So, you want to be a fashion photographer?
The Sims 4 Moschino Stuff introduced a new career, Freelance Fashion Photographer, so we thought we’d take a look at how to succeed.
What do I need?
Talent, charisma, persistence, a good eye for detail and a little bit of luck. Well, that’s real life! In The Sims, you can get started anyway with just a smartphone camera and access to a PC. Of course, the better your skills and equipment, the better your pictures. Some things do remain the same! There are some extras you can buy as you develop, and earn more simoleons, which can help you advance.
Cameras
Your Sim’s phone camera is enough to get you started. Between that and using the PCs in the various libraries, you really can start with no special equipment, making this career a good choice to get started.
Next up are the 3 existing in game cameras. As ever, the better the camera, the better your shots. Each session gets you 5 snapshots, if shooting freehand.
Finally, there’s the rewards cameras. One comes for maxing out the Fashion Photographer career and, if you have Island Living, there’s one that comes with the Conservation career.
With all of them, the quality of the camera and your sim’s photography skill both impact impact how the pictures turn out, but even with the best camera, you may still suffer blurs, thumbs and gnome-based photobombs.
If only there were a way to guarantee the perfect picture every time…
Portable Accessories
Two new objects can be added to your sim’s inventory to make setting up impromptu photoshoots a breeze. Firstly, you have a tripod you can whip out and add a camera from your inventory. The tripod has a couple of advantages – it doubles the number of shots you can take, it offers a grid to line up your pictures, rather than a focus square when hand held, and, well, I’ve yet to take a bad photo using it! No blur, no thumbs, no gnomes!
Second, you have a subject mark to put on the floor where sims can pose – or you can summon a sim if there’s no one available.
It can take a bit of practice to get them lined up right when placed from inventory
Handy, huh?
Studio Accessories
Of course, the tripod and subject mark can be left set up in your studio, and the game also comes with backdrops for your studio, including one that functions like the Get Famous backgrounds.
Talking of Get Famous, this area is a great example of how the packs can work together. Not only do the studio pieces from Get Famous work with this pack, but things like the City Living murals also make great backgrounds.
Getting a job
As with all jobs and careers in game, it’s as simple as picking up the phone, or surfing online! Join the Freelance career, and pick the Fashion Photographer agency. Then, on the career tab, click to select your next gig.
You’ll see a list of available jobs suitable for your skill level, plus a few for the next level up – just to give you something to aspire to!
The jobs give you an outline of the requirement – number of sims, style of clothing, or poses, and time scales, as well as the payout if you’re successful. Pick one that suits your sim. Once selected, you can click on the career tab for full details. They offer a variety of rewards, from a couple of hundred simoleons to several thousand, even for a skill level 1 job – great way to get some fast ready cash! And, as mentioned above, all you need is a smartphone!
Most gigs will ask for specific pictures (task 1) to be submitted for approval (task 2). Once your pic is approved – which doesn’t always happen first time – some may also ask you to wait until they return it by post, and submit it to a Fashion Simstagram (task 3). This isn’t your regular Simstagram that your social media loving Sims can post to, but a specific one available under the Freelance option on any PC.
Read the tasks carefully. Some will ask for specific outfits – and it’s worth checking your model, as a lot of stuff is categorised in more than one outfit.
Pictures that are rejected may still meet the objective, if all it asks is for you to submit it.
Pay special attention to the timings; if you need to upload to Instagram, you need to wait on it being returned in the mail.
While photography can be a great way to build friendship from scratch in a hurry, if you have Get Famous, be aware that, as with a lot of things, celebrity Sims need to have a higher level of friendship to instigate the Take Photo Of… options than regular Sims.
Currently (August 2019) there’s a known bug where portrait-orientated photos aren’t coming back fast enough in the mail or are landing in the family inventory instead of the Sim’s personal inventory.. The Sim Gurus are on the case!
From what I’ve seen, this is happening when submitting portrait-orientated photos. Landscapes are fine. Thanks for the reports everyone 🙂 https://t.co/fbVTB5tolb
— SimGuruNick (@SimGuruNick) August 15, 2019
As with other freelance careers, there’s no specific pathway for promotion, you just need to keep working away, taking gigs and building your skill.
So, how are your Sim photographers doing?
Leave a Comment