As many who have started their own lines will testify, the job doesn’t end when the goods are produced. Once you’ve created your stock, it needs to be communicated to the public, and unfortunately, your items will only ever be as good as the medium through which the customer views them. With poor image photography, your products are by association, just as poor; so you may have established that you’re the next McQueen, but what if you’re not the next LaChapelle?
A firm favourite of the start up company is to grab their digital camera, round up some enthusiastic friends to act as models, and head off to somewhere ‘artistic;’ this usually involves a wood, derelict playground, or somewhere with a phone box. Once everyone’s had a jolly nice day of posing and pouting, you begin to realise that the photos are perhaps a little darker and blurrier than you anticipated, that out of nowhere there has a appeared a drunk tramp in the corner of all of the shots and that your friends probably aren’t going to win Next Top Model. So how do you correct the situation?
Firstly, if you can organise a professional shoot, for the love of God, do it. This doesn’t need to involve any additional stress or outlay; using the TFP principle (time for prints) you’ll be able to assemble a local team relatively easily, and the results will be far beyond anything you could achieve yourself. The benefits of having professional photographs will also bear fruit no end when it comes to press coverage and campaign images later on.
If you do decide to continue with your own talents in photography rather than outsourcing to a pro, ditch the day trips, and set up a simpler operation. The first thing to realise is that starting indoors with a clean white background will go a long way; not only will it give the most professional finish, but you will also find having a set of simple, product centric shots an invaluable asset when you encounter press who may fancy featuring an individual piece of yours. Don’t be tempted to photograph stock on wrapping paper, scrap fabric, bed sheets and the like, keep it clean, sharp, and well lit. Keep certain questions in your mind as you work, such as could I see this shot in a look book, or would I be happy showing this to an editor or wholesaler? Photograph each item from a variety of angles, and take close ups of significant details, particularly if you’re selling said pieces online. Even if you’re shooting small pieces such as jewellery, avoid placing your items next to coins and so forth to give an idea of scale. You may think it looks quirky and informative. It doesn’t.
Once your session is complete, always run images through Photoshop and inspect what can be corrected, whether it’s sharpness, brightness or contrast. Remember, the idea of retouch is to enhance the photograph; be extremely careful that your tweaking doesn’t dramatically alter the colour or look of the product itself, as your shots need to be as faithful a representation as possible. Resist the urge to add any graphics such as borders, frames, or text, and make sure you don’t go overboard on the effects; this isn’t an exercise in how many filters you can add to a photo at any one time. Photoshop excess is the quickest way to demote your brand images to amateur level and should be considered the work of the Devil.
As a continuation, within next week’s column, we’ll be discussing the process of choosing and shooting with a model, something which should be tackled separately to DIY stock photography. If you have any questions or examples you’d like to share on your efforts, please do get in touch, and in the meantime, happy shooting!
Master manipulator: spotlight on Albert Pride, 17, graphic designer.
As someone who knows only too well the power of the visual, being only 17 is not going to deter Albert Pride from realising his dream of becoming a graphic designer, travelling regularly from his home in Spain to New York in an attempt to better his craft. Visit myspace.com/evilboy_07 and it’s easy to see that his talent out weighs his years, enforced with his words “I want to demonstrate that there is no AGE or TIME to tell you when you have to be somebody, the only thing stopping you is yourself.”
Sarah-Jane you are a joy to read !