficult to categorize very minutely, can be divided into three main styles; catalog, editorial, and high fashion. There is a fourth style that is slowly gaining prominence: street fashion photography. While catalog and street fashion photography are easily distinguishable, it is a little more difficult to differentiate between editorial and high fashion photography because of the similarity in their style.

Editorial Fashion Photography

Most fashion magazines feature this style of photography, with the styling taking an obvious forefront. There is almost a story running through the shoot with the models often photographed through the course of the day, starting with a morning wardrobe, changing into a mid-day wardrobe, and ending with evening attire. Often, these shoots depict a theme. The models need to enact the role they are given and emote to convey their story. The entire image is shot so as to create a powerful statement.

High Fashion Photography

Big fashion brands often advertise their products using this style of photography. These photographs generally feature supermodels or famous actors and actresses. Poses can be exaggerated and over-the-top. All the elements of the photograph, the model, the wardrobe, the styling, the hair/makeup, the lighting, and the location, work together to create a flawless image. With most of these images there is a sense that if even one of its elements were left out, there would be complete chaos.

Catalog Fashion Photography

This style of photography is used by companies that print catalogs to market their products to consumers. It is basically an information image where the model is made to pose against a simple background and you can see the clothes very clearly. The styling is hassle-free, the background is normally white or gray. Mostly shot in studios, a catalog can also be shot on location. While catalog photographs were often labeled staid, today they are quite creatively shot and look very sophisticated.

If you are looking to making a career in the field of fashion photography, it is important to understand its evolution. It is imperative that you know and learn from the biggest names in the industry. You need to understand fashion and only then will you be able to truly capture its beauty. Irving Penn, when asked about the work that he did at Vogue, described it as, "Selling dreams, not clothes." And that one line defines the art form more precisely than anyone else could possibly ever.

Future Fashion - what is it? What will bring us design idea what will be the silhouette, which we wear shoes? Is not it interesting how it will look the world through many years, men and women will be dressed? Of course, these are not only interested avid fashionistas, but also ordinary people, and even scientists, sociologists who are actively exploring the development of the world, styles, tastes of people's preferences.

Today fashion takes on a slightly different emphasis. Earlier on everyone's lips was space travel and mysterious orbital home, today we delve into cyberspace, the Internet and virtual reality. We dream of a little less distant cosmic worlds, inventing virtual worlds themselves and living in them and forget about reality.

Modern designers literally swallow all the latest achievements of science, masterfully turning new technology into interesting patterns.

https://www.facebook.com/PhotoVladyslavGa/

Runway Shooting

• From photo journalism viewpoint, one may capture the environment and the engagement of the attendees watching the show. My clients, such as bloggers, publications, agencies and boutiques want to see the model and clothing and how it all moves down the runway. With that said, I tend to ignore the crowd and focus solely on the show.

  

  
  

  Stake Your Ground

  
  

  Position yourself approximately ten to twenty feet from the stage or floor where the runway is directly vertical to line of sight. With any red carpet or large runway show there will always be competition and other photographers discreetly shifting for the best point of view, just find a good spot and hold your ground.

  
  

  Use A Long Lens

  
  

  A key element to shooting runway is to having the proper equipment. Shooting with a long telephoto lens, such as a 70-200mm f/2.8 is perfect for fast focus and background compression. Also, it’s nice to have a long range of focal length to work with as the model walks towards you.

  

  
  

  Lose The Flash

  
  

  Not only can the flash from a speedlight or strobe be very distracting to those who paid a pretty penny to attend, it can also produce a very unflattering light from a distance. Unfortunately, speedlights do not have the recycle time to rattle off shutter bursts and you'll see a lot of misfires. Don’t’ fret, most all runway shows have a production team that spent hours keying in proper constant lighting. Once the show starts, there should be plenty of ambient stage lighting to work with. If not and you are absolutely forced to use a speedlight, then push your ISO and balance with flash.

  
  

  White Balance

  
  

  Investigate and speak with the production team beforehand on the lighting and the flow of the runway. Whether they are using tungsten or daylight balanced lighting, switch your settings accordingly. There is nothing worse than wasting two hours color correcting, when that time could have been saved by the click of a wheel.

  

  
  

  Lose The Flash

  
  

  Not only can the flash from a speedlight or strobe be very distracting to those who paid a pretty penny to attend, it can also produce a very unflattering light from a distance. Unfortunately, speedlights do not have the recycle time to rattle off shutter bursts and you'll see a lot of misfires. Don’t’ fret, most all runway shows have a production team that spent hours keying in proper constant lighting. Once the show starts, there should be plenty of ambient stage lighting to work with. If not and you are absolutely forced to use a speedlight, then push your ISO and balance with flash.

  
  

  White Balance

  
  

  Investigate and speak with the production team beforehand on the lighting and the flow of the runway. Whether they are using tungsten or daylight balanced lighting, switch your settings accordingly. There is nothing worse than wasting two hours color correcting, when that time could have been saved by the click of a wheel.
  

  
• Use ISO For A High Shutter

  
  

  With today’s modern DSLR bodies, you have the ability to dramatically raise the ambient light by cranking ISO. While stage lighting can be bright, sometimes it’s just not enough to allow for a fast shutter, which you will need. You always want to keep your shutter above 1/200th of a second. A shutter slower will result in motion blur and you definitely don’t want that for runway. The goal is to have tack sharp images; grain is more acceptable than motion blur.

