Photography as an art have been opted by several people in the world either in the form of profession, passion, or hobby. Though it is considered as one of the most common art forms in practice, it takes a lot of creative visualization & perspective to capture the subject in frame. If you consider yourself as a photography lover, have a look at different types of photography that might shape your journey in the field of photography and help you reach the desired destination.

Photography as an art form can be majorly categorized as:

1. Manmade Objects Photography
2. People Photography
3. Nature Photography
4. Other

The above mentioned categories further consists of sub-types which will be discussed in detail in this blog.

 A. Manmade Objects Photography:

1. Product Photography: One of the well-known forms of commercial photography; product photography is a type wherein a product is captured in the frame with promising photographic illustrations that would help a company achieve its business goals. In order to deliver the best outcome, a photographer’s should consider the following tools while performing the art of product photography:

• Lighting
• Background
• Camera Focus
• Depth of Field
• Camera Angles
• Editing

2. Food Photography: What makes you lure over the food you see it any form of print/digital advertisements, cookbooks, or menu cards? It is the art of food photography that makes a food dish attractive and presentable to the audience. Thanks to social media for the substantial growth of food photography throughout these years, yet another sub-genre of commercial photography that have been passion & profession of many people worldwide.

3. Still Life Photography: Considered as one of the unique forms of photography; still life photography is an art form that focuses to capture the inanimate objects in frame and adding a meaningful life to them. However, sometimes the subject might be an element of nature such as plants which again does not fall under the category of inanimate objects. A photographer needs to practice the following points in order to master the art of still life photography:

• Experiment with the arrangement of the object
• Proper lighting
• Composition

4. Architectural Photography: Also known as structure photography or building photography; architectural photography is another sub-type of manmade object photography that emphases on capturing the monuments, buildings (both exterior & interior), cityscape, and other structures/constructions such as bridges. Aesthetics plays an important role in architectural photography.

 B. People Photography:

1. Portrait Photography: Portraits are the most widely performed art form in the field of photography. The definition of portrait photography does not only restricts at capturing photograph of an individual or group of people, it is all about representing the outlook of a person in the most creative manner. Lighting, background, and posture plays a major role in portrait photography as all these elements together helps in defining the personality of the subject.

2. Wedding Photography: Wedding is an event that is looked upon as the most precious moment in the life a person and wedding photography is an art that captures the live emotions of people involved throughout the series of wedding events. Although wedding photography is the most chosen form of photography as a profession, it is also considered as one of the most difficult form of photography. The reason of it being a difficult art to practice is because you only get a moment to capture the emotions as there are no cuts, or retakes in between the series of events.

3. Documentary Photography: An extended version of photojournalism; documentary photography is a sub-type of people photography that emphasizes on capturing the up-front chronicles of the events taking place (usually historical or political), emotions of people, and places and often represented in the form of conveying news or any vital information. Although, not all documentary photographers are considered as newsworthy, sometimes it is simply about documenting people with regards to places and culture they belong to.

 

4. Sports Photography:This particular type of photography works hand-in-hand with photojournalism (i.e. capturing the moments of sports event for newspapers, magazines, etc.) and can be performed while practicing any sport on daily basis as well. Sports photography is a wide umbrella that is all about capturing the moments of sports, games, exercises at all levels like district, state, national, and international. If you are a sports enthusiast holding a keen knowledge about the sports world and have hands on experience with the camera, you can surely grab the opportunity of sports photography.

5. Fashion Photography: Closely similar to portrait photography yet showcasing a uniqueness is what Fashion Photography is about. The way an individual dresses up and presents themselves plays an important in representing their personality. Fashion photography demands a piece of cloth or any fashion material to be styled and look presentable in order to be captured in frame. It helps a fashion brand to be more expressive when it comes to advertisements.

6. Commercial Photography: A photography type wherein a product, service, or an individual is captured for marketing or advertising purpose. The brands can utilize the photographs for commercial purposes such as merchandising, adverts, leaflets, menu cards for café & restaurants, corporate brochures, product placement that further helps in promoting or selling a product/service.

7. Street Photography: Another most challenging photography genre after wedding photography is street photography. This particular type of photography seems to be challenging as the photographer is expected to the capture the candid movements of strangers, events happening around the street or capturing individual in their everyday environment (not necessarily on the streets) which again demands for abundant of patience. If captured with a creative perspective, it adds life to the photograph!

