Fashion Photography

formosafashion

Hi All,

I have recently started an Internet fashion retail Company and am currently looking for some advice in relation to cost effective and professional photographers in the Dublin area.

I am located in Fashion City, Ballymount and have full access to a very large showroom that can be used as a sudio when the showroom is not being used by the owner.

Have tried taking the photos myself with my 12 MP Sony camera but they just don't look professional, have all the adobe software etc. but the time involved for pretty drastic results are no longer worth it.

Initiallly I need to photograph around 150 items comprised of skirts, dresses, jackets,t-shirts etc. for both men and women.

We would be using mannequins starting out and the images will require some cutting so photoshop editing will also be required.

Appreciate any guidance you can offer.

Thanks.

Formosa

AnCatDubh

Check out the services wanted / offered thread at the top of the forum. You may find someone there of interest. In fact if this is a request for someone to make an offer then that thread is the place for this particular post - you can let me know and I can move if appropriate.

Note to forum members - As per normal forum protocol, no offers / counter offers / shilling on thread. PM's if the OP is happy to accept pm's. - Thanks.

Ricky91t

I think this should be posted in the services wanted/offered at the top of the forum

As for advice,You'd want some studio lights,a DSLR and quite a wide angle lens,Also alot of experience in photography would help,I suggest the first option

formosafashion

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your prompt response, have just joined the site and it was not 100% clear as to where this message should have been posted.

I wanted to post the message here so as to get some advice from the photography community rather than simply post in the services wanted/offered section and simply receive offers without knowing what I am buying.

Ricky91t, have considered this and actually have my eye on studio kit, but I guess it's gonna take a great camera and like you say lots of skill.

Anyway, if you think this post should be moved thats fine.

Thanks.

AnCatDubh

ok, comments and advice are safe to post here. offers by pm only.

thanks.

vectra

Suggestion,
How about contacting someone like the Dublin Camera Club and ask them if they would be interested in bringing members along to do a shoot.
Maybe something could be arranged that you make a donation to the club or something?
Just a suggestion

Fajitas!

Ricky91t wrote: »

As for advice,You'd want some studio lights,a DSLR and quite a wide angle lens,Also alot of experience in photography would help,I suggest the first option

No, you need a good DSLR, though not nessicarily new and a longer lens, rather than wide angle. Say, 70/85mm->200/300mm. You need enough room to shoot them, and enough light to shoot them, but you don't need a full studio just yet, depending on what's available. I'd also suggest against cutting out the clothes just yet if you're starting off. You'll be better off creating an aesthetic for yourself than a cutout-catalog look for your main site, followed by a shoot on mannequins for details of the clothes, but I'm sure you'll have your own designers/stylists tell you that

vectra wrote: »

Suggestion,
How about contacting someone like the Dublin Camera Club and ask them if they would be interested in bringing members along to do a shoot.
Maybe something could be arranged that you make a donation to the club or something?
Just a suggestion

I'd advise against this too. You'll get mixed quality results with several different aesthetics. It won't work together, and you don't have much quality control.

I'd advise just biting the bullet and hiring someone to do it for you if you feel you won't get the results yourself. Remember that you're only going to have these photos to show the clothes off, this is your only chance to sell in a new business, people can't walk around a shop, so you'll have to put some money in to get it back out.

(also - this is just advice - I'm not in any way, shape or form, pimping for business.)

formosafashion

Fajitas! wrote: »

No, you need a good DSLR, though not nessicarily new and a longer lens, rather than wide angle. Say, 70/85mm->200/300mm. You need enough room to shoot them, and enough light to shoot them, but you don't need a full studio just yet, depending on what's available. I'd also suggest against cutting out the clothes just yet if you're starting off. You'll be better off creating an aesthetic for yourself than a cutout-catalog look for your main site, followed by a shoot on mannequins for details of the clothes, but I'm sure you'll have your own designers/stylists tell you that


I'd advise against this too. You'll get mixed quality results with several different aesthetics. It won't work together, and you don't have much quality control.

I'd advise just biting the bullet and hiring someone to do it for you if you feel you won't get the results yourself. Remember that you're only going to have these photos to show the clothes off, this is your only chance to sell in a new business, people can't walk around a shop, so you'll have to put some money in to get it back out.

