Clothing photography: How to capture perfect apparel shots

Are you eager to showcase your clothing line in the most impactful, visually appealing way possible? 

Lucky for you, creating professional clothing photography doesn't mean you have to hire an expert or purchase expensive equipment. You just need to know about the right approach, techniques, and tools! 

In this article, you’ll learn how to capture the perfect apparel shots using your smartphone and some creativity so you can boost customer engagement and sales. 

According to an Etsy survey, 90% of shoppers said the quality of the photos was “extremely important” or “very important” to a purchase decision. Even more important than the retail price, shipping costs, and reviews. 

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get started.

Clothing photography: what you need

Mastering clothing photography requires some essential tools, but don't fret, most of these are probably within your reach already.

Smartphone (iPhone or Android)

Smartphones have transformed more than just the way we communicate and consume content. 

High-definition cameras integrated into iPhone or Android phones make clear, professional-looking photographs of clothing more accessible. 

Plus, with AI product photography and photo editing apps like Photoroom in your pocket, you don’t need expensive or complicated editing software to enhance your smartphone photos. 

“AI tools have grown from simple background remover tools to autopilots that can supplement human creativity across editing, styling, and content generation tasks,” says Matthieu Rouif, co-founder and CEO at Photoroom.

Tripod selfie stick

Whether you’re photographing garments on your body, a model, or a mannequin, maintaining stability for each shot is crucial. You can find affordable tripod selfie sticks on Amazon to avoid shaky hands or other movement that causes blurred or distorted photos. Most of the options on Amazon come with a remote, making it easier to take shots of yourself, if necessary.

Natural light

Rather than investing in expensive studio lighting (something that's not always more flattering), take photos in a room with natural light. Your natural light source should come from behind the camera lens (i.e., if you’re holding up your smartphone camera, the natural light should shine in from behind you). 

💡 Don’t have a great natural light source? Don’t worry! With Photoroom, you can use the Light On feature to improve lighting or toggle other settings to adjust brightness, shadows, contrast, and more to enhance your clothing photography. 

Mannequin or model

Photographing apparel on a mannequin or model can help show how it looks and drapes over the body, making it easier for shoppers to visualize it and make a purchase.

With a tripod selfie stick, you can photograph the garments on your body to avoid the expense of hiring a model and the hassle of dressing and undressing a mannequin. Or if you want to show how your clothes look on the body without showing a person or mannequin in the image, try ghost mannequin photography. 

💡 Pro Tip: Use Photoroom to achieve the ghost mannequin technique in minutes — create an enticing 3D effect showcasing how your apparel looks when it’s worn, without distractions. 

AI photo editor

Post-processing your clothing photos can feel like a daunting task, especially when you wear so many hats to run your business. An AI-powered photo editor like Photroom can be a game-changer to refine shots, fix imperfections, and edit photos in just a few minutes, and the end results can help increase engagement and sales. In fact, according to our data, some Photoroom users have increased monthly sales by up to $5000 thanks to better product photography. 

“Photoroom has helped keep all of my selling platforms really clean and professional across the board, says Brooke Pickel, founder of Blonde Bandit Vintage. “I like to use a white background with a lot of my listings and when I’d take the photos myself, sometimes the lighting was off or the white looked a little yellow, but with Photoroom, I get a perfect white background every time. So just from a visual perspective, Photoroom has produced more views, more likes, and more sales for our brand.”

📚 Further reading: How to sell vintage clothing online: 10-step guide

Photographing clothing: 6-step guide

1. Prepare your clothing

2. Set up your equipment

3. Style your apparel

4. Optimize smartphone camera settings for product photography

5. Take your clothing photos

6. Edit and enhance your garment photos in Photoroom 

1. Prepare your clothing

Prep your clothing ahead of time for a smoother photoshoot experience and better final images.

This includes both ironing or steaming your clothes to remove wrinkles and removing tags or other distractions.

Source

Create a shot list (a list of all the photos you need) before your photoshoot so you don't have to scramble in the moment to figure out what garment to photograph next. 

If you sell tops, bottoms, and dresses, for example, you can create outfits ahead of time and if you need to shoot tops and bottoms alone you can do them in batches. This way, you won’t have to constantly adjust the camera height or settings. 

