Mar 14, 2025
6 Types of Fashion Photography For Ecommerce Brands
The images you use for fashion brands to showcase your products can make or break a sale. That's especially true for ecommerce stores, which rely on product photography to tell an online shopper all about an item before they buy it. Different types of fashion photography can help you achieve specific goals, whether you are aiming for artistic appeal, straightforward visuals, or something in between. This blog will explore different types of clothing photography for ecommerce brands and how they can help you reach your objectives.
Caspa's AI product photography platform can help you achieve your goals faster by automating the process of taking and editing clothing photos. With our solution, you can quickly capture studio-quality images that highlight your clothing's unique features so you can get back to running your business.
Table of Contents
What Is Fashion Photography?
Fashion photography plays a crucial role in promoting branded products from fashion houses worldwide, including:
Haute couture
Mass-market clothing
Shoes
Perfumes
Accessories
Today, the focus of fashion photos often shifts from individual products to entire brands, much like mainstream TV commercials. The meaning and aesthetics of fashion photography are deeply intertwined with contemporary art and popular culture, reflecting themes of women’s:
Self-image
Gender
Sexuality
Societal aspirations
Global Expansion of Fashion Photography: The Role of Media and Emerging Fashion Hubs
Fashion photography is also closely connected to the media, having evolved from its early days in women’s magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar to its widespread global reach today, aided by the digital revolution and the rise of the Internet. Publications such as Elle, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, W, and Grazia have expanded its influence. While New York has long been considered the epicenter of fashion photography, Paris and Milan remain key creative hubs. Shortly, cities in India and China are poised to emerge as major global fashion centers.
Related Reading
• Fashion Photography Tips
• Ecommerce Fashion Photography
• T Shirt Product Photography
6 Types of Fashion Photography For Ecommerce Brands
1. Invisible Mannequin Photography: The Ghost in the Machine
Invisible mannequin photography is a clever technique that creates a ghostly effect on clothing images. This method removes the mannequin from the image, leaving only the clothing. This is done by photographing the garment on a mannequin and then merging them in post-processing. Invisible mannequin photography shows the fit and design of clothing without the distraction of the mannequin. When shooting invisible mannequin photography, the clothing must be evenly lit, preferably with studio lights. This method is relatively easy and budget-friendly because expensive models are not required.
2. Flat Lay Photography: The Art of Arranging
In flat-lay photography, clothing is photographed on a flat surface. This approach can create an enticing image and showcase a product’s details. Here are a few things to remember when shooting flat-lay photography.
The apparel needs to be well-lit, using studio lights or flashes.
Choose a plain background. A solid color is delicate as long as it complements the subject.
White is a good choice as it will never clash with the clothing.
Find a way to arrange the subject that is visually appealing.
Fashion merchandising with flat lay photography is easy and doesn’t require a large budget.
3. Model Photography: The Classic Fashion Shoot
Model photography is the most common type of fashion photography, and it is often used to promote fashion brands and products in lifestyle shots. This type of fashion photography can be done in traditional settings, such as studios and outdoor locations, or it can be done on the streets for a contemporary, edgy look. Street shots have become a popular style of fashion photography on Instagram. Street photography featuring fashion models in casual clothing often has a more relaxed approach, emphasizing comfortable and practical clothing.
4. 360-Degree Photography: A Whole New Angle
360-degree fashion photography is more dynamic than traditional 2D photography. Viewing products from all angles gives the customer more information about each item. 360-degree shots also allow buyers to see the product’s texture, fabric, pattern, and cut on all sides. 360-degree turntables can be used to photograph or film models and accessories uniquely.
5. Street Fashion Photography: The Style of the People
Street fashion photography, also known as street style photography, focuses on what people wear and how they style it in the real world. It started as a sub-genre of street photography in which people were photographed daily to display their style. In Street Photography, candid photographs of real people in the streets look better.
6. Lifestyle Shots: The Story Behind the Clothing
A lifestyle shot captures a model in a setting or scenario that indicates how a particular garment or accessory can be incorporated into everyday life. Lifestyle shots in fashion campaigns evoke a specific mood or feeling and help potential buyers visualize themselves wearing the product. Lifestyle photography tells a visual story to engage the target audience and connect them emotionally with the brand.
Benefits of Fashion Photography For Ecommerce Businesses
Good photography enhances the look of your products. Add to that a well-executed layout, and you’ll get a brand identity that people will recognize instantly. That’s why excellent images of your fashion collection are crucial for your business. The photos on your site reflect your product and support you in gaining buyers’ trust. And the closer the pictures are to reality, the better. This principle will help you meet your customers’ expectations and avoid extra costs – products not matching the photo or description are cited among the most common reasons for returns. A study by Intent Lab shows that over 85% of respondents buying clothes or furniture online attach more weight to visuals than text.
