The fashion industry is more than the glitz and glamour it entails. Its foundation relies on creativity, and among this is the art of photography.
Fashion photography is a league of its own, and it is an arduous job altogether. This fast-paced industry also values quality editing skills, which is important in producing great photos and ensuring that the showcased clothing gets its deserved exposure.
Of course, the edits that a photo has to undergo always vary, but here are some staples you can always remember to do to attain a smooth editing experience–and an equally great image!
In order for your editing process to be seamless, it is recommended that you shoot your photos in RAW file format. This way, you can be more flexible in editing, and the picture will not be compressed after the shot, unlike the JPEG format.
Moreover, it also helps enhance the overall quality of the photo, for it records all the information obtained by the camera’s sensor. While this format is considered a vital asset in fashion photography, it’s also applicable to photography in general. Using this format is one of the essential editing tips for everyone–be sure to use it to unlock your photo’s full potential.
Once a photo is sent for editing, you may need to adjust the white balance finder to make the photo’s colors match the light source. This is important, especially since fashion photo shoots require a lot of artificial lighting, such as strobe lights.
You may need a trusty editing application to adjust this, such as Adobe Lightroom. Once in the app, go to the Temp and Tint options and drag the sliders to your liking. On the other hand, you may also use the eyedropper tool and simply drag the tool to the area you wish to be balanced.
Color and exposure adjustments
In Lightroom, the tone consists of the Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks sliders. These tabs are meant to enhance the saturation and enhance a photo’s clarity but bear in mind that these sliders must be used sparingly and not push them to a maximum extent.
To ensure that the photo is not edited too much, always look at the Histogram. It is a two-dimensional graph that maps the colors and their respective places in your exposure. Each time you adjust something, you also need to modify your Exposure to compensate for this change.
Meanwhile, the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) sliders are used to adjust the photo’s colors, which will help you adjust skin tones and enhance the fabric’s vibrance.
Since most fashion magazines and designers also showcase their pieces on social media, it is best to improve the quality of the photos you submit. For instance, you can increase the photo’ssharpness by +40-+80, especially if it is uploaded to Instagram since it lowers the image’s resolution.
If you want a quick fix, you can also create presets, saving you from making several adjustments. To do this, you can click the plus sign in the Presets tab, then name your preset and save. If you wish to apply it, you can select the preset you want and click it while a particular photo is selected.
Fashion photography may be a complicated area, but photo editing is also equally nitty-gritty. Don’t worry, though– these tips will help you edit photos to your liking and produce high-quality outputs worthy of the public’s attention.
