Become a better photographer

Do you want to become a better portrait or fashion photographer? It is time to be inspired by the professional fashion and portrait photographer, Dariane Sanche, who creates amazing art.

Photography-RAW had a chance to interview her about her photography, required skills, and inspiration.

How did you become interested in fashion and portrait photography?

I never really knew that I wanted to be a photographer. Since my young age, I was inspired by nature, texture, haute couture, Vogue, Chanel, etc.

Fashion and portrait photography happened a bit by chance in my life. When I was younger in high school, I had not touched a camera yet, but I already had good knowledge of Photoshop.

My father was a graphic designer, so when I went to his office, the only software I could enjoy was Photoshop. One day at school, girls were talking about a photo project and looking for a photographer to take pictures. I told them that my father had a camera and that with my knowledge in Photoshop I could realize their project. At that moment, I realized that with these 2 tools I could create an image all that I imagined myself.

Which other photographers have inspired you in your portrait/fashion photography and how did they influence you?

Peter Lindbergh, Tim Walker, and Tim Burton are my top 3 photographers who inspire me a lot. For fans of portrait and fashion photography, it will probably not be a discovery! I really love their sense of creativity, their perfect lighting, and the sensitivity and emotion that we can feel through their pictures.

The softness of their images inspires me continually in my work to succeed in capturing and making feel different emotions in the portraits that I realize. The imaginary and theatrical aspect that we find in their work inspires me to create costumes and sets / staging to create a whole atmosphere.

Did you have any formal training in photography, or how did you learn the craft of photography?

I describe my self as a self-taught artist. I learned everything by myself. Full of creativity and of imagination, photography class was too technical for me. I try to study photography, but school was not for me.

Trial/error has been my way of learning. Also, I watched a lot of tutorials on youtube to improve my photography technique, and also for photo editing.

Today, I will consider my self a multi disciplinary artist, because I like to touch other sphere, like make-up, hairdressing, hand made costume and headpiece, staging…

What set of skills is important to be successful in fashion & portrait photography?

Professionalism skills are important if you want to be successful in photography. This is how you run your business, how you talk to people (respect), how you respect your engagement (reliability)…

Communication is also one important skill because as a photographer you will need to talk with your team to describe what you want, talk with the model to describe the mood, pose and emotion you want for the photoshoot.

Creativity and the sense of detail are also important to get a good composition in your picture.

With time, all these skills can be developed and improved!

How important are social skills to create a great portrait?

I think that social skills are one of the essential keys to create a great portrait. The photographer needs to communicate with their models, and models need to know what the photographer want (emotion, intensity, eye, posing).

It’s not just about posing in camera and press on the shutter. Sure a good model with experience will give you awesome shot and pose, but in my opinion a connection is needed between the photographer and the model if you want to capture emotion.

This is a team work, and a good team have good communication skills.

How important is gear for this style of photography? And what camera gear do you use?

Gear is tools, and like any of your passion or activity like sports or cooking, when you have good gear it can help, it can be more enjoyable to work and more effective.

I prone the quality before quantity with my photography gear. My material is, therefore, more durable. For example, until next week, I was working with a Canon 5D Mark II. It’s lasted a long time, and it still a good camera, but it’s starting to get tired. I just bought a Canon 5D Mark IV.

My lens are all Canon:

Canon EF 35mm f1.4L II USM

50mm f1.4

EF 100mm f2.8L IS USM

I really like to work with prime lenses because of the quality and the bokeh they offer.

In my opinion, for fashion and portrait photography the quality of the light, is one of the key to a successful and quality image. Having good quality studio flash and modifier will definitively improve the photo.

For studio light I use Broncolor Siros 800s, they are beasts! I love all the feature offer in the Siros 800s, the power and the softness of the light. The modifier that I work with are Broncolor 150cm Octabox, 75cm Octabox, 60x60cm softbox.

What advice would you give to someone who’s just getting started with fashion photography?

I think the first piece of advice I can give to anyone who is interested in fashion photography would be to master the light (studio light or natural light). Once the light is beautiful and controlled the rest should go well. Finally, when it’s come to photo editing, your choice of photo and how you frame the picture is also very important.

Concluding words

I think it is impossible not to be inspired by Dariane Sanche’s portfolio. Even for someone like me who is normally more into wildlife and nature photography. You can really see in her images, that this is where the craft of photography, art, attention to detail and a professional approach comes together into a single image. You can also follow Dariane on 500px, Facebook or Instagram for a regular dose of inspiring fashion and portrait photography.