Fashion Photography

Fashion Photography

When is an image a Portrait when is it a fashion photograph?

I think that a fashion photograph and a portrait are very different. I think that a portrait is when the photograph is mainly focused on the face of the subject and the way that the subject looks by way of facial features or something like that. Therefore I think that a fashion photograph is based on the clothing. You can usually tell when a photograph is based on the clothing because the subject is usually more of a vehicle for the clothing. Whereas in a portrait the clothing isn’t the important most important thing, it tends to be the subjects facial expressions. Another way of telling the difference between a fashion photograph and a portrait would be the editing that goes into a fashion photograph compared to a portrait. Portraits don’t tend to be edited that much compared to fashion photographs because fashion photographs are supposed to sell the clothing or the style, they have to look good for magazines whereas portraits aren’t edited as much as fashion photographs and don’t have to be sold.

To what degree should an image manipulated to go into a fashion magazine?

I think that fashion photographs should not be edited at all on the computer using programs such as Photoshop. The only editing that should be done is makeup to the model or the subject that is presenting the clothing. I think that the manipulation of makeup should definitely be allowed because everyone has access to makeup and that’s always how we have seen fashion since the beginning. If people limited the amount of makeup then the images would look less attractive to the consumers, but when the images start getting manipulated on the computer that is when it takes away its legitimacy which makes the image more of a lie to the consumers.

Is there a clash between the creative and commercial side of fashion Photography?

There is definitely a clash between the creative and commercial side of photography, a lot of the creative fashion is refused entry to magazines because the commercial side doesn't think that it is able to be used and isn't able to make money.