Editorial Photography is the genre of photography that people are ideally the most familiar with. The photos one would see in their favorite travel or fashion magazines are an example of editorial photography. Fashion editorials, in particular, are pretty popular. Bruce Weber Photographer himself has done fashion editorial photography for globally renowned magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair.
Bruce Weber Photographer discusses the preparation phase involved in editorial photography shoots
Editorial photography involves photos that are used in magazines and other publications alongside text. Fashion and portrait photography are, in particular, widely used for editorials. In certain cases, an image is deemed to be powerful enough to tell a story, and there is no need for any text to be published along with it. Unlike commercial or product photos, editorial images have to be impactful and self-explanatory.
The key difference between commercial and editorial photography is that the latter aims at telling a story through an image. Hence, before starting their editorial shoot, photographers need to make sure that they have a proper understanding of the story or theme they want to depict through their photos. While communication is important in any photography genre, it especially is vital for editorials, as the photographers need to make the model aware of the message or story they want to convey. Before the shoot, they should meet the model personally, try to build a friend rapport and explain the aim and concept of the shoot to them. This will also allow the model to understand what emotions they should try to project in the shoot. After all, fashion expressions are usually pretty important to editorial photography.
Having a concept, knowing the story and sticking to them are three different things. Varying ideals and objectives may crop up at any point while preparing for an editorial shoot. In case the editor asks to switch or tweak the concept, the photographer has to be ready and flexible enough to meet the requirement. Magazine editors usually like to work with photographers who are fast on their feet and can provide quality work even under stringent deadlines.
One the concept, aim and model for the shoot are clear, the photographers need to find the ideal location for their shoot. If they are shooting indoors, then playing with the shadows, setting up the lighting and having sample shoots ready would be the ideal approach to maintain. However, in case the shoot demands them to step outdoors, a variety of other factors has to be considered as well. This includes the time of the shoot, the weather conditions, the lighting of the location, the background and so on. Amateur photographers should ideally start off with studio photography where factors would be in their control to learn and hone the basics of editorial photography and eventually step outdoors. They can always take inspiration from the works of Bruce Weber Photographer and more, when it comes to the camera and composition techniques of editorial shoots.
