Understand image resolution and dimensions like a pro
If you’ve been with us from the beginning of this series of articles you might remember tip no. 3 advising you to think about the formats of your future images first. It can be essential for the photographer to know about your printing and web publishing plans – not only for granting adequate usage rights as described in tip no. 34 but also to get the dimensions and resolutions right, as well as the colour spaces. If you’ve never heard about RBG and CMYK before, forgot what the letters refer to exactly, or never understood the difference between 8-bit and 16-bit pictures, keep on reading – you will also be shown the differences in sample images. For those with more advanced knowledge, the following paragraphs might hold new and surprising facts about image resolution that disprove the ’300 dpi for print’ and ’72 dpi for web’ rules. Read it
Manage the Data Logistics with No Trouble
Other than in analogue times when contact sheets and larger prints were produced in the laboratory and mailed to the client, nowadays, there are many different ways of sending digital images. This also results in other selective approaches as opposed to grabbing a red felt tip and scribbling on the prints. Two main methods are to be mentioned here: 1. the option to list the file names in your communication channels with the photographer (or retoucher) and 2. the creation of folders containing the selected previews. In both cases, leaving the file names unchanged is essential because it will help the photographer to find the associated raw files. Read it
Keep Track of the Digital Data
When it comes to the creation, transfer, and storage of data, one sort of photo file is not like another. Images can come in many different shapes and qualities which you’ve probably once learned painfully when using a too-small image for a platform that required higher resolution. But don’t you worry because “mishaps” happen to the best of us and they make us learn from them. However, there are more harmful ways of mistreating images that you might want to know how to avoid. Hence, with the last four articles of the “Post-Production 101”, including the present one, we’re devoting our attention and final sprint through “Tips for Better Shoots” to data handling. From the explanation of raws and previews via the final files to the resolutions and colour spaces of web and print – part C is all about data, preventing you (or your staff and interns) to publish a wrong version of a picture and get in trouble for it. Read it
Pay Attention to the Model’s Rights
Images always belong to the copyright holder and like described in Tip No. 33 the ownership cannot be transferred to anyone else. When it comes to images of people, though, these persons have rights to their own pictures too. In commercial photography, this means that a license and buyout fee isn’t only due for the creator but also the model who is generally represented and managed by an agency. You won’t, therefore, only pay for their performance on set but additionally for them supplying your campaign with their visual identity. Read it
Dismantle the Sharing Dilemma
Social Media platforms are secret weapons for advertising your products effectively. The apps are opened by billions of people every day and you can place your ads with them in a way that will touch the perfect audience if you manage to target it correctly. Furthermore, ads on social media can be designed in a variety of ways from classic banners to branded content, dropped in feeds, stories, or popping up on the edges of the users’ browsers. And don’t forget the fact that their performance is constantly tracked and it can, therefore, be analysed more precisely than e.g. a printed campaign. This is giving you the chance to optimise your strategies from time to time and reach more people. All the latter being said, you can probably imagine that obtaining a photo license for social media use is crucial for it represents an important sector in the marketing of your products. Read it
Buy it out, Baby!
A regular license for commercial photography is usually two years tops. With the launches of more and more off-season capsule- and pre-collections plus the concluding requirement for more marketing material it has even become a standard to buy out images for a couple of months or weeks only. This brings along a constant change on the platforms of the respective brands. Yet, more traditional brands and those who are smaller equally undergo a cycle of permanently replacing their photos along with their product range, although following a slower rhythm. Therefore, a usage right of two years or fewer should be, mostly, sufficient. Read it
Dispelling the Myths Around Copyright
Around all parties that work with creatives, there are many misconceptions about the true nature of copyright. In this article, we can, hopefully, get rid of them and create a new awareness for how photos and other pieces of creative work need to be handled with respect to the rights of the copyright holders. Read it
Don’t rush the deadline
As Tim Urban explains in his TEDx Talk “Inside the mind of a master procrastinator” a healthy and more successful way of going about a project is to give all phases enough time to be worked out. And although for you, the work reached the climax on the very day of the shoot, if you’re a good planner – or want to become one – you need the providence to set a deadline that leaves a margin time for the post-processing of your images. Read it
How the styling appeals
Which age is your target group? How bold is their style? Where and when do they wear your fashion? The answers to these questions may help you decide the extra fashion you need to add to your collection in a shoot, in case you don’t produce the overall look from head to toe. If you e.g. make shoes, you’ll definitely need pants, shirts, or dresses to combine on your model and vice versa. You may find the solution being cooperation with another label that with your help designs the perfect counterparts to your own collection. Yet, this might double your work prior to the shoot and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea – eventually, you’ve decided to produce e.g. just shirts for a reason. But that shouldn’t be a problem for your shoot after all. You’ll just need to have a proper styling that underlines your story without stealing your fashion’s show and we are going to analyse how to approach this in four steps. Regardless of whether one of your brand’s team is looking after the styling or an external stylist does, you should be able to decide, communicate, and possibly sample what you want through mood pictures. Defining the styling is one of the most important parts of the shooting concept. Read it
How hues appeal
Red stands for intense emotions, yellow for happiness, blue implies trust and calmness, green is the colour of nature and health, orange associates with warmth and positivity, while purple is the colour of luxury and mystery – and then there are the non-colours white, which stands for pureness, and black, which symbolises quality, power and death. The psychological impact of colours on human minds is powerful and evidently influencing our feelings towards things, which again influences our buying behaviour. It’s almost that simple, but of course, there is more to it, like e.g. the season and current colour trends. When you plan your next campaign and you want to have a photoshoot for it, it’s worth taking a closer look at what colours are going to be in the pictures, aside from the hues of your collection. It might allow you to have a distinct impact on your future sales numbers. Getting curious about colours now? Here are five factors whereby choosing the right background, styling, and make-up colours gets easier for you. Read it
