How do fashion photographers avoid moire?

Question

If moire effects occur regularly when shooting patterned fabric or leather, and if AA filters are only a partial fix in some cases, how do fashion photographers cope with moire effects?

Answer 1

There are a few ways to deal with moiré and none of them is a guarantee in every situation:

1. Moiré adjustment tool/brush/filter in your post processing tool(or manual techniques with similar impact, manually blur areas of the image with moiré)
2. Stop down your aperture to introduce diffraction
3. Use a higher resolution sensor
4. Have the model use a different patterned garment
5. Use film instead of digital mediums

A professional fashion photographer likely is using a medium format high resolution camera and has the option to shoot in a studio with very small apertures and bright lighting that will introduce the necessary amount of diffraction to limit negative impacts of moiré.

Keep in mind that a fashion photographer likely has a great deal of control over the scenario and can make immediate changes if necessary. For example they can view images immediately on a monitor and adjust the models position to a more desirable one if moiré is excessive.

For much more information see: What is moiré? How can we avoid it?