(also - this is just advice - I'm not in any way, shape or form, pimping for business.)

Thanks again guys, I would consider buying a good camera.

What kind of money are we talking for a good user friendly device that will create a great shot?

In terms of space we have 3,500 Square Feet of showroom available and also have around 5,000 Square feet of space above this in a warehouse setting - so space will not be the issue.


You are probably correct about the cut outs also, have been looking around on other sites and it varies, from mannequin to human models, to cut outs only ... all good advice thanks.

We need a consistent look and to have our garments displayed as life like as possible.

Regardless of our decision it's always good to have a decent camera around the place, so would be great to find a good starter model.

Also agree the the quality of the pictures is paramount here as people cannot touch the garments, therefore the pictures need to be so impressive that people are confident to buy based on pictures alone.

I suppose we have one benifit in that our brands can be found in major stores around Europe and will be over 20% cheaper than the shops, we have found during opur research that people are trying clothing on in the stores and buying online at the cheaper prices.

Our main objective is to keep prices low for the consumer, otherwise no point in us being in business and we have had pricing of like 15 Euros to take three shots of a basic t-shirt that we would retail for 20 Euros.

Even though we would stock let's say at least 10 units of this particular garment thought the price was a little steep at 15 Euros for three shots of a t-shirt, that might take all of 30 seconds to shoot.

Once again guys, appreciate all your feedback here.

You have given me some good ideas and raised some good points.

Thanks again.

Formosa.

formosafashion

vectra wrote: »

Suggestion,
How about contacting someone like the Dublin Camera Club and ask them if they would be interested in bringing members along to do a shoot.
Maybe something could be arranged that you make a donation to the club or something?
Just a suggestion

Hi There,

We just had contact from a camera club offering models and photographers, but I think we need a consistent aproach in terms of how the pictures look for the website.

I know nothing about this industry, but I figure that if say 5 individuals take individual shots we will have major differences and this would not work.

Would be great fun though ... and we might consider having a "shoot out" day in Fashion City wherby we get a bunch of models and photographers and let rip. Would be a great promotional event.

Thanks Again,

Vicki.

Fajitas!

Having a camera club in would be great fun alright, but you're not guarantee'd the consistancy and results you may well need. As you say, it could be a great promo.

You've got a fantastic amount of space to work with, which is a huge advantage. Depending on what size you want from the shoot, you could realistically work with a second hand semi-pro body (30D/40D/50D), and a decent lens like the 70-200 f/4L - You should be able to get that for around and about 1400. After that, it's backgrounds, and other kit. You could have a fine set up for about 2000 though, if you were willing to buy second hand. Keep in mind with fashion photography, that a lot of the image depends on post production (Photoshop, etc) so knowing your way around that is going to be incredibly handy - the (expensive) alternative is sending it on to a retoucher to sort them out. It is quite time consuming, and this would be a reason why getting a photographer in can work out being expensive - after the shoot, there's quite a lot of retouching to make sure the colours are correct, there's no flaws showing, everything is looking at its best.

DotOrg

formosafashion wrote: »

Thanks again guys, I would consider buying a good camera.

What kind of money are we talking for a good user friendly device that will create a great shot?

the camera is really not that important, especuially if they are only web sized photos, the lighting you use however is far more important.

also, i would presume you would change what you sell on a regular basis, therefore you'd need to easily replicate the exact same lighting for new products over the coming weeks, months....

if you don't know how to use proper lighting it may make financial sense to hire a professional who works near you to do the work rather than buy equipment and then learn how to use it, in the meantime having poor quality shots that change to better quality over time

formosafashion

Fajitas! wrote: »

Having a camera club in would be great fun alright, but you're not guarantee'd the consistancy and results you may well need. As you say, it could be a great promo.

You've got a fantastic amount of space to work with, which is a huge advantage. Depending on what size you want from the shoot, you could realistically work with a second hand semi-pro body (30D/40D/50D), and a decent lens like the 70-200 f/4L - You should be able to get that for around and about 1400. After that, it's backgrounds, and other kit. You could have a fine set up for about 2000 though, if you were willing to buy second hand. Keep in mind with fashion photography, that a lot of the image depends on post production (Photoshop, etc) so knowing your way

around that is going to be incredibly handy - the (expensive) alternative is sending it on to a retoucher to sort them out. It is quite time consuming, and this would be a reason why getting a photographer in can work out being expensive - after the shoot, there's quite a lot of retouching to make sure the colours are correct, there's no flaws showing, everything is looking at its best.

