Fashion photography has created some of the most iconic portraits ever taken and it's a revered genre of the discipline. However, it's easy to fall into static shots, leaning on familiar poses. In this video, Lindsay Adler walks you through her techniques for adding motion to fashion shoots.
Fashion photography has always been something I have enjoyed, but been on the fringe of professionally. I have worked with a number of accessory brands, shot a few catwalk shows, and worked with fashion models in other areas of portraiture. Fashion is a genre of portraiture that can be both fantastically interesting and dreadfully boring, depending on what you're shooting. For example, editorials for brands versus e-commerce studio work. Nevertheless, both can suffer from the shoot feeling too static and heavily posed.
In my portraiture, I like to experiment with as many elements of the image as possible. I will typically begin with location and lighting, but then I like to add a bit more dynamism where possible. On one of the aforementioned catwalk shows, I found I was having the same problem, despite the fact that the models were moving. I had the idea to drag the shutter slightly towards the end of the runway and it captured blurred movement in the models' limbs which I have gone on to use several times since.
Check out Lindsay Adler's tips for how you can add motion to not only fashion photography, but any portraiture.
I'll have to try it out, even with nudes.
Fashion photography isnt portraiture. You can have fashion influenced portraits.
A portrait is a visual story about the person. A portrait uses elements that represent the person. Fashion is all about the clothes and the style. There person so happens to be in the clothes.
Generally though, my portraits over the last 15yrs have been more lifestyle influenced - fun, natural and relaxed to capture natural expressions and character by making the subject(s) feel at ease.