💡 Pro Tip: Have a lint roller handy to remove unwanted particles on dark clothing that tend to display specks more vividly. 

2. Set up your equipment

Use a tripod selfie stick to stabilize your smartphone camera and eliminate the chance of blurry images caused by shakes. 

Whether it's on a mannequin or model, laying flat, or hanging, adjust your smartphone and tripod according to where you’ll shoot the clothes. 

For example, aligning your camera directly above flat lay photos makes the image look balanced and if you’re shooting tops, make sure the camera is positioned at the right height so it doesn’t create an unflattering angle from below or above. 

💡 Pro Tip: Mark the floor with tape so you know where to place the tripod for each type of shot, and don’t forget to clean your smartphone camera lens!   

📚 Further reading: Beginner's guide to product photography setup

3. Style your apparel

Model

Photographing clothing on a model brings the garments to life, showcasing how they fit and move on a real person. This makes it easier for customers to see themselves wearing the product and provides a realistic view of the clothing's appearance and style.

Brooke uses images created in Photoroom to model her clothing for Instagram marketing.

“As a business, Photoroom has definitely impacted us [Blonde Bandit] in a really positive way,” says Brooke. “It’s helped me streamline all of my content and creative assets and enabled me to move so much faster, which helps me keep up with the super fast pace of social media and stay on my A game.”

Mannequin

Using a mannequin for clothing photography gives a consistent and professional look. Mannequins can highlight the shape and structure of the clothing without the distractions that can come with live models. This method is ideal for maintaining focus on the garment's design and details.

💡 Pro Tip: Transfer clothing from a live model to a mannequin using Photoroom. 

Flat Lay

Flat lay photography involves arranging clothing items neatly on a flat surface and capturing the image from above. This style is perfect for showcasing complete outfits or highlighting specific details and accessories. It's a versatile approach that can create visually appealing and organized presentations of your products.

Brooke creates a Valentine’s Day themed flat lay for an Instagram post by incorporating props like roses and a heart printed background. Including props in flat lay shots makes them unique and can help shoppers see how your clothing fits their lifestyle. 

💡 Pro Tip. Save money and create more product photos faster by using Photoroom to add props to your images with AI Backgrounds or by replacing backgrounds with an image.

For example, if you sell yoga apparel, you could use a yoga mat in the background or if you sell tennis skirts, you could scatter tennis balls around. Just make sure props accentuate your apparel products rather than stealing the spotlight. 

Here’s how you can achieve these two ideas with Photoroom: 

1. I created this AI-generated background using this prompt, “Flat on dark green background with tennis balls all the same size scattered around.” 

2. I created this new background by inserting an image of a yoga mat in the background of the product photo. 

Hanger

Photographing clothing on a hanger is a simple yet effective method to display the garment's shape and design. This technique works well for showing how the clothing hangs naturally, providing a clear view of the item without any distractions. It’s a good choice for minimalist and clean product presentations or garments that are less likely to require styling tips, like a t-shirt. 

You can use the original images or enhance them with Photoroom by swapping out the background for a minimalist template or by using an AI prompt like, "Hanging on a shelf with plants above it."

4. Optimize smartphone camera settings for product photography

Before clicking away, check your smartphone camera settings. Make sure you're in the highest resolution and quality mode so you can capture every detail.

5. Take your clothing photos

It’s time for the fun part — photographing your clothing! Aim your smartphone camera at your subject, tap to focus, and take the shot. Adjust your settings throughout the shoot if you notice your images need more or less light. The more you practice, the more instinctive these adjustments will become.

Capture the front and back, left and right sides, and experiment with close-up shots (or macro shots) to highlight special features of your clothing like embroidery or embellishments to communicate their value with potential customers.

The more photos you take, the better. You'll have plenty of options to choose from for your final selection, and having multiple images per product on your website can help increase sales and decrease returns.

📚 Further reading: 14 product photography ideas to boost online sales

6. Edit and enhance your garment photos in Photoroom

Once you capture your photos, polish them using an AI product photography app like Photoroom to do the following and more:

• Remove backgrounds

• Replace backgrounds 

• Resize images and add text overlays 

• Adjust brightness and contrast

• Erase unwanted objects

Remove backgrounds

Log in to Photoroom on your laptop or open the app on your smartphone. 