Yeah, space is certainly not an issue here and it's all newly decorated also, so i'd say a photographers dream!

Might look at getting some kind of kit anyway, as I think it would look great here in the showroom and the owner could do his photography from here also.

Esentially we would have a ready made studio all we would need then is a good photographer to come with his camera!

Have found the photoshop work to be even more expensive than the photography, one guy said he would do the photography for free and was actually the processing work that would cost 5 euros per shot.

Would not be a photoshop expert either unfortunately, so I guess it's professionals needed for this work.

Thanks,

Vicki

formosafashion

DotOrg wrote: »

the camera is really not that important, especuially if they are only web sized photos, the lighting you use however is far more important.

also, i would presume you would change what you sell on a regular basis, therefore you'd need to easily replicate the exact same lighting for new products over the coming weeks, months....

if you don't know how to use proper lighting it may make financial sense to hire a professional who works near you to do the work rather than buy equipment and then learn how to use it, in the meantime having poor quality shots that change to better quality over time

Thanks for this. yes, our product lines will grow to over 1,000 individual items in less than 6 months and stock changes almost weekly with an average of 100 items to be added each week.

Don't have a clue how to use lighting, a camera etc ... we do have however great light here ... we have 21 four tube florecent lighting units on the main showroom floor, it's a lot of light but I figure you need a specific type for photography and what we have would not be suitable.

Thanks Again,

Vicki.

Tactical

Its a serious business you're advertising so you'll need a good photographer who can deliver the goods.

€15 for the Tee-short shots didn't sound out of the way from a product photography point of view.

Pricing will naturally vary between photographers and product photography typically incurrs an item charge but if there are a large amount of items to be shot then the fee may very well be calculated differently. You didn't say if the Tee-shirt example was as a one-off or part of a larger package, it all depends on the situation.

Don't fall down the trap of thinking that if you get some lighting, a better body and lens that you'll be able to produce the results you want unless you're prepared to undergo a steep learning curve. Can a serious business support that learning curve would be the question to ask.

If your (large) workspace has a lot of natural light and is uncluttered then you may have hit accidently on a sideline business, that of a photo studio for rent. There are a lot of studios available and any that would have a lot of large open space with good natural lighting would (in my opinion) be easier to rent out than one that has to rely on artificial light. It allows options.

In short, you're trying to establish a reputable professional business, don't skimp on the advertising of your product or you'll fail before you begin. You'll get what you pay for.

EDIT:-

I note that you say you have a lot of fluroscent lighting in the showroom area, well the colour temperature of this will be important to a degree. Fluroscent lamps have different colour temperatures and it'd be a good idea to make sure that the ones fitted are suitable and are all the same.

formosafashion

Tactical wrote: »

Its a serious business you're advertising so you'll need a good photographer who can deliver the goods.

€15 for the Tee-short shots didn't sound out of the way from a product photography point of view.

Pricing will naturally vary between photographers and product photography typically incurrs an item charge but if there are a large amount of items to be shot then the fee may very well be calculated differently. You didn't say if the Tee-shirt example was as a one-off or part of a larger package, it all depends on the situation.

Don't fall down the trap of thinking that if you get some lighting, a better body and lens that you'll be able to produce the results you want unless you're prepared to undergo a steep learning curve. Can a serious business support that learning curve would be the question to ask.

If your (large) workspace has a lot of natural light and is uncluttered then you may have hit accidently on a sideline business, that of a photo studio for rent. There are a lot of studios available and any that would have a lot of large open space with good natural lighting would (in my opinion) be easier to rent out than one that has to rely on artificial light. It allows options.

In short, you're trying to establish a reputable professional business, don't skimp on the advertising of your product or you'll fail before you begin. You'll get what you pay for.

EDIT:-

I note that you say you have a lot of fluroscent lighting in the showroom area, well the colour temperature of this will be important to a degree. Fluroscent lamps have different colour temperatures and it'd be a good idea to make sure that the ones fitted are suitable and are all the same.

