How do you become a Fashion/Model Photographer??

[dan123]

Stick it in Photography, itl show on the searches, Just Say your looking for aspiring models to help with your portolfio in return with Shots for thiers,

Ive learnt a lot of this from my Uncle, A Very Good portrait Photographer in Berlin, His best Model he approached on the street, Shed never done it before and went on to get some Incredible shots. hes got an insane amount of confidence and Thats how he found his models to begin with,,, now his rep has him sorted for offers,

[SunderlandPhotography]

What sort of portrait photography is there?

All I can think of is 'Portrait' and 'Glamour'.

[jet_kit]

Originally Posted by johndeep

Really amazing post here. Keep it up.!

Johndeep,

Get these links off your posts now!
This is not the forum for selling your dodgey on-line pharmaceuticals, or anything else for that matter.

[Carolyn Mendelsohn]

How do you become a fashion photographer?

Looking at your flickr stream, I see no people at all, so am interested in the leap to fashion, one of the most competitive areas of photography.
If it is a real interest, I would suggest you start photographing people young and old, master the art of portraiture. develop your own style and read and look at fashion magazines. Dazed and Confused through to Vogue. There are some groups on flickr who will critique fashion shots, it might be worth looking at them.

Good luck.
http://www.carolynmendelsohn.4ormat.com

[GeoffWessex]

Most fashion photographers start out in Art School - either in fashion particularly and then moving over to design and photography, or in general art, taking in photography in fashion.

Be prepared to send a quality portfolio of your work to many magazine picture editors - but don't forget they may be getting 50 submissions a month, many from art students and mostly with top quality images taken on top quality equipment - a full frame camera is a must, a medium format (or bigger) camera is preferred - we're talking about a big investment.

Be prepared to have another job at the same time!

Google "fashion photographer"..... see the competition, discover where they trained, how they got their breaks.

[JulianK]

I'm a fashion/model photographer.

To be strategic here's what you do:

First join modelmayhem, do not shoot anything but truly professional looking models on the site - there an old saying in model photography, it's only half true but there's value to it: You can't take a bad shot of a great model.

Even if you have to pay a little to get the really good looking models do so, I assure you it will speed up your process. Once you have arranged a great looking model, preferably agency represented, put a casting call out for a make up artist, again choose very wisely, there are a lot of girls with make up bags - they're not all really make up artists. Once again see if you can get an agency represented make up artist.
Right now you've got your stunning model and fantastic make up artist arranged you're set.
On the your first day shoot 100's of beauty shots - ask the make up artist for 3 completely different looks so you get variation.
Select your RAW shots carefully and retouch with precision - do not blur skin, use the patch tool and various other methods to clean up the skin - the pores must still be there after post production. Tighten up the make up.
Get 5 finished shots from your first shoot.

Now put only those 5 shots up on modelmayhem and repeat the process - this time you won't have to pay anyone because you've proven you can produce great shots, they'll test with you. Once again do not be tempted to shoot with lesser models or creatives, the trick to success in this industry is knowing standards!

Repeat the process. Now you have 10 beauty shots, they should be great. Fill them out with light, don't start playing with the shadows yet - there's a good reason and I'm leading up to it.

Don't shoot two thirds or full length shots yet - they're much harder and you can do them later...after you've hit the Holy Grail...

When you have 12-15 beauty shots, some with natural-look make up, some with dramatic make up you're ready to move into the real world. The real world is AGENCIES.
Fashion and model photography is all about agencies, model agencies, PR agencies, Make up agencies.

Email Oxygen / MOT / Samantha Bond / Nevs
These are recognized top model agencies, not the very top but they're right up there.
Attach your 8 very best beauty shots and ask if ''you can test one or two of their new faces''.
If you have done a good job on the above steps, remembering standards are imperative, then the model agencies will send you their models for free to test. You will then send 5 or 6 finished shots to the agencies for their website and for the models books - they always need to test and always need to update their books. They all favour beauty because it sells the models faces.

Now you've hit the Holy Grail - you are in touch with, and testing agency models.
While you are testing the agency models make sure to get a handful of beauty shots for them. But the rest of the day you can now start experimenting with 2/3 and full length shots for your book. It's also advisable at this point to bring in a wardrobe stylist, again they will work for free in return for a few pictures.

Now you are shooting professionally, you may not be making any money just yet but you are shooting at a professional level, the people you will be working with will have been in mag adverts all over the place.

