Hi, I'm Lara Jade. I'm a fashion and beauty photographer based in New York City,
and today I'm going to give you my top tips on fashion photography
and answer some of my most asked questions.
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Tip number one is how to find inspiration as a fashion photographer.
Now, this is something I get asked all the time,
and the quickest answer I can give is that Pinterest is a fantastic place
because lots of people have already made the mood boards for you.
So you can search by keywords, so if I'm coming up with ideas for trends.
So thinking of fashion photography as a whole, there's different trends.
So the spring/summer, fall/winter or autumn/winter,
and there's the in-between trends of resort and pre-fall.
Now, the two main trends, spring/summer and fall/winter,
are mainly what you'll be looking at for inspiration.
So, the designers create these trends every season,
and then we look at those trends for inspiration of what story ideas we could come up with.
So, maybe you're searching for 1920s fashion.
Maybe it sparks an idea for something more futuristic.
So then I just search by keywords on Pinterest, and I take images.
I open Photoshop and quickly put together a mood board.
And that is either sent to the magazine I might be pitching towards, the team or the model.
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Tip number two is to understand the editorial side of the industry
and how it can work for you as a marketing tool.
So, a lot of people ask me what is the difference between editorial and commercial work.
So, editorial is work that is published in a magazine or newspaper,
and commercial is any type of advertising,
whether that's a beauty campaign, sunglasses, makeup or fashion.
So, as a fashion photographer you always want to have a good balance of both
because editorial is also the place where you can showcase
your ideas, your lighting techniques and have more control.
Whereas with commercial work, you're going to be shooting for someone else, in someone else's vision.
So, in order to get the commercial work, you need to have great editorial
and maybe personal work in there as well if you do that
because that shows the best of your work.
And you can also shoot with clients in mind.
So, a lot of the time I give the tip to make sure when you're doing editorial work
to think of potential advertising clients in mind because that is a great marketing tool.
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Tip number three is to make sure you have various different skills in your belt as a fashion photographer.
I always say as a fashion photographer you need to have a lot of different techniques and knowledge
because you're not just shooting indoors in the studio. You're not just a beauty photographer.
You may get briefs where you're shooting outside on a rooftop.
You may be treating a shoot more as a documentary type of photography shoot.
You may be doing a portrait shoot of talent.
So there's many things you can get booked for under the umbrella of fashion.
So I'm always pushing myself with various different techniques.
I might educate myself one month more with continuous lighting
because I may be doubling up with video, and that's important.
I may then start to do more beauty photography and discover new techniques
because I may have a skin care client that requires me to showcase that glossy skin.
So I think always brushing up on your techniques,
and don't have that beginner mindset
because the best people in the industry are those that are always educating themselves.
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Tip number four is to understand that you don't need a ton of gear to create beautiful work.
Some of the best photographers out there use minimal setups to create their portfolio work.
So, if you have one lens and that's all you can afford,
make it work to the best of your ability.
If you have one light and one accessory, such as a five foot octa box,
you can do a lot with that one light and create beautiful portfolio-worthy work.
When I started out as a photographer, I could only afford a camera, one 50mm lens and a reflector,
and for years I made that work for me.
and I was still able to get an agent and get a lot of commercial clients.
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Tip number five is to treat every day as a nine to five,
even though you may be a self-employed photographer.
Now I say this because you need to be working at your marketing game every day
or at least a few times a week when you're not shooting
to be able to market your work to potential clients.
This is a numbers game. When you think of photography as a marketing thing overall,
the more emails you send out with the right work to the right people,
the more chance you have of getting your work out there.
Don't just upload your work to social media and assume people will find you.
You need to be active and put the work in front of the right eyes,
and believe me, when you start doing that it,
it will help, and you'll start to get more clients.
The other thing is to shoot with a commercial mindset.
So, with every shoot you do--and it's similar to a tip I mentioned earlier--
but to approach every shoot with "Today I'm shooting for this client
"even if it's a personal job."
Or "today I'm shooting for this editorial client,
"but I'm also thinking about jewelry clients,"
if you're shooting with jewelry
and how this could be potential marketing work as well.
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Thanks so much for watching. I hope these tips were helpful to you.
If you do have any follow-up questions or want to ask me anything,
ask them below, and I'll be commenting and replying to you.
If you want to follow my work or check out what I do,
head to larajade.com
or find me on Instagram at the handle @larajadephotography
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