High-quality product photography is essential for online clothing sales. For many customers, you need more than just a great product description – your images will determine whether they buy your product or not.
However, essential doesn’t necessarily mean expensive. The difference between professionals and amateurs is simply experience.
If you have an eye for photography and a modest budget, read on. This guide will direct you on how to photograph a piece of clothing, with photography tips to remember while shooting.
Clothing Photography Equipment
The equipment you use for photography depends on your budget. You can keep your spending low by purchasing a few low-cost items. Or you can invest in more expensive equipment if you want special lighting or unique displays.
Let’s take a look at the equipment you’ll need for your clothing photo shoot:
Camera
You don’t need the most expensive DSLR camera to take pictures of your clothes. New clothing stores can conduct photo shoots using a smartphone as well. Use any camera you have available, whether it’s a digital camera, a point-and-shoot, or a smartphone. If you have a budget for a new camera, check out this Quora topic discussing the best cameras for product photography.
Tripod
A tripod eliminates camera shake – the camera shake can occur inadvertently while shooting. (It happens to everyone.) Simply mount the camera on the tripod, frame the product, and take the shot. It’s easy. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all tripod, so look for a tripod that is compatible with your camera.
Light Source
You need light to capture photos of your clothes. If you have a room with a window that receives natural light, you can shoot there. If you don’t have that, you will need artificial lighting, like a softbox. You can find artificial lighting products on Amazon.
Note: Don’t get overwhelmed by all the lighting kits you find online. You don’t need LED lights and reflectors right away. Keep your setup simple, and once you become comfortable behind the camera, you can introduce new elements into your photo shoots.
Foam Boards
Whether you’re shooting with natural or artificial light, there’s always a shadow side to the product. Usually, it’s too dark to produce a good image. You can place a white foam board to reflect light into the shadow to brighten it up. Clips or tape
If you decide to shoot on a table, you’ll need strips or clips to keep the foam boards and setups in place. Background
Get a white background for your photo shoot. If you’re photographing multiple products at once, consider purchasing a white paper roll. You can use it to create white backgrounds for your clothing photography. If the paper gets dirty, you can cut off the dirty part and unfurl a new clean section.
An alternative to a white background is a poster board. You can find them at a local pharmacy or online at affordable prices.
Mannequin or Model
Mannequins are a great asset in clothing photography. They can cost anywhere from $90 and up. An alternative is to ask a friend or family member to model your clothing.
Another option is a flat surface or table for taking photos. This is common among brands that showcase flat lay clothing. This means your clothes are placed on the surface, and you take the picture from above at a 90-degree angle.
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7 Steps to Photographing Clothing
1. Prepare Your Clothing
Your products should look their best in your images. Unfortunately, clothing can wrinkle and crease and start to show wear from storage and transport. Sample clothing has a particularly tough time, as they endure long journeys and may not be perfectly made from the start.
Preparing clothing for photography is a critical starting point for photographing your products, yet many photographers overlook this step and rely on Photoshop or free photo editing software to fix wrinkles, stains, and other visible flaws. Don’t do that. Photoshop is not magic: it takes time and expertise to master advanced editing techniques, and over-editing compromises image quality.
Try to capture your clothing as close to perfection as possible and use Photoshop only to add final touches and adjust colors.
Inspect your product thoroughly from top to bottom and inside and out. Are there any tags or labels or other defining materials that need to be removed? Do that. Has the product become wrinkled or creased during storage? Iron or steam it. Repair any damages and remove distractions; for example, use lint rollers or tape to remove dust and threads.
2. Set Up Your Photography Studio
With a few items, you can turn any room with space into a photography studio. You can get away with a lot using a camera and tripod and a white wall and C-stand and tape and natural light. If you have more to spend and want to control when and where you shoot, it’s advisable to invest in some additional equipment.
Make sure to clear all clutter from your area. You will need a clean space to stay organized and do your best work. Background
Always use a white or light gray background to prevent distractions and ensure colors are captured as accurately as possible. Collapsible rolls of white paper are ideal and inexpensive and available at any photography supply store. If you have one, get a background lighting kit for under $100.
Extend the roll to the floor so that it curves gently, preventing distracting creases and shadows, and secure it with tape.
Using a fan light stand will allow you to create drama in your lighting, helping to showcase the clothing without a lot of post-processing.
Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/118459717-models-vs-mannequins-which-should-you-use-for-your-store
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