The Fundamentals of Fashion Photography

One of the best aspects of the Fstoppers community is discovering talented photographers and watching their careers grow. Over the years, we've been keeping a close eye on Shavonne Wong. Not only is Shavonne a fantastic photographer, she's a personable and down-to-earth instructor. We're proud to have teamed up with her to produce this 2.5+ hour crash course in fashion photography. If you're a photographer interested in shooting fashion photography but don't know where to start, this tutorial will help you get professional results from one of the most exciting photographers in the genre.

Meet Shavonne Wong

Shavonne is based in Singapore and focuses on shooting fashion, beauty, and advertising photography. She has shot for recongnizable brands including Lancome and Sephora and also magazines such as Cosmopolitan Hong Kong and Glamour South Africa. In addition to constantly producing world-class imagery, she always seems to be innovating her creativity with new projects like her living stills and virtual modeling agency. 

What Does this Tutorial Cover?

The goal of filming the Fundamentals of Fashion Photography was to boil down as much information as possible into a bunch of short, digestible lessons that are easy to follow while still providing the viewer actionable lessons they can immediately start practicing on their own. We cover every aspect of Shavonne's process, including what gear she uses, how she finds the best people to work with, her favorite lighting setups and camera settings, and how she edits images in Capture One and Photoshop. Our hope is that these lessons will allow you to fast-track your learning and start shooting professional images as soon as possible. 

Building a Professional Team

One of the first big lessons in fashion photography is that great photos are rarely produced by a one-person crew. Great images are usually produced by a team of people, and it was important for us to cover this part of the business. Although Shavonne is from Singapore, we filmed this tutorial in New York City, which meant she had to source a professional group, including a model, makeup artist, and stylist in a place where she had no previous contacts. Shavonne teaches you all the aspects of building and working with a team, including where to find high-quality people, how to communicate with them over email and on set, and when to collaborate for free verses paying to work with specific talent. Shavonne also interviews both the makeup artist and stylist so you can hear how they can help facilitate getting the absolute best final images. 

If you haven't worked with models before, Shavonne provides some great tips on how to interact with your model on set and what to look out for in creating authentic fashion poses. She takes the time to walk through some dos and don'ts of posing models regardless if they are a well seasoned professional or if they have never modeled before at all. Even if you don't have access to modeling agencies found in big cities, the goal is to give you Shavonne's best modeling tips so that you can produce high end fashion images with anyone in front of your camera. 

Gear 

One thing that makes Shavonne so relatable to many photographers is that she's not a very technical shooter. It was important for her to emphasize that it's not what gear you own or use that makes an excellent final image. Although Shavonne does cover the cameras, lenses, and lights she uses in her own workflow, she also emphasizes that the gear you already own will likely be enough to start shooting and covers some basic settings to keep in mind when you're on set. 

Shooting and Lighting

Once Shavonne gets the models on set, she starts with a blank slate and builds up each shot from the ground up. Lighting is something that every photographer can learn and practice throughout their entire lives, but Shavonne will show you six basic lighting setups that will give you a great starting point to begin shooting on your own. Throughout each of these shoots, Shavonne covers a wide variety of tips and tricks on composition and building a rapport with your model. 

Post-Processing

If you want to be competitive in the fashion and editorial world, you will not only need to create top-notch images, you will also need to edit them at a professional level. Along with this tutorial, you will also receive 10 different raw files from the shoots that will help you reach the high standards that are expected in this genre of photography.  After each session, Shavonne takes two of the best images from the shoot and shows you her standard workflow that she applies to all her photos. Not only will you be able to follow along in Capture One and Photoshop as she applies each step of her process, but you will also have the actual high res raw files to apply your own artist adjustments. With 10 high res raw files straight from Shavonne's camera, you can also work through different techniques from different lessons at your own pace. 

This Download Includes

• 2.5+ Hours of Video Content
• 10 Raw Practice Files
• How to Build and Communicate With a Team
• How To Work on Set
• How To Find a Model
• Posing Lesson
• Sourcing Locations
• Basic Gear Guide
• Six Lighting Setups
• Model Coaching
• How to Create Stronger Compositions
• Color Correction in Capture One
• Retouching in Photoshop
• Access to a Private Facebook Group