Creating a fashion campaign is much more than just beautiful looking clothes, a fabulous model and good lighting—it’s a narrative that brings a brand’s identity to life.
Pictures say 1,000 words and its therefore imperative to make sure your shoot really gets your message across and represents what you want to communicate with your audience.
Everything must be considered and thought through, from the location to the models, lighting, photographer, accessories and styling to make-up and hair. All of these aspects need to be on point and make sure they elevate your shoot.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we shoot several times a year for our clients to make sure every shot on our clients website and socials deliver to the same standard as the clothing we designed and produced for them.
In this blog, we feed you through some of the key aspects involved in shooting your fashion campaign
1. Brand and Campaign Objective
Before you pick up a camera or scout a location, it’s essential to understand the brand’s DNA and Purpose. Every sportswear or fashion brand has a unique identity, USP and purpose and your campaign should reflect this clearly.
Brand guidelines and Purpose documents need to be followed here to a tee. If your brand represents sustainability, make sure the shoot identified this. If it’s luxury, shoot in a location that resonates this.
Key Questions to Ask:
- What is the story behind this collection and your brand?
- Who is the target audience and make sure your shoot sells to them ?
- What mood or emotion should the campaign convey?
- Is this for digital marketing, print ads, billboards, or a lookbook? Make sure you create a shoot list to cover all of these aspects.
Clear answers to these questions will inform every creative decision, from casting models to choosing your photographer and location.
2. Moodboard
Once you’ve identified the objective, it’s time to build the campaign’s creative concept. This is where you inject your vision and transform brand goals into visual storytelling. You can share this moodboard with everyone involved in the shoot so they all get it.
Create a Moodboard
Create your mood board based on what you need to communicate with your customer. Use tools such as Pinterest to collate images that fit the bill. Look at competitor brands or brands that have similar values or storytelling to you and use this as inspiration.
Note that you don’t need to look at direct competitors. For instance, if you are launching a luxury sportswear apparel brand, look at luxury brands like Aston Martin, Bentley, LVHM etc for inspiration that might give you an advantage in terms of creativity over just looking at your category.
Your moodboard should communicate:
- The overall vibe (e.g., dreamy, grungy, editorial, clean, sporty, technical)
- Styling direction
- Artistic references or historical influences
- Desired camera techniques or film styles including post shoot editing
- Lighting and colour
Make sure to share this with your entire team early in the process so everyone is aligned on the visual goals. This will save time on the shoot as everybody will understand the desired look.
3. Team
Fashion photography is a collaborative effort, and the success of your shoot depends on having the right people in place. Here’s a breakdown of who you might need:
Key Team Members:
- Creative Director – Oversees the concept and ensures consistency across all creative aspects.
- Photographer/Videographer – Captures the imagery.
- Stylist – Curates and coordinates outfits, accessories, and overall wardrobe.
- Hair & Makeup Artist (HMUA) – Enhances the model’s appearance according to the campaign vision. Note that sportswear may not require this as a more natural appearance is probably more suitable than a heavily made up model
- Producer – Handles scheduling, budgeting, and logistics. They will also scout the location and recce the shoot.
- Models – The face of the campaign. Choose individuals who align with the brand’s identity and if you are shooting sport, make sure they play, race or ride. Shooting a fashion model that have never struck a golf ball will be 1005 obvious when you capture the shoot. Try to find a suitable model that can do your sport.
If you’re working with a small budget, you may wear multiple hats to cut costs. At Blue Associates Sportswear, we often shoot with a small team to not only cut costs but streamline the shoot. Shoots can easily run over time when too many cooks get involved and need to have their say.
4. Casting Models
Models are not just mannequins—they are storytellers. Choosing the right model is vital to conveying the campaign’s emotion and reaching your target audience.
Consider:
- Diversity and inclusivity
- Model’s look in alignment with the brand
- Their posing ability and experience
- How expressive and adaptable they are in front of the camera
- Do they do your sports and how do they look doing it.
Always hold a casting session or request test shots before the shoot. Chemistry between the model and photographer also plays a major role in the success of the shoot.
Ask them to emulate your sport to make sure they look good. We have shot runners in the past that complete a marathon in a very decent time, however their running styles wasn’t ideal and looked awkward on the camera.
5. Location Scouting
The setting of your campaign plays a powerful role in storytelling. Depending on the concept, you might shoot in a studio, on the streets, in nature, or at a luxury location.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we spend hours pouring over google maps once a location has been located to understand the lay of the land.
Understand light and when the sun rises and sets and find the best location at the best time of the day. Shooting outside in the perfect light can make or break a shoot, so make sure you really time the lighting well and optimise the golden hours when the light is perfect.
Spend the time working out how long the light will stay in each location and also think about who else might be in that location and when. If you want a view all to yourselves, then an early or very late shout might be the best option. We’ve spend many a shoot having to wake at 4am to get into location and shoot sunset when the rest of the world remains in bed.
Location Types:
- Studio: Offers control over lighting and environment.
