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By Diane Fisher


Creating effective and appealing clothes images requires some expertise. Normally, people see models on billboards advertising a particular clothing line, but they have no idea how the shooting takes place. If you are interested in the fashion industry and you want to start your own California apparel photography business, there are several steps that you should follow. This business is doing well in big cities and even smaller towns. Therefore, all you need is capital and the will to run the business. If you have no photo shooting skills, it is wise to attend some training.

When opening any business, you must know that meeting the statutory regulations is not a matter of debate. Requirements like licenses and permits must be met before any entrepreneur is allowed to operate. Therefore, besides capital, you must obtain a business permit as well as a license. Also, it is advisable to obtain coverage to protect the business in case accidents happen.

After you have met all the necessary statutory requirements, it is time to set up your business. You cannot shoot without a model. Therefore, you need to look for a model. To make your shots more appealing, it is advisable to use live models. Decide whether you want to pick a male or female, or both. Also, when selecting the model, you must check how the clothes look on him or her and whether the models will work for you for the long term.

Once you have selected the model that you want, start setting up your space. The space you choose will depend on the situation. More so, space should be large enough for the model to move around when following your cues. However, space should not be too large. Therefore, you have to designate backdrop boundaries so that the model stays in the frame.

Lighting is crucial for shooting. If there will be no enough light, the images will be dull. If the light is too bright, the photos will appear faded. Therefore, make sure you come up with a way to mimic the natural window light and its softness. Most photographers prefer using soft boxes, umbrellas and speed lights. Nevertheless, speed lights tend to be too bright, direct and harsh.

Once everything is in place and you have achieved the right lighting, make sure the model is in position. Make them stand the way you want. Illustrate the standard positions and explain to them how you want your vision to be. Place an X on the surface directly in front of the camera and tell the models to stand there.

You can then start shooting with wide framing and crop the images later. Wide framing shooting will leave enough spaces on all sides. These spaces will allow you to crop and size the photo the way you want. Ensure that you direct your models to do all the standard poses that you want.

Editing is the last step that comes after the shooting. You must make the images appear professionals. It thus needs a lot of time. Sometimes you may feel tired and unable to focus. During such times, you can hire professional editors to do the image editing for you.




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