Keep testing agency models with agency make up artists, here's a great make up agency I use artisticlicenceagency - just put a www in front!

Try different stylists and email PR agencies, they're the ones with the brand name accessories etc, they'll send you samples of handbags, shoes, glasses, clothes from top designers for your shoot - for free. You need to return them of course.

After having done this for around a year change your modelmayhem profile - the text I mean. State that you do not do tfp (that's not what pros do, pros test). State that you have rates but they're reasonable. Don't have a super friendly ''I just love to try new things profile'' get serious in your copy. And spend less time on modelmayhem. You can have a profile there but you should by now be dealing directly with agencies for all your requirements.

Agencies spread the word, if you're good they'll start talking to their clients about you. Now you can write to a few magazines, manufacturers, clothing designers etc. and offer your services.
Once they start contracting you, you're in - just keep the flow going. Typically you'll charge around 3000GBP per shoot to start. And provide clients with approx 12 shots for that price.

Then start writing to the photo mags and ask if they can find a home for your sets in any of their upcoming editions, research and find award winning hairstylists, they're always in hair mags and that means your shots will be too. Same with the top fashion brands, they'll get your shots into fashion mags, all of this you'll be paid for.

That's you set up as a professional fashion photographer. Now you can start looking for agency representation yourself.

Most importantly, don't linger around on modelmayhem shooting with just anyone, your aim is to get in with the agencies as fast as possible. They don't bite, they will send you models to test, just show them good clean work.

I run courses on this stuff, sincerely this is the way to go.

Here are a few of my shots, this is the standard of work that is expected by the agencies. Most use 2 strobes and a reflector - the importance is in your choice of models and creatives, and of course your retouching.

[beatnik69]

Have you thought about where you'll take your photos once you have your models? Do you need to rent a studio, in which case do you know about studio lighting? or will you work outdoors in natural light?

[xavier]

Originally Posted by GeoffWessex

Most fashion photographers start out in Art School - either in fashion particularly and then moving over to design and photography, or in general art, taking in photography in fashion.

Be prepared to send a quality portfolio of your work to many magazine picture editors - but don't forget they may be getting 50 submissions a month, many from art students and mostly with top quality images taken on top quality equipment - a full frame camera is a must, a medium format (or bigger) camera is preferred - we're talking about a big investment.

Be prepared to have another job at the same time!

Google "fashion photographer"..... see the competition, discover where they trained, how they got their breaks.

Am I being silly here or dose ones camera and kit realy matter, yes I understand one needs an SLR. I just wonder how much a medium format costs as well as litting back dorps lenses and all the other kit one needs for such a venture? ( not cheap I wager)

[GeoffWessex]

Fair enough....... in the '60s, many fashion photographers moved away from medium or full format film and got more mobile with a 35mm camera - David Bailey etc made names for themselves with this technique..... but you're going to have to compete with a lot of rivals. If you want your pictures in glossy magazines, they generally will only want full-frame, ultra-sharp images - those that stand out from the crowd. Don't forget that 'full-frame' means approximately 35mm in sensor size - it's not 'Medium Format'. A 'normal' APS-C DSLR can still work for 'street fashion', some outdoor work or with active (moving around) models, but magazines and advertising companies demand the best quality. Some might even say Medium Format (the Hasselblads etc), and you can't argue with that extra quality, but I think that's only essential for some really static images. I've no idea what the cost would be to hire one for a day..... but you can imagine it's a lot, and the job has to be worth the investment for that alone - so only the most successful and busy photographers (of fashion or products) can afford them.

How much does Medium Format cost? You could pick up a Medium Format film camera, like a Bronica or Hasselblad, for around 500 pounds. But the people that used them in the past had to be very well equipped and knowledgeable - it's film, so you'd be prone to under- and over-exposure if you're not an expert - so you'd need an extensive knowledge of lighting and metering.

For digital, Full Frame (or 'DX') is what you may need - I don't think anything bigger is necessary unless you've been commissioned to take the next set of pictures for a fashion catalogue - then you might get your investment money back.

If you're talking digital 'Medium Format', the prices start at 10,000 pounds for the Pentax 645 with a lens. I think you'd have to be already fairly well established in the business to invest that kind of money (and if you're thinking of a Hasselblad, you'll need almost 30,000 pounds (body only) - but, as I say, the full-frame (35mm equivalent) is more than enough.)

[OldBoy]

As the new Nikon D800 has a 36mp sensor, it might be your best route into fashion photography.