Select the photo you want to edit. Here’s the original I used: 

When you upload your photo, Photoroom will automatically remove the background so you can pick one either from Templates or create a new one using AI Backgrounds. 

Replace backgrounds with a studio or lifestyle theme using templates, AI prompts, or inspiration images

For a professional studio background, I used the Professional Product Imagery template, something that’s useful for product pages. 

For a lifestyle image, I used AI Backgrounds. 

I typed in the prompt, “Standing on the street in Amsterdam near the canals” to generate various options. 

I chose this one: 

Resize images and add text overlays for promotional graphics and marketing assets 

Here, I resized the original square image to turn it into a hero image for an e-commerce homepage or collection page. 

Then I selected the object and stretched it to fit better in the new, rectangular background size. 

Then I clicked Insert to add Black Friday promotional text. 

Adjust the photo brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows, and more

Select the object and use the toolbar on the right to adjust the settings. 

Erase unwanted objects

Sometimes it’s hard to find a space without any clutter, that's why we make it easy to remove unwanted objects from your product photos. Follow these steps to edit images: 

💡 Do you need to edit many photos? Try Photoroom’s batch mode to enhance hundreds of images in seconds. 

“I really love the look of torn paper, tape, and overlaid items,” says Brooke. “With Photoroom, I can cut things, remove them and then just continue to duplicate, and it's something that’s been doing really well whenever I have a Depop or website drop of new items. And when I have 20 plus items to list at once, the Batch Edit capability really comes in handy, too. It’s amazing.”

You’re ready for your next clothing photoshoot

Taking on the task of photographing your clothing brand can be challenging. It might not be perfect initially, but that’s fine. Now you’re prepared to improve with each shoot and capture the best possible product images to increase engagement and sales across channels like Instagram, Shopify, Etsy, eBay, Depop, and more. 

📸 Photoroom is here to help you create beautiful clothing photography on the Web or using your smartphone (Google or Apple). Choose from a range of AI photo editing tools and upgrade to Photoroom Pro to access useful features like Batch Editor, HD quality, Smart Resize, and more.

Clothing photography FAQ

How can I photograph my clothing product without a model?

It’s possible and common in the fashion industry to photograph clothes without a human model. Here are three economical options that offer flexibility when shooting numerous pieces from your collection:

1. Flat lay shots where clothes are nicely arranged on a flat surface and photographed from above. 

2. A hanging shot where garments are photographed while hung against an unobstructed backdrop.

3. The ghost mannequin technique involves taking multiple images of your product on a mannequin, then editing to generate the illusion the item is floating in air.

What are some ideas for flat lay clothing photography?

• Combine related items. Pairing your main piece with suitable accessories gives customers an idea of how they might style it.

• Use props. Books, flowers, or other non-fashion items can add interest while highlighting the garment.

• Play with colors. Create a contrast between your apparel and background.

What's the best background for clothing photography?

Choosing the right background depends on each unique project or visual goal you want to achieve. That said, often simplicity rules. 

White backgrounds are popular for product listings because they eliminate distractions allowing products to shine. But a lifestyle approach can work better for social media or email campaigns to make your clothing photos stand out from the competition and provide a look into how customers can use and style them. Either way, it’s important to always aim for cohesive aesthetics that align well with your brand identity.

How do I photograph shirts?

1. Prepare the shirt. Iron or steam to eliminate wrinkles as creases don't look flattering in pictures.

2. Choose appropriate equipment. You want a camera offering high resolution and use no flash to avoid harsh shadows.

3. Lighting is key. Soft, natural light usually works best for clothes.

4. Edit and enhance the images. You can do this in minutes with Photoroom. 

5. Crop or extend the image size. Depending on the sales channel you use, Photoroom has templates for popular marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, and Depop or if you have a Shopify store, you can use that template. 

You may also like to read:

• How to perfect your Etsy listing photo size

• What to sell on Etsy: Popular items & best practices to make money

• Advantages of e-commerce automation in visuals

• How images impact conversion rates on marketplaces

• How to edit product images in under 5 minutes