Chris Gatcum - Light and Shoot 50 Fashion Photos

Of all the genres of photography, fashion is arguably the most challenging, and certainly one of the most competitive. Yet despite this, if you go to any formal, general photography course, fashion will be, more often than not, the subject that most students want to specialize in. Whether this is based on dreams of fame and fortune from what can be an exceptionally lucrative career, or the associated glamour of photographing beautiful men and women dressed by celebrated designers, it seems that the majority of young photographers want to shoot fashion.

And who can blame them? Like fashion itself, the photography that surrounds it is fast-paced and excitingconstantly evolving and redefining itself, and inherently more open to experimentation and personal expression than many other genres. Its easy to think that fashion photography is simply about photographing someone in clothes, similar to portraiture, but it is much more than that, and requires a truly multi-disciplinary approach to do it well. Outdoors on location, for example, you may well need the craft of a landscape photographer if you want to make the most of the location and the light, or the techniques and responses of a photojournalist if youre aiming to imbue your shots with a naturalistic, documentary style. At the same time, indoor location shoots can involve elements of interior photography and even architecture, while studio-based fashion can demand still-life and advertising photography skills, regardless of whether its a relatively straight shot against a plain backdrop, or a scratch-built set in which you place your subject.

On top of all this, you need to borrow heavily from the portrait photographers toolbox to fully appreciate how to light people, and to be truly successful, you need to be equally confident in all of these areas if you want your work to be as versatileand as commercialas possible. With so many skills required, its perhaps unsurprising that for every aspiring photographer who transforms their passion into a career, many more who set out on a fashion-based path do not make it. This isnt to say you should give up before you begin (if why bother is your immediate reaction, then fashion photography isnt for you), but dreams and desires need to be tempered with reality: fashion photography takes commitment, determination, and no small amount of talent. It certainly isnt an easy option.

What follows in this book is an inspirational and practical guide to shooting fashion in a wide range of styles and settings, with the emphasis on the use of lighting, rather than digital processing, to create a specific look or feel. Some of the images you will love, while others you may not be quite so keen on, but what they all have is a sparka certain something that should serve to inspire you and your work, be it the pose, the approach to post-processing, or the lighting. With that in mind, you certainly shouldnt approach this book as a set of blueprints to creating definitive fashion shots, but instead treat it as a guide to techniques that can be borrowed, adapted, and repurposed for your own work. Make the shots your own and, from there, who knows where your fashion photography will take you.