Dan Peterson Photography

My Fashion Photography

Shooting photographs for fashion projects is always a challenge. I’ve been doing photography for over 20 years now and yet there is no standard formula for doing such shoots.

For one, shooting pieces of clothing depends on who is wearing it. Models do a lot of work for the pieces of clothing they wear during photo shoots. They spend hours trying out different poses so that the team overseeing the photo shoot executes what the client originally envisioned, for instance if the output photographs will be used for a particular advertising medium.

Another critical factor in the success of fashion shoots is the location. Like models, location should enhance the overall appearance of the clothes and make it more appealing for consumers. Creative directors and photographers like to play around with the location of the shoot and use it to highlight the various aspects of the clothing line.

In my view, storyboards and themes contribute to the success of any fashion shoot. The photographer should work around the vision of the creative team, making sure to exert all effort to pull off their ideas. During the planning, a great creative team includes the photographer in the brainstorming process so he could easily tell members of the team if their ideas could be pulled off in real life. Some teams tend to think of ideas that are hard to execute, so the team ends up getting frustrated. When the photographer works with the team, the shots and storyboards get planned well, leading to better executions of the concept.

As you can see in my portfolio of fashion photographs I’ve shot, each photo I have stands out on its own. Indeed, there is no particular way of doing fashion photographs and that fact, to my mind, is what keeps this aspect of photography exciting and challenging. Each shoot is a unique shoot altogether and the results are likewise unique.