- Urban: Great for streetwear or editorial styles.
- Nature: Ideal for bohemian, minimalist, or sports themes.
- Architectural Spaces: Adds drama and structure to luxury or avant-garde campaigns.
Always recce locations ahead of time to check lighting conditions, access requirements, and possible disruptions.
Download a sun position app so you understand where the sun will be at any given time.
Consider obtaining permits if you’re shooting in public or private spaces.
6. Pre-Production and Shot Planning
This phase is where logistics and creativity converge.
Build a Shot List
Plan the sequence of shots you need to capture:
- Full-body, half-body, close-ups
- Static poses vs. motion shots
- Outfit changes
- Hero images for advertising
- Behind-the-scenes or social media content
- Video
- Drone
- Detail shots
Create a Schedule
Time is money, especially when you have a full team on call. It’s therefore important you spend your time wisely.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we create a very detailed schedule that includes all of the key information such as-:
- Contact information for every crew member
- Wake up and time to roll
- Location postcodes and times to arrive.
- Call time for each crew member
- Makeup and hair sessions
- Lighting setups
- Location time and make sure you stick to it, as running over eats into the next location shoot.
- Lunch breaks (make sure the team are constantly fed and watered)
- Wrap time
Distribute this document to your team at least a day in advance so everyone is on the same page and understands the day in front of them.
We always suggest you bring more than normal in terms of food and drink. A hungry or thirsty team soon becomes a deflated and tired team.
7. Checklist
Leaving something behind on a shoot can literally kill a shoot. We suggest you make a checklist of everything you need.
Essentials:
- Cameras, Tripods, lenses, batteries, memory cards, chargers and back ups.
- Make up, brushes, and hair ties as required.
- Styling props such as scalves, hats, gloves, helmets or shoes. Make sure these compliment your brand and don’t use a direct competitors brand unless you remove or cover the logo.
- Lighting and props if required.
- Food, snack and drinks.
- Appropriate clothing for the climate. Make sure everyone stays dry and warm, especially when you shoot outside and think about conditions in 4-5 hours time and where you shoot. Being exposed to the elements or shooting as the sun goes down is different to shooting in the mid-day sun.
- Lastly, the clothes you plan to shoot, which should be steamed and ready to go.
8. Execution
The day of the shoot should be smooth, focused, and collaborative. It should also be fun, so make sure everyone is enjoying it.
Keep Communication Open
Make sure everyone on set understands the creative direction and their role. Encourage feedback, but keep the atmosphere professional, focused but light-hearted. A pushing Art Director wont get the best out of the team.
Direct With Confidence
Photographers should give clear, concise direction to models while allowing room for natural movement and expression. Show the team occasional previews of the images to boost morale and align expectations.
Praise the teams work and make sure everyone is valued and appreciated.
Stay Adaptable
Sometimes the lighting shifts, a model calls in sick, or a location becomes unavailable. Be ready to pivot. Creativity often shines through challenges.
9. Post-Production/Editing
After the shoot, you’ll sift through hundreds (if not thousands) of images. Gone are the days of shooting on film where a days shoot might comprise of 24 shots.
Select the strongest ones that align with the campaign’s vision and then start the post production to make sure the shots align in terms of exposure, lighting and grain.
Steps:
- Culling: Choose the best photos from each look and angle and make sure you cover off what you need for website, socials and editorial.
- Retouching: Clean skin, remove distractions, adjust colours and tones while maintaining realism that fits with your brand.
- Colour Grading: Match the overall mood and palette of your moodboard.
- Formatting: Export images in appropriate dimensions for print, web, and social media.
Tools like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Capture One are industry standards that most professional photographers use.
Edit a couple of phots first and make sure these align with the brief before you complete the edit on all of the photos.
10. Deliverables
Finally, compile and deliver the campaign materials in line with client expectations.
Prepare:
- High-res and web-optimised versions
- Storyboards or lookbooks
- Social media teasers and short-form videos for Instagram stories and Tik Tok
Bonus Tips for a Successful Fashion Campaign
- Build Relationships: Treat every campaign as an opportunity to grow your network, ready for the next shoot. Stay respectful, punctual, and professional and make the shoot as fun as possible. This will go far when you call the team to shoot the next campaign.
- Legal Matters: Always have contracts signed (model release, location agreements, NDA’s if needed).
- Behind the Scenes (BTS): Capture behind-the-scenes footage for extra content that you can tease to your followers to drum up an appetite for the launch. Audiences love seeing the process behind the polished look.
Shooting a fashion campaign is a balance between art and great organisation. When done right, it becomes more than just a collection of images—it becomes a story, a message, a movement that depicts the brands values.
Whether you’re shooting your first campaign or your fiftieth, the key lies in staying true to the brand while adding your creative signature and amazing organisation and project management.
We love shooting campaigns for our clients as it’s the final piece of the creative puzzle and brings the products to life. It’s the first time everyone can see the initial vision on real people on location and we get a buzz every-time we shoot.
If you want to discuss your shoot, then get in touch for more information.
