One of the most challenging aspects of fashion photography is attending fashion shows and taking photos. It can be difficult, at times oppressive and requires both skill and determination. We’ve put together a few useful hints and tips that will help you plan for your first fashion show and improve on your existing skills.

Getting your settings right

Most modern cameras have fantastic automatic settings that will help you get relatively good shots without making too many changes. However, for those wanting the best fashion photography shots, then you want to be able to manually change certain settings, depending on the situation.

For example, a lot of fashion shows are held in lower lighting environments and so you want to be able to adjust your ISO setting. Furthermore, playing around the with aperture settings will help get the right shutter speed. It is all about trial and error and you may find changing one setting too much, will require compensation by changing the other. Keep working on it and practising until you can naturally choose the right settings for each environment.

Choosing the right equipment

Clearly, getting the right equipment will mean the opportunity to take the right shot, whether that is during normal clothing photography, or at fashion shows. Take the time to choose the right camera and accessories, in particular, think about the lens you will need at a fashion shoot, as you will likely be very close to the action.

A telephoto lens has the benefit of allowing close-ups, even if you can’t get a seat close to the runway, but for many, this may either be out of budget or not suitable to carry with them. There are plenty of lens kits available that budding photographers can use and will still offer great images. Spend some time researching the best focal length and aperture size for you, so that you can invest wisely.

Remember that detail matters

Many photographers starting out, will be drawn to taking photos of the models and full-length shots as they move down the catwalk. Whilst there is no problem with this, it is important to remember to show off the clothing, after all, we are talking about fashion photography here.

Make sure you capture shots of any important details or accessories relating to a brand because it will help sell the product and potentially extra products. Equally, it is a far better way of reflecting the story that the brand or designer is trying to tell. Consider taking some images that show off half of the body, giving each person the chance to focus in on specific items of clothing.

Think about your angles

A quick and simple tip here – think about taking shots from different angles and see how they show off the items of clothing in different lighting and from different viewpoints. Obviously, make sure you don’t get in the way or block the view of others but this is a fantastic tool for focusing on textures, details and shapes of clothing.

This is important to think about when attending fashion shows – you should always be aware of what the customer wants to see and how you can best sell the products on display. The more detail and the more they can feel part of the scene, the greater the chance that they will make a purchase.