How the model’s attitude appeals
On we go with part 4 of how your campaign images appeal to the viewer. This time we are having a closer look at the model’s attitude. If you want to find the perfect imagery for your target group – imagery that makes them desire your fashion – then you should be able to tell your model what she or he’s supposed to represent. The way the model moves and looks usually implies the sensation that she or he seems to have, thanks to the presented fashion, of course. So depending on whether you are selling hiking boots or tiaras, the model has different possibilities to set off the product in the best way. If you can give her or him the right instructions or at least point out what you like or don’t like regarding the poses, that’s even better. One of the most powerful tools in photos are the eyes of the model because humans are always FIRST catching sight of them in order to recognize faces – that’s due to our evolution as social beings. Read it
How perspectives appeal
Creating campaigns or other images to promote your fashion label means that you are speculating on which visual language your costumers understand and act on. In order to stay true to your brand’s philosophy and to be seen as authentic, it’s likely to incarnate all characteristics that you want to communicate with the help of the perfect model. But not only is her or his attitude crucial, but the way how the model is photographed can cause different effects too. When you watch a movie, the points of view create different feelings towards the shown person, object, or scene. Human imagination is a very strong tool to encode messages in pictures, which not only applies to moving-images. You just have to press the right buttons. Therefore this article explains the effects of different perspectives in order to give you an idea of your options and the involved power you have with them. To revisit the movie topic, when you’re aiming for a story-telling kind of photo series, perspectives and cuts should vary. But when it comes to a lookbook or online shop images, it’s more common to shoot all images very even. Of course, you can turn the tables and do it intentionally different, because this way your photos (or your website) might be more eye-catching. It’s up to you to decide if your brand should be quite offbeat or rather classic and the following paragraphs might help you find out which perspectives you like best for that purpose. Read it
How outdoor locations appeal
Does your fashion label need new photography in order to show the brand-new collection of yours? I’m happy to give you some tips on how to plan and realize it. You might have read my last article with lots of indoor location inspiration and how places appeal to the viewers’ eyes. Now it’s time for part no. 2 treating the possibilities of shooting outdoors. As I mentioned in my tip no. 4, there’s a list of questions you might want to ask yourself before deciding to situate your images under the open sky. If you have the right solutions to all those upcoming “problems” and you’re still eager to plan your production open-air you are welcome to soak all my following ideas in and eventually choose one of them for your very campaign. Me personally, I’m a great fan of any outdoor shooting theme, because a real existing place can look very authentic plus, when lucky with the weather, daylight can be very favorable for any kind of photography. One thing you should probably know is the fact that the midday sun is usually too strong for taking good-looking pictures. So in the best case, there are many shady spots to use for the time between 12 am and 3 pm. If there aren’t be prepared for your photographer suggesting some uncivilized hours to start the production, so he or she can benefit from the morning light. After a long lunch break, the afternoon sun will do the rest. To be able to make use of the noontime as well, there’s another possibility: you will need a diffuser to smoothen the light and either is it given through a cloudy sky, which is the best weather for shootings by the way, or the team uses a big canvas instead (but beware of the wind!) However, before I’m talking too technically, let’s go on to the location samples. Enjoy! Read it
How indoor locations appeal
You’re the commissioner and you want to get the best photo shooting results from your photographer? I’d say that it’s advantageous to know exactly what you want because there are so many possibilities. In order to define the appearance of your future pictures better, you should learn a little about the visual effects of different locations, perspectives, colors, dynamic or static poses, hair and make-up of the model, additional styling and props, so you can decide easier. Therefore, the following articles are going to treat these factors one by one and help you estimate more precisely what’s best for your next campaign or lookbook. Read it
Set the scene within the limits of your financial resources
You are planning to work with a photographer and commission your campaign photos, lookbook, or other photographic works? I’ve already been giving you some tips on how to find the right imagery regarding your target group (tip no. 1) and the planned media for publishing the photos (tip no. 2). I also gave you some technical details about different possibilities with different formats in my last tip. But to all these factors another one is prior: your budget. Read it
Think about the formats first
How to get the best shooting results from the photographer of your choice? Among other things, I’d say that it’s very important to bother about which picture sizes, alignments, and how much space you need around the model. In contrast to the contentwise way of looking at these decisions, as covered in my #Tip No. 2, in this article we’re going to analyse some more technical aspects. Read it
Decide before the shooting where you are going to use the photos
You are wondering how to tickle the best results out of your favorite photographer? You can indeed do a lot about it. My first tip was to find the right imagery for your target group – you can read the article here. So assuming that you already have a rough notion of what’s going to be in your pictures, besides your product, the next step should be to think of the last one: determine the ways of publishing your campaign. Where would you like to reach out with your advertisement? For the photographer, this is, on the one hand, good to know, so he or she can estimate the sizes and aspect ratios of the images you need. But we are going to give this the once-over in my next tip-article. On the other hand, knowing the medium can help you contrive your pictorial design better. You will find out why in the following. Read it
Try to find the right imagery for your target group
As I already said in the introduction of this column: it’s fundamental to know who your target group is in order to define the imagery of your brand. You’re the one who knows the product best, so you may decide which generation and which lifestyle your clothes are made for. Social media channels can help you find out more about current trends affecting your customers. You can see who they follow, e.g. influencers and bloggers, and what they’re interested in. The reason why this is so important to know is the model you are going to choose for your brand. She or he is supposed to represent your target group perfectly and therefore collecting as much information about your potential fans as possible makes it easier to picture your future model and find that particular face. Read it