8. Event Photography: Weddings are considered as one of the grand & precious events in the life of an individual, however, there are several other events that are to be taken in consideration for photography. Event photography includes of photographing the events like corporate events, parade, concerts, & other celebrations. Similar to wedding photography, even the event photography demands of capturing the unpredictable series of events and candid emotions of the individual performing/enacting in the event taking place.

9. Travel Photography:One of the most commonly performed type of photography is travel photography. Documenting the different places (landscapes), people, culture, history around the world with a touch of personal perspective is what travel photography is all about! More on personal level than of professional, travel photography is enjoying your travel journey along with a camera to capture the beautiful moments coming on your way.

10. Pet Photography: Here’s a type of photography for all the animal lovers out there! You must be wondering on how pet photography can fall under the category of people photography? Well, considered as a living creature, a pet (animal) becomes the most important part of family i.e. part of a people’s family. Capturing the cutest candid moments of your pet or with your pet (apart from taking selfie), can be a challenging job at a time. But agree or not pets are better poser than us humans!

 C. Nature Photography:

1. Landscape Photography:Beginning with the very first aspect of nature photography; landscape is a form wherein the great outdoors of nature such as lakes, rivers, beaches, trees, farms, mountain ranges, etc. To become an expert in landscape photography, a photographer needs to keep the following aspects into consideration:

• Depth of field
• Shutter speed
• Aperture
• Different lenses & filters
• Image stabilization (mandatory use of tripod)

2. Wildlife Photography:Closely relatable to pet photography, wildlife photography is about documenting the natural life of wild animals which are obviously not your pets and can be found wandering around in the natural environment. It requires both passion & patience as sometimes a photographer might have to wait for days to capture a particular type of creature in their natural habitat.

3. Macro Photography: The word macro means large and so is the definition of macro photography – the art of capturing the extreme close-up shots of small creatures mainly bugs, insects or even natural objects like snowflakes, flowers, water droplets, etc. However, macro photography can be also performed for capturing daily routine objects such as abstract patterns, fabrics, jewelry, toys, etc. In order to master the art of macro photography, a photographer needs to consider the below mentioned points:

• Reproduction ratio of the subject
• Lighting
• Depth of field

4. Underwater Photography:Capturing the nature’s beauty under the water does not only requires a waterproof camera but also asks for a good lighting equipment that could enhance the picture. There is huge demand of underwater photography in the marine & scientific industries wherein the photographer is expected to capture the underwater scenic & wildlife shots. If performed with sincere dedication & intense practice, any individual can master the art of underwater photography.

Note: A photographer is expected to be a good scuba diver in order to excel underwater photography. It is advisable for a photographer to first know the fundamentals of underwater photography and then dive deeper.

5. Astrophotography: Nature never fails to mesmerize us with its beauty and one of the most fascinating part of nature is the sky! Who does not like gazing the sky full of stars? If you are one of them, astrophotography is a boon for you. It is the art of documenting the celestial or astronomical objects. The extended version of astrophotography is astrolandscape wherein a photographer captures the splendor of Milky Way including a minimal part of Earth.

6. Aerial Photography: Also known as drone photography, aerial photography is an art of photography which is performed at high altitudes from the land and documents the life down on the earth from high above in the sky. Aerial photography can be done using a helicopter, plane, or with a device like drone. It does not necessarily have to a natural landscape being captured, aerial photography includes of documenting manmade objects as well object as their core subject. The artistic shots captured during aerial photography can be utilized for commercial purposes, cartography – for designing maps, environmental studies, movie production, archaeology, surveillances, and more.

7. Scientific Photography:A type of photography which is a broad category in itself that covers both microscopic photography and astrophotography. This particular type of photography demands for a keen knowledge, attention in the field of science, and should be well versed with the photographic principles. Along with it, a scientific photographer needs to aware about the photo imaging techniques such as thermal imaging, infrared, and ultraviolet.

 D. Other Types of Photography:

An individual can master in any of the above mentioned genres of photography, however, most of the times a photograph can consist of two or more photography types involved in it. There are several photographs that might still not fall under any of the discussed categories which means, they lie in between two different categories. For example: Photograph of a wild animal on the forest land under the Milky Way. How would you justify this image as? Which category suits this photograph the most? Also, not all the time a photograph document does need to fall under the criteria of above mentioned types, they can be surreal too!

The sole purpose of sharing this valuable information was to draw a clear path for the amateur photographers out there who still might not be clear with their goals considering photography as a hobby, passion, or profession.

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