Leveraging Visuals for Customer Retention: The Impact of High-Quality Product Photography on Repeat Business
What your products look like in pictures is a significant factor in the decision-making process throughout the customer journey, not just the initial purchase. Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more than new customers. To keep customers happy, you need excellent pictures across different channels.
How Fashion Photography Boosts E-Commerce: Key Benefits for Online Retailers
This is how fashion photography helps your ecommerce business:
Gives Shoppers an Excellent View of Your Products
High-quality e-commerce photography improves the perceived value of your products. This means that customers will find it exciting to browse your clothes online. On the flip side, if your product images are blurry or poorly composed, they create a negative image of your brand. No one wants to buy from a business that can’t even show decent photos of its products. Doing so will turn off buyers and repel them from purchasing your fashion products.
Less Number, High-Quality, Faster Site Speed
Don’t show everything. When you upload images of your products, don’t upload a lot of photos for each product. A maximum of 2 to 3 photos will do them justice, as the shopper will have a clear idea of what is going on. E-commerce photography helps you upload high-quality photos that will do justice to your creativity and brand and attract more customers. This will also mean your site will load faster on the browser, and shoppers won’t get irritated by the slow speed. Customer retention will be high.
E-Commerce Photography Helps to Highlight Benefits
In E-commerce photography, apart from showing images online and seeking attention from shoppers, it can also highlight the benefits. Fabusse offers 360-degree photography for fashion products, letting shoppers virtually see the whole product inside out. This can help shoppers make the final buying decision faster.
Indoor or Outdoor Shoot Photos Will Look Awesome
E-commerce photography for your online store requires special techniques and expertise. Indoor or outdoor photo shoots need a particular style and resolution so that your customers or shoppers enjoy the view of the product while browsing. This will grow overall sales steadily.
Comparatively Less Cost
Photos taken for E-commerce photography purposes will cost less than full-fledged fashion photography. Generally, fashion photography involves more money as it needs to be highly glossy, glamorous, and ready for print and television media. This is a perfect option for global customers who want to spend less on photography.
Reusable Photos
You can run the show hassle-free once you have enough photos for your website. Suppose there is a gap in production and new products are unavailable. In that case, you can reuse images on different platforms, including social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, etc., with new captions and content or offers.
Related Reading
• Shoe Product Photography
• Flat Lay Clothing Photography
4 Best Fashion Photography Tips
1. See from Your Audience’s Perspective
Understand that customers can’t physically touch products when buying online. There are no real-life interactions to help them assess quality. Instead, buyers rely on product photos to make purchase decisions. So, consider the pain points when buying online and inform customers about the product. Showcase the product details, fabric, fit, and features. Taking close-up shots to highlight textures and intricate designs.
2. Be Consistent with Your Photography Style
Consistency allows customers to develop a brand identity. When you come across specific patterns, colors, and designs over and over, you instantly start to remember where they were. They linger in your memory. A strong visual identity for your brand will attract more loyal customers. Constant lighting, backgrounds, props, and color coordination will help the branding strategy.
3. Capture from Different Angles
It doesn’t mean consistency captures your eCommerce fashion photography from the same angle. It will bore customers. Capturing it from different angles gives customers a fuller view of the products and helps them visualize their appearance. Try shooting your product photos from different angles, such as high, low, eye-level, and Dutch angles, now and then. All these angles can provide various perspectives on the products.
4. Count Props as A Compliment
Props beautify the images and complete the story of the products. They should complement the product but not overdo it, as it distracts the audience. Try using props carefully, those that will raise a resonance with the branding strategy.
Get AI Product Photos that Increase Your Sales for Free Today
Caspa helps eCommerce brands create stunning product photography with AI, eliminating the need for multiple tools that traditionally eat up to 20% of revenue, like:
Photographers
Models
From creating ultra-realistic product shots with human models to editing existing photos, Caspa's all-in-one AI product photography platform handles everything from background removal to upscaling, letting brands produce professional marketing visuals in seconds. Whether you need custom stock photos or complete studio editing capabilities, Caspa streamlines the entire product visualization workflow into a single, cost-effective solution. Get AI product photos that increase your sales today!
Related Reading
• Best Way to Photograph Clothing
• Clothing Brand Photoshoot Ideas
• Fashion Photography Examples
