A career in fashion photography

A Career In Fashion Photography We see them everywhere, in Magazines, on the Run Way, in advertisements on TV. They are the slender women strutting their stuff or extra ordinary Beauties with their sultry looks flashing their pearly whites while wearing the newest Styles from the hottest Designers. We are talking about the fashion models of today, yesterday and tomorrow. They are everywhere we look, but who brings them to us? Their images are captures with care and precision, patience and that special look for style, color and lighting composition. I am talking about the fashion photographers. In the fashion circles famous names like Mario Testino (easily one of the hottest names out there) and Eva Mueller (photographer for Fashion Magazine Allure) are just as sought out if not more then those men and women sauntering their way into our conscious. High Paychecks and glamour’s Lifestyle of hob nobbing it with the rich and famous might be the dream of many young shutterbug, however it is not easy to reach the golden Staircases of the well-known fashion houses and magazines. For every one talented photographer, hundreds are left panting at the sidewalk, only dreaming about the moment that their photo will be chosen. Here are a few tips for the novice and dreamer of dreams in getting started in fashion photography. Study your subject. You can never learn enough. Read and look at any fashion Magazine you can get your hand on. There are fantastic books on Fashion and fashion photography available. Amazon has a true treasure trove available. You need one or two good cameras, tripod and a lighting system. Always make sure that you have plenty of film and batteries available. SLR and digital cameras take different photos, so make sure you find the best for your field. When submitting your work, hopefully to give a chance you have to have a portfolio on hand, just in case the editor of the fashion magazine wants to see samples of your work. I assure you if they consider working with you that is going to be a fact. The sharp, bright images of a 4X5” transparency show of your work to its best effort. If you have already had a publication, no matter if, it was a small neighborhood magazine/paper or a contest a tear sheet (literally a sheet you tore out of the magazine) works well. If neither is at hand a good high quality 8 X 10 “is acceptable as well. You want to make sure that you have a minimum of 20 photos in your portfolio and preferably different styles. You want to show your expertise in full figure or just partial body parts. Remember, fashion includes jewelry and accessories. Sometimes a watch from a famous maker on the slender wrist of a beautiful woman is a good fashion shoot. If you are applying for the job, be prepared to leave your Portfolio behind for an extended period of time, sometimes as much as a couple of weeks. I would advice you to make copies and have several on hand. This comes in handy when showing your work to many different people for consideration for fashion work. In the time of modern technology, it is good to display your talent as a fashion photographer online as well. Set up a website; submit your photos to contests. Submit them to an online fashion gallery. This helps with getting your work seen and people can see what type of work you actually do and can do for them. Most editors are looking for your personality in the photos you take. Each fashion photographer captures the soul of the fashion and its model differently. There are a couple of very good “how to get started” websites on the net. You might wish to start out with fashion. net/howto/photography/ or stylecarrer/fashion_photographer. shtml. Most importantly, if this is your dream, don’t give up. Keep trying and I hope to see your images on the cover of my next hot fashion magazine. Word Count 670

Light is life

The job of a landscape photographer is to record a scene. Yet, photographers often fail to capture what it felt like to be actually at a scene. A good landscape photographer arrives at a scene early, and waits for the scene to unfold. Waiting patiently for changing colours and changing mood, which all go along with the change of the weather. Vital to all of this is light - natural light and all the elements it brings to a scene. To be able to use light correctly and creatively we first must understand it. Once we understand it we can use it to our advantage in creating beautifully, dramatic landscape images. There are three basic qualities of light: intensity, direction and colour. Intensity: refers to the strength of light. If the sun is high in the sky, light can be harsh and too strong. Cloudy days bring soft and defused light. Direction: this refers to light placement. There are three categories of light placement: front, back and side-lighting. Side lighting produces more texture between light and shade. Colour: the colour of sunlight varies depending upon conditions and time of day. If the sun shines at the beginning or the end of the day, the colour of the light will be much warmer, and will lead to a much more dramatic scene. While all three are different qualities of light, they all have another important factor in common - time of day. Choosing the correct time of day is a foremost in capturing a scene at its best. The intensity of light brings out different colours in a landscape image. Colours in landscape photography depend on light available and also what time you shoot a scene, and where you place your camera. Early morning shots will cast a red hue in your images. This only lasts a few minutes after sunrise. As the morning progresses the red hue turns to yellow. This normally lasts while the sun is low in the sky. Long shadows are cast along a scene during these early hours. These can add mood to an imagee mid-day the sun is high in the sky. The shadows are gone. This is the best time of the day for landscape photographers. As the day turns to evening and the sun gradually falls in the sky, the sun casts stronger colours similar to morning. Sunset can be just as exciting as sunrise. Time and light come hand in hand. Using both together will most certainly bring out the best in your landscape photographs. We ourselves decide what direction we use, do we use the sun at our backs, or is it better to use it at our side? I prefer side-lighting or facing the sun. If you’re unsure go to a scene and take a few images. Mark the ground so you can place the camera in the exact same spot and return a few hours later. Return to the scene several times and take notes of light direction. Record the different exposures you take your imagespare the shots from the different times of day, and the answer will unfold in front of you. Understanding natural light develops your ability to create better images. You’ll then start to see the beauty of light and colours in a new and exciting way.