It's a serious business allright and I understand completely we need to quality - which in turn means we need a professional photographer.

€15 is OK for like a couple of tees, but when you take the literally thousands of items we will need photographed over a yearly period it's not such a great deal - our deal with any photographer would be to use them for all products we need photographed and would be a weekly event.#

Nope - we are not here to be photographers, so fully agree that this is not for us - we have no intention of becoming photographers either. In relation to having a camera around, we tend to have celebs over on ocasion and it's a good idea to have a decent enough setup in terms of camera etc. so as we can shoot them wearing our free merchandise!

They usually arrive without any notice, so getting a photographer here in the timeframe would be impossible.

Unfortunately the main showroom area of around 2700 SQ feet is lit by florecent lighting only, but its a nice clean space uncluttered and all the items showing are on mobile rails, therefore pretty much the entire space is available for shooting purposes.

Again I agree completely, we are not doing this ourselves - professional it is!

Thanks Again,

Vicki.

stcstc

why not setup a section of the showroom as a studio come exhibition type space that you could run simple fashion shows in etc

if you were to set it up properly and then lighting could be quite fixed etc, this way you could then have a photog come in and shoot relativley quite easilly without having to bring in loads of kit etc

the other thing you should be able to find a photog who would do some kind of deal for a fixed ammount of time etc each month, this way your costs would basically be fixed etc. and at the moment photogs would be happy of a fixed ammount of cash flow each month, i know i would

formosafashion

stcstc wrote: »

why not setup a section of the showroom as a studio come exhibition type space that you could run simple fashion shows in etc

if you were to set it up properly and then lighting could be quite fixed etc, this way you could then have a photog come in and shoot relativley quite easilly without having to bring in loads of kit etc

the other thing you should be able to find a photog who would do some kind of deal for a fixed ammount of time etc each month, this way your costs would basically be fixed etc. and at the moment photogs would be happy of a fixed ammount of cash flow each month, i know i would

Hi There,

We are working with the owner to do this, everything is mobile in the showroom so we can move it around easily and esentially have a large space to photograph stuff.

The owner is now set on the idea that even a fake studio at the end of his showroom will add a touch of coolness to the place, so now I am off to order backdrop supports and some white backdrop material - might get some lights too.

Is Ebay any good for this stuff?

As I said before we will retain the services of a photographer long term if the prices are good and the quality of the shots are what we want.

Thanks,

Vicki.

PCPhoto

barkerphotographic would be the best to point you in the right direction to get proper lighting and backdrops.

you might save money by going online but with Barkers you also get linked into many professional photographers throughout the country.

PS. Ask for Paddy Barker and he might be able to sort out a discount - tell him Paddy Cummins recommended him

I dont think we're allowed to post contact details but I'm sure you can google them and find them.

I have already PM'd you with some photographer suggestions (in Dublin).

stcstc

the other place to talk to would be dml in parkwest

you will be better spending money with somewhere like barker or dml as you will get proper advise and they will be able to sell you the whole kit

Fajitas!

You'll also have someplace to contact if there's any problems, or you need help, replacements, etc.

stcstc

i agree with al, its worth paying a little more for that kind of local support

Tactical

If setting up a section for a studio then go to the trouble of an infinity cove and make it as large as you can justifiably afford.

Perhaps hire a photographer as a consultant to advise you on this aspect of a set up.

You could always hire some equipment for a few months to see how things go before committing serious resources and perhaps hire a photographer on a retained or similar basis.

Both companies mentioned in previous posts are extremely reputable and professional. (MODS please feel free to delete this line of its not allowed.)

formosafashion

Guys,

Have been out for a few days.

I wanted to take this oppertunity to thank you all for your advice and PM's in relation to our requirement.

I am confident in saying that your community is one of the most helpful I have ever had the pleasure of communicating with.

Once again thanks for taking some of your valuable time to provide advice and recommendations.

Best,

Formosa

formosafashion

Hi Guys,

We had a response from a Stylist yesterday but for some reason the message has not been posted to the thread.

Whomever you are, can you please PM us as this might be interesting!

Thanks,

Formosa.

AnCatDubh

stylst - please use the pm facility to the OP.

thank you.