One of the most popular genres of photography are Fashion and Glamour Photography and often we treat fashion and glamour photography as one and the same, treating it as a Model Photography. But the fact is, fashion photography and glamour photography, in principle, are different; and there is an exceptionally fine line of difference between these two genres.
Why does it matter?
Many times, the difference between fashion and glamour photography is not understood. They are both treated more or less like some misguided notion of a “fashion photoshoot” which involves sexual content and bold expressions; Thus losing the flavor for glamour and beauty of the model.
On the contrary, glamour photography is one of the most important genres of photography which contains a remarkably high level of photographic artistry.
Fashion and glamour photography being important genres of professional photography, it is important to understand how they differ (and also where they might be similar) in order to focus on different hero elements and thereby fulfilling their core purposes.
So, how do you differentiate between these genres of photography Fashion and Glamour photography?
In simple terms we can say that when A celebrity or a model who is “Glamorized” becomes the “Fashion” by what they wear and how they present themselves in public or society, yet it is not a Model Photography.
The difference still remains. So what is the difference? It’s all about the focus.
Fashion Photography:
“Fashion” is about: costumes, accessories, or whatever fashion product is being highlighted and not about the fashion models themselves.
In a nutshell, Fashion Photography is a branch of commercial photography which is mainly used to showcase clothes or fashion products designed by Fashion Designers. Fashion products here can be fashion accessories such as hand-bags, purses, jewelry, shoes etc. Its purpose is to get customers to buy the fashion products or items. The way to do this is to show these fashion products in the most flattering light and to create the highest perceived value in consumers.
Glamour Photography:
“Glamour” on the other hand, is about: beauty, concept and not about the fashion itself.
It’s a separate genre about the subject or model where fashion itself becomes an accessory or plays a supporting role.
In a nutshell, glamour photography is basically about focusing on the beauty or peculiarities of a model or a person.
However, there are some common aspects between Fashion Photography and Glamour photography too:
- Strong sense of creative vision is required for both fashion photography and glamour photography.
- Technical aspects like camera, lighting, and editing also termed as photo editing or post-production remain key fundamentals.
- Generating new ideas is an important skill too.
Being successful Fashion Photographer
To become a successful fashion photographer or glamour photographer, one needs all the above 3 factors.
Since we are focusing on fashion photography, here’s what one needs to become a fashion photographer. These factors can also be extended to different genres of photography like, portrait photography, model photography, and glamour photography.
As we have learned that fashion photography is a branch of commercial photography, let’s understand what it takes to become a fashion photographer from a commercial aspect.
Stakeholders in Fashion Photography
As a fashion photographer, we come across different stakeholders like, fashion designer who designs the clothes or garments to sell either on on-line shopping website or in their fashion boutique, Make-up and hair artists (MUAH), fashion stylists, and lastly important person as Professional Fashion Model who will carry the fashion designed by fashion designer.
Fashion designer or costume designer the expects that, the fashion photographer should create the perfect image which has an accurate visual representation of their product that has a story, mood, feeling, emotions along with the product details composed in the photograph very strongly and enhancing the physical attributes of product like, design, color, texture, shape, patterns, etc. which will in turn, help the designer to attract the customer and expand their sales.
To achieve all the above expectations the fashion photographer must have fairly good knowledge of the studio or natural light, camera being used and it’s setting, should select the appropriate focal length, exposure control, post-processing, etc
5 categories of Fashion Photography
Fashion photography can be categorized in to the following 5 different types of fashion photography.
1. On-line/ e-commerce or reference fashion photography
This type of photography is typically done in a photo studio mainly with plain pure white or any other plain background. The intention is to create photographs for selling the products through on-line portals or e-commerce websites like, Amazon, Myntra, e-bay, etc. These photos are also used on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
2. Catalog fashion photography
This type of photography is typically done either in studio or at outdoors to give the enhanced glamorized look to the product. Catalog fashion photography is done with simple usages of props (but which will not dominate the main product). This is also called as print shoot as the catalogs or pamphlets are printed. These photos are also used for billboards, large hoarding for advertisements, etc. This type of photography is one of the most effective ways to enhance the sale of product by attracting the customers to buy the product as this type of photography contains glamour along with the fashion. Even these photos can also be used on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc or even on the seller’s own e-commerce website as banner pictures.
3. High fashion photography
High fashion photography is mainly used to publish the work on the cover page of a Fashion magazine particularly to display and attract customers related to a fashion designer, or photographer. Particularly, in this type of photography, supermodels or highly professional models are part of this photography to create or establish the brand value, to give a glamorous and appealing look by creating the mood and environment in the photograph.
4. Street fashion photography
This type of fashion photography is commonly known as urban fashion photography related to the demographic. Usually, this type of photography includes daily-wear and can also include the descent and elegant local costumes. During the street fashion photography care needs to be taken for proper photographic experiences. Permission is required as this includes the environment on the street and certain places may have photography restrictions on the street.
The overall objective of Street photography is to create the general mood related to a particular situation, creation of brand promotion based on local trends and styles and consist of long shots to close-up shots.
5. Editorial fashion photography
Editorial fashion photography revolves around concept building or theme-based photography in a way. This may involve multiple brands or one signal brand involving various styles. This type of photography mostly tells a story about the particular fashion designer or the story behind the fashion product designed or the model itself. Editorial Photography involves a lot of creativity and includes a proper storyboard to tell your stories and these photos may also have text usage on the images.
Importance of Fashion photography
Fashion photography and Fashion Photographers are inseparable from the Fashion Industry. In this era of digital world, fashion photography helps enrich and expand the online fashion sales to the online buyers. At the same time, it also helps buyers to visualize the fashion product from your store or boutique shops through high quality visual representation made through the photograph, driving up the perceived fashion product’s value and hence the sales.
High quality fashion photographs connect the customer with the fashion designer.
Eventually, in fashion photography, the goal is to create something unique that will compel or attract the mind of the viewer to buy the fashion product, thus by creating an identity and a personality which is attached to your product and in turn to your brand.
The Lens India Photography, one of the top-rated professional photographer in Pune, specializes in different types of Fashion Photography related to e-commerce / online / print / product catalog which can be shot in a photo studio or can be destination photo shoots. Dive deep in the world of Fashion Photography with professionals. Check out our stuff Fashion and Glamour Photography across different types of fashion photography.