In this world of super-competitive sportswear brands, it’s crucial your activewear brand stands out from the crowd and portrays a positive image to convince consumers about your USP, values and position in the market.
Consumers are inundated with marketing from a myriad of platforms, from online adverts, links, blogs, publications, TV and social platforms and it’s therefore paramount your image strikes the right chord to cut through this fog.
Sportswear photography and film isn’t as straightforward as fashion. We’re selling authenticity and performance as well as style and desirability and therefore the shoot needs a lot more detail, research and planning than a fashion shoot.
Firstly, the models can’t simply be models. Sure, they may look great wearing the clothes but if they can’t ride a horse or bike, pull weight at the gym or ski (all depending on your brand’s sport) then the whole shoot will fall flat.
Having an authentic model who actually does the sport is paramount. How the hold the handlebars. Reins, ski poles, dumbbell is critical to make the shoot look real. If anything isn’t 100% then the world of your target athletes will pick up on this and click off your promotion or website.
Hair and make-up also need to be carefully considered. We laugh when you see models running for established running brands with perfectly groomed hair and full make-up, however, real runners never look like this.
Accessories need to be on point too. If you’re a high-end cyclewear brand, then the shoes, helmet, lights, bike, wheels and even water bidons need to match your brands status without using competitors’ products.
Location is also incredibly important. The shoot needs to look aspirational and pull the consumer into the shoot, wish they were there, running, skiing or riding that epic location. Again, pointless shooting a high-end performance cyclewear brand in the middle of Birmingham.
Once the location is sourced, a full recce is then required so that the angle of each shot is nailed including when to shoot this location due to traffic, light, sun, shade etc.
Shooting the features should also be considered. The garment needs to perform and make the athlete feel comfortable with built-in features that they will use when they carry out their exercise. It’s important these are captured to highlight their function.
Pulling together a shoot plan including a detailed timeline for each day you are shooting along with storyboards, location recce shots and examples of the mood and feel for the overall shoot is required to help guide the shoot and double-check on the day that everything is actually being shot and to the required style/brief.
We have a network of sportswear photographers and videographers that suit different budgets and styles from location through to studio shoots, so if you are looking for a quality photographer to shoot your activewear, then please get in touch to see how we can help.
See some of the activewear photoshoots we have shot here.
