Professional fashion advertising photographers take photographs in order to persuade viewers to buy a garment or accessory featured in the photographs. For collaborating with models, stylists, and designers on how photos should look, these individuals must have strong interpersonal communication skills. To stay competitive in this ever-changing field, a fashion advertising photographer must determine the most effective way to display an item in a photo and stay current on industry trends.
A fashion advertising photographer’s primary responsibility is to capture camera shots of models from angles that highlight the clothing item that his or her company is attempting to sell. This type of professional typically uses a digital camera and must understand how to use features such as the flash, which adds additional light to a dark scene. By reducing the amount of light in the shot, camera filters are also useful for capturing images that are not fuzzy.
After taking photographs, a fashion photographer must transfer the images to a computer and edit them before submitting them for publication online, on a billboard, or in print. The computer process entails manipulating photos to bring out specific colors or aspects of the images, such as highlighting a company’s new dress making it a vibrant color while keeping the rest of the image black-and-white. As a result, a fashion advertising photographer should have extensive experience with photo editing software. He or she must also be able to work under pressure in order to meet deadlines.
Photographers who assist fashion designers in marketing their products sometimes use traditional film cameras instead of digital devices to capture images of models. A fashion advertising photographer in this situation must be well-versed in the proper method of developing silver-halide film in a dark room with print processing equipment. This person should speak with the fashion design firm for which he or she is working to determine the preferred method for creating photos.
Another important aspect of a fashion photographer’s job is to keep their technical skills in the field up to date. He or she must attend fashion industry conferences for training opportunities to learn about new camera technologies and photographic principles. A fashion advertising photographer should also look at competing designers’ ads in magazines and on websites on a regular basis to figure out how to approach his or her own photos better.