We all know that clothes are finicky. You can take something off the hanger and two minutes later it has cat or dog hair on it, or it got wrinkled from wearing it in the car. The same things happen when photographing clothing, and it’s not just wrinkles and cat hair. Eliminating shadows can be difficult, and it can be tricky to manage soft, even lighting. Just as food should look enticing and delicious so you want to run out and buy it, clothing should be displayed so it appeals to the consumer. So, how do you photograph clothing? Should the clothes be on a model? A hanger? The easiest technique is to photograph clothing while it’s lying flat.
Professional Shoots
Places like L.L. Bean and GAP Kids pay experienced clothing stylists top dollar to spend hours setting up displays–whether on mannequins, or flat, or folded–to photograph for their online stores. Large chains such as these have special equipment. For instance, tall, strong scissor lifts mounted with large format cameras are required for shooting large or long pieces of clothing such as dresses or jeans from above. This way the cameras can be raised to any height. A dress may require a height of eight feet, which would otherwise require a photographer to stand on a ladder so the edges of the clothing are not cropped out.
Other Things to Consider
There are other things to consider besides height. If you are using a packaged, folded product, chances are that once it is removed from the packaging it will be wrinkled. Therefore, it will need to be ironed. A good quality, hand-held, travel size steamer can do a bang up job for this.
For flat photography you need smooth, even lighting, usually over a large, broad, flat surface. Balanced even lighting can be achieved using two large 20″ soft boxes and diffusion panels. Although using two lights normally flattens an image, in this case the image is already flat. Placing a light on each side will provide smooth, even coverage.
Using a camera with a short focal length–a wide angle lens–will allow you to photograph the entire piece of clothing.
ABOUT YOUR DALLAS, TX, PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER:
Doug Davis has been producing professional, engaging videos and product, food, and lifestyle photography from his Dallas, TX, studio for more than 20 years. D-Squared Studios is located at 4312 Elm Street, Dallas, Texas, 75226. Contact our office at (214) 746-6336 or email Doug at doug.davis@d2studios.net.