  
  

  Get Low

  
  

  No one likes an annoying photographer blocking their view; get low to the ground and keep a low profile. It will increase the height of the model and give a “hero” look to your images.

  

  
  

  Shoot Vertically And Set Focus

  
  

  Clients want to see the clothing, that includes the shoes as well. Unless you’re shooting with a wide angle lens, it’s nearly impossible to capture a full body in landscape or horizontal orientation. Flip your camera vertically and you’ll find it’s much easier to capture a full body walk in this format. Also, move your focus point to the very top side of the array, so when the model comes marching down the runway you can quickly focus, fire, zoom out, focus, and fire again without having to re-compose.

  
  

  Follow The Beat And Shoot Strategically

  
  

  The goal is to capture the model as they're in mid-movement, with his or her legs crossed or one foot off the floor. Every model has their own walking "style," but most naturally walk to the pace of the music. Fire your shots in small bursts as the model lifts their foot off the floor, all while following the downbeat of the music. I tend to focus first, fire a small two-shot burst, then zoom out and repeat. This will guarantee a sharp image.

  

  
  

  Watch The Lighting

  
  

  Although the production team surely put hours into the lighting and setup, there is nearly always a hot spot or section of the runway where the light falls perfectly or differently on the models face. Pay attention to where the lighting is in correlation to the model and find that sweet spot. Adjust your aperture to expose for that section of light as that should be your target area where you start and finish your shutter bursts.

  
  

  Don’t Wait For The Pause

  
  

  Time and time again I see photographers wait until the model reaches the very end of the catwalk to fire off a million continuous shots. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with it, but it also doesn't show off the clothing in natural movement, but rather a static pose. In my opinion, capturing the pose should be a backup option if you didn't nail a good shot down the runway.

  

  
  

  These techniques can also be applied on location when shooting walking fashion images. Except in that case, follow the model backward instead of staying stationary.

  
  

  I love shooting runway and motion portraits, there is a thrill and adrenaline rush like none other. If the light is just right, the motion of the model is perfect and the image is tack sharp, forget the personal criticisms and just give yourself a pat on the back.
• 
  

Wisdom in beauty

I think woman keep the tradition. They are more fragile, that's why they follow national habits. Chinese woman maintain the culture since childhood. It wasn't a surprise, when I first see a woman in folk Chinese costume! I was lucky to have camera. Everything has its own meaning in this part of the world. Each peace of accessorize in her hair hides secrets I've never heard about. It is believed it increases wealth, and happiness.

Fashioned in materials that included jade, gold, silver, ivory, bronze and carved wood, the style, materials and craftsmanship of these hair ornaments reflected both social status and Chinese ethnic culture.

The patterns, craftsmanship, materials and number of hair ornaments a woman wore signified her social rank. Feudal etiquette defined the style of hair ornaments women wore on formal occasions, such as weddings or court ceremonies. 

The elaborate buyao hairpin was an exquisite hair ornament denoting noble status. Often encrusted with jewels and featuring carved designs, the main feature of a buyao was its pendants that flatteringly framed the wearer's face and "danced" as she moved, hence the name buyao, which literally means "shake as you go". This ornament was generally made of of gold in the shape of a dragon or phoenix and adorned with pearls and jade.

Hair ornaments worn by women of wealth also took the form of gold flowers encrusted with jewels depicting flowers or animals.

Among popular decorative patterns were auspicious birds and beasts, such as the dragon, phoenix, crane, deer and the 12 animals of the Chinese "zodiac." The deer was considered a propitious animal because its pronunciation in Chinese is the same as that for six, which denotes success. Hairpins in the design of a mandarin duck denoted married bliss. 

Patterns of flowers and fruit-bearing trees featured the peony, lotus flower, plum, guava and asphodel. The five petals on a plum represent blessings, high-salary, longevity, luck and wealth.

Designs depicting auspicious objects included musical instruments, chess pieces, calligraphic characters, and the "four treasures of the scholar's studio" comprising the calligraphy brush, ink stick, ink slab and paper.

But to the women of ancient China the ji was far more than just a hair ornament. The ji ceremony, which bestowed a hairpin upon a young woman when she reached the age of 15, was a rite of passage signifying that she had reached marriageable age.

A hairpin also functioned as a love token. When Chinese lovers of ancient times were forced to part they would often split a hairpin, both keeping a half with them at all times until they were reunited.

Personal observation 

Canton Road in Hong Kong reminds me the time, when I was a tourist. It is big, but for me it is a thin line, I stepped over it, and made a decision to stay in Hong Kong.
I want to bring up a controversial topic. It's the way fashion impacts on us. What are the main fashion tasks? Every business have to bring people happiness and success.
"A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business", Henry Ford. Human beings naturally wants to underline their individuality. They have a right to be exclusive. 
Blind obsession is unexceptable in that case.
I am fashion photographer that makes me watch people. Firstly I look at an expensive outfit, than somehow I see invisible values. It is human personality, that attracts people around.
Funny looked woman. She was walking slowly. I saw how relaxed she was. She was calm and relax. She does not care about anything.

It is funny. The girl was so exited, she even forgot the rain had already stopped. It is not important the way u look, when u full filed and pleased inside

A middle age couple. They show me their sincerely emotions. It was a long waiting vocation, so they had a right to enjoy every moment.

I took pictures of them because they really worth it. I can not read their thoughts, it is for sure. But I know exactly, in that place they got what they wanted. They forgot about world existing for the moment.