How the fashion industry generates thousands of persuasive product photographs every day

A complete solution

The camera can capture the subject from various angles, while the software works out the ideal lighting and settings according to the user's preferences, and even cuts out the background afterwards. Everything is controlled from a tablet managing StyleShoots' embedded software, and Canon's Software Development Kit (SDK) ensures the software can communicate with the camera and tell it to adjust zoom, tilt, and elevation. The operator can also change technical settings such as focus, exposure, white balance and much more via just a single touch of the screen.

Automation and control

The idea is to leave complex calculations to the machines and give the user a simple interface from which to generate quality content quickly. It's a one-touch solution so that it can be used not just by photographers, but by anyone in the styling team. This was the key requirement for Anders and his team. "We realised that in order to do something as automated as we wanted, we would need to make everything ourselves and use the best materials," Anders says. "The Canon equipment we use is an important component, and without the SDK from Canon, this whole thing would actually not be possible."

Using the custom app, users can see their product in the live view and alter light and shadow by swiping a finger along the X and Y coordinates on the touchscreen. Using the simple but powerful Click-WB feature, they can adjust the white balance by changing the colour temperature of the StyleShoots machine's built-in full-spectrum LEDs.

Because both the automated lighting and the white balance can be adjusted easily via the interface, the StyleShoots machines make it easy to achieve clear, natural colour rendition and realistic skin tones on models. The settings can be saved as presets in the StyleShoots software, along with pre-determined camera angles if desired, and recalled for use at a later date to ensure that images look consistent across product lines.

From stills to video seamlessly

Creative control, less post-processing

Anders emphasises the creative benefits of this simplified workflow. "People don't believe this equipment is as good as we say it is until they try it," he says. "When they try it, they start to see the possibilities. The stylists and photographers are the people who use this equipment. Not only are they the ones setting up and taking the pictures in the first place, but they are also the ones with the styling knowledge to evaluate whether the result complies with the company style guide, for example.

"To capture the best possible image, the stylists may want to shoot a few different versions before exporting. But if the files are saved immediately [as in a more traditional workflow], they have no chance to compare or correct mistakes before the files are passed on to the guys in post-processing. Ultimately, this can lead to someone down the line starting to work on an image that isn't necessarily the best one. We eliminate all that thanks to our carefully developed algorithms and clipping paths."

Thanks to the software's ability to intelligently adjust the lighting and carry out complex calculations, it's possible for backgrounds to be removed automatically, without an image retoucher having to lift a finger. "The powerful algorithms can even detect the background down to a single pixel, so products with a fine mesh – like sheer scarves, for example – can still be used in the StyleShoots machines to produce a perfectly cut-out, professional quality image, with no distortions or unwanted background showing through," says Anders.