Hello all, I am in the debating stage of starting a commercial photography business. I know getting clients in the beginning is tough, and some people suggest doing work for free to build up a portfolio, which I intend to do.
If I really want to build and tailor my portfolio to the work I want to get moving forward, can I create my own mock photoshoots with brands/products that I believe in, without their permission? I would get to fully express my work without the normal constraints of a typical project, but would there be any copyright issues if I put these photos on my website? I am not directly making money from these images, but I would/could be displaying their logo without their permission. Would I have to blur out their logos? Is this something people have done before? Any insight would help. Thanks
Yes you can do this. The only issue is at a portfolio showing to a client and if they say “was this a job for Hugo Boss” you obviously can’t say yes. You would say its a test shoot. I actually got a job with a fashion brand by doing this, i got some high end clothing / footwear from some friends shot it on various backgrounds at home to fill out my portfolio with more product images - so it can work!
yeah, you should be good as long as it’s for personal use and not for commercial gain. plenty of photographers do personal projects with brands and products they like. just make sure not to use it for commercial purposes and you should be fine.
A lot of photographers do it, I don’t think it’s a big deal for big brands as long as you keep it clean, but it can come off as disingenuous, I wouldn’t focus to much on brands, but more on what you are capable of doing creatively.
Imagine you did a shoot with anyone. They are surely going to be wearing branded clothing. You would have to blur out the brands for every shoot you did. That would be crazy.