Planning a photo shoot for your clothing store? Wait, put down that camera! If you want to get professional-looking results each and every time, there are a few things you’ll need to do.
Keep reading to know what they are.
1. Carefully prepare each garment
This should be a no-brainer but you’ll be surprised to know that many small businesses fail to adequately prepare their garments before a photo shoot. These added steps will save you loads of time (and money) during photography and post-processing.
Remove all stickers, labels, and tags that can take away focus from your garment. While these can, of course, be removed in post-processing, it will be so much easier to just snip them off before the shoot!
Make sure the garments are all wrinkle-free and are clean and free of any stains. Have pins, needles, hangers, and even mannequins on hand to help you shape and drape the garment to present it as beautifully as possible.
2. Use a mannequin or model
Clothes don’t always look their best when laid flat or even on a hanger. For a potential customer to truly understand the way the garment flows, it’s usually best to have it on a mannequin or model. Professional models are more expensive and will give you limited takes (since you’ll typically be paying by the hour). Using a mannequin allows you to practice the poses and will ensure your shots are as stable as can be. After taking the photos, you can remove the mannequin or model with ecommerce photo editing services to achieve a technique called “ghost mannequin.” The result is a realistic 3D shape of your garment without the mannequin or model in place.
3. Use good lighting
Lighting can make or break an image. While professional photographers have an arsenal of lighting equipment including flash, softboxes, and diffusers at their disposal, small business owners may not be as lucky or well-equipped. Not to worry. Natural lighting will do the trick. Create your set up next to a window that gets a lot of sunlight. You can use things such long, white paper to diffuse the light and avoid harsh shadows. As your business scales up, you can then begin investing in more lighting equipment. Avoid using the camera’s built-in flash as this is often too harsh and can over-expose your images.
4. Take plenty of images
Customers appreciate it when websites offer them multiple images of a certain product. Because they don’t have physical aspect to the garment they intend to purchase, they’ll want to see every detail of it before they decide to purchase it – so give it to them! Take pictures of it from the front, back, and up close. If it has any unique details such as hand-stitching or patterns, make sure to take photos of these as well. The more photos, the better!
5. Don’t forget to post-process
Post-processing is a vital but often overlooked step in clothing photography. You’ll need to make sure that all the colors are true to life, the white balance has been calibrated, and there are no imperfections on any of the garments. Apart from this, you’ll need to make sure your photos are consistent when it comes to alignment, margin, and size. Nothing says sloppy and unprofessional like inconsistent photos! If you’re having trouble post-processing the images yourself, it may be a good idea to invest in ecommerce photo editing services. These professionals have had years of experience knowing how to make products shine and come to life.
There you have it. Our top tips to ensuring you ace your clothing photography!
