When it comes to photography, far too many people just assume that it’s all just a matter of pointing and shooting. And sure, one a nuts and bolts level that might be true. However, as with just about any art form, photography has a huge amount of depth that you need to come to understand. In particular, you need to be aware of the ways in which the different kinds of photographs that you might take change the way that you should approach the process of photography. With that in mind, here are 4 of the most common types of photographs and how you can approach each one.
*This is a collaborative post.
Portrait
In the age of social media, portrait photography has become perhaps the most common in the world. Portrait photography captures the mood and personality of human beings. The focus of a portrait will typically be the face and eyes of the subject. This kind of photograph commonly includes things like professional headshots, senior portraits, and family portraits.
Still life
As with its counterpart in painting, still, life photography is designed to capture inanimate objects, both natural and manmade. The most common use of still life photography is in product advertising as well as stock photography. Anytime you see an image of a product on a billboard or on a website, you’re looking at an example of professional still life photography. Of course, still life can also be artistic, with many photographers bringing out a great deal of life and energy from even the simplest still life photograph.
Architecture
Architectural photographs are incredibly valuable to designers, architects, real estate agents, and building investors. The ability to make both the interior and exterior of a building look as dynamic and interesting as possible is a far more difficult skill than many people realise. Being able to work with the challenges of lighting when shooting the interior of a building and knowing how to best accentuate the most aesthetically pleasing elements of any building is a true skill. Architecture is also the kind of photography where you must be as knowledgeable as possible on how to most effectively make use of natural light.
Sport
Unlike many other varieties of a photograph, sports photography is the act of being able to capture kinetic movement as clearly as possible. A sports photographer needs to be able to keep up with the action around them and move as quickly as possible. This means being able to recognise the perfect moment for a shot and take advantage of it. Sports photography encourages the best possible understanding of the use of things like ISO in order to shoot at the fastest possible shutter speed. It’s a matter of being able to find the best and most interesting angles at a moment’s notice.
Whenever you’re shooting anything, you need to make sure that you’re adjusting your approach to meet the needs of the photograph. A great professional photographer knows that a one size fits all approach rarely fits anything particularly well. Did you know about these types of photographs? Let me know in the comments below.
*Disclaimer – This is a collaborative post. This post has been pre-written.
