Different styles of photography

Umar Hassan

Advertising• Commercial photography involves taking pictures which are used for products such

as billboards, merchandise and product placement.• It’s also used in corporate brochures, leaflets and menus in restaurants and cafes.• Commercial photography is used to promote or sell a product or service. For

example, with Virgin Media. Although they promote their products on TV and Radio, Virgin can free themselves from the restrictions of TV and create an advertising brand that’s fresh and innovative to look at.

This example of the PlayStation buttons being aligned together, resembles the Hollywood logo you would usually see when you arrive in Hollywood.

The colours used in this PlayStation advertisement are a mixture of colourful and dark tones designed to give it some razzmatazz and make the consumer think “Wow, this is awesome!”.

If it were to end up on some form of media, I would say that the PlayStation’s take on Hollywood would be best suited on magazines because games as a medium, would need extra advertising space to gain extra exposure for the PlayStation.

Add in the dark sky effects with some clouds added in, it adds another dimension to the showbiz element of the advertisement which will convince consumers that PlayStation is box-office material.

It also highlights the fact that Nintendo and Microsoft’s console platforms are third-rate due to PlayStation’s Hollywood like logo

Fashion • Fashion is without a doubt one of the most popular genres in commercial

photography.• The fashion industry is always ever-changing with different trends coming out thick

and fast.• For example, with the 60’s, hippie fashion was largely dominant later on in the

decade. Whereas the Mod era earlier on in the decade was considered cool for people to dress up smartly.

With this provocative photograph produced by Rankin, the theme is very simple by using a lady wearing donated clothing from Oxfam. However, the clothing is rebellious which suggests she’s going out to a rock gig.

This photo was made in mind for a Oxfam campaign for which they the marketers wanted an edgy and rebellious picture that was going to get people donating.

I think since this photo is geared towards a charity campaign, it will have more exposure on tabloids such as the Mirror and the Sun because they are more likely to use this photograph as a symbol to get people buying and donating their clothes in charity shops.

The un-straightened hair, leather top and jewellery add another dimension to the photo because it explains to customers “You don’t have to pay extortionate amounts of money to buy your favourite clothes”.

Photojournalism• Photojournalism is when you tell stories using only photographs.• The stories that are told by using photos must follow the rules and regulations of

journalism.• The stories you tell on any format such as a magazine or newspaper, must be told

in a fair and impartial way.• When you tell a story using photos, they have to be based on real-life events. For

example, the Guardian did a feature on photojournalism about a family escaping a bushfire in Brisbane, Australia. By only using photos, it explains about how the family escaped through the fire and used the lake outside their house to ensure they weren’t going to be one of the many victims that were going to suffer from the bushfires in Australia.

This bit of photojournalism goes in-depth into what the then current PM Gordon Brown and his Labour government are doing whilst working in Westminster.

What this photographer has done is take photos of the relevant bits of what the Government does in office to ensure that we the readers, have a clear idea of what the day-to-day operations of MP’s and PM’s are like because we wouldn’t exactly see this on TV or Radio.

If this bit of photojournalism were to be used on any media format, I would have to say it fits perfectly on blogs, online newspapers and print. This is because photojournalism can be harnessed to it’s full potential to create an accurate depiction of the subject without big blocks of text.

The most intriguing bit is when the secretaries are taking phone calls from politicians from all over the world. That’s another item we would not see because we see the House of Commons as the big arena for politicians on TV.

Portrait• Portrait photography is when you capture an item in which the face and facial

expression is predominant in the whole frame of the picture.• The objective of portrait photography is to try and display the likeness and

personality of the item.• In the whole frame of the picture, you don’t really need to focus on the face, some

portrait photographers can capture the whole body of the subject, which can produce some breathtaking portraits that can make you think “Wow!”

Bryan Adams take on portrait photography involves having Lana Del Rey as the subject. You can see straight away that the portrait has a slightly sombre tone which might explain this photo is a bit depressing to look at.

When Bryan was making this portrait photo, I think he wanted to make this portrait with black and white largely dominating the photo. This makes the photo look quite old but if you think about it, he’s managed to put a modern twist on what looks to be quite an old-fashioned take on portrait photography.

If this portrait were to used in any format, I would presume in photography books because if this portrait were to be used in magazines and newspapers, then the portrait would look slightly out of place.

Lana’s facial expressions along with her hands covering I presume are her ears makes us think “She wants to get out of this noisy area”.

High Street Photography• High Street Photography is a whole new meaning to photography. This usually

involves a photographer with no clear agenda on the subject matter. So if a High Street photographer wants to take a photo of anything he sees on the street, he can react quickly by shooting a photo of what just happened such as the police coming in to arrest somebody or a busker.

• Seeing is believing in a High Street Photographer because if you plan to take hours and hours shooting a photo such as a Portrait or Advert, you simply cannot afford to do that on the High Street because anything will and can happen out of the blue so there’s simply no way you should walk away from the item you want to photograph. Otherwise you end up with a badly framed photograph nobody would want to look at.

This bit of High Street Photography looks at what a future Birmingham might look like when it comes to the 2nd half of the 21st century.

One of these photographers who captured this image of Birmingham in the future must have thought long and hard about the people in the frame as well as the Japanese-like lighting to enhance the overall image of the photo.

Also, the photograph gives us a glimpse of how we’ll be shopping in the future as you can see. With internet shopping becoming the norm, shops will become a hub for buying and selling items all across the City Centre due to the rise of high-speed broadband.

If this photo were to be used in any format, I would think this photo fits in perfectly with newspapers and the TV news because it can illustrate in-depth what’s actually going on and gives viewers an idea into what our cities will look like in the future.

Architectural Photography• Architectural photography is one of the most popular genres used in photography

which is why it’s hardly surprising that when aspiring photographers are asked about their favourite style of photography, most unanimously consider architectural photography.

• Architectural photography usually involves a photographer taking photos of buildings. Whether that maybe skyscrapers, shopping centres or even libraries. The photographer must produce a photo of some architecture that will not only have style, but art added in to make the photo look amazing.

With this stunning bit of architectural photography of New Broadcasting House, it gives us an idea into painstakingly beautiful the building looks on the eye.

This photograph must have been made to show off how modern and innovative New Broadcasting House looks. You can see the sun gleaming off the pristine glass windows to give the lighting an extra dimension to the photo.

Also, with adding people adds another layer to Broadcasting House because since it’s London, there will be people hustling and bustling as they try to move from one place to the other in such a short space of time which is what the photographer ideally had in mind when shooting this photo.

If this photo were to be used, I would have to say it fits in with websites and the TV news because if for example the BBC were to use this as part of their Broadcasting House feature, it would grab viewers attention to look at it and say “That looks amazing”.

Fine Art Photography• Fine Art Photography is not just about the photographer himself, he must consider

the photographer as an artist trying to create a photo as a work of art.• There are many things you should consider when it comes to doing this genre of

photography. However, the most important thing if you’re a fine art photographer is to demonstrate creative control over the whole pre and post-production process because if you don’t have that skill, you are most likely to end up with a photo that doesn’t possess the artistic capabilities you wanted to end up with.

For example, this bit of Fine Art Photography details a paintbrush and pallet being deconstructed into foods that represent their colour characteristics.

What this photographer has constructed is by having a normal artist’s paintbrush and pallet as the focus of the photo as well as having the food placed on top. It places an added emphasis on making the items look artistically cool to look at.

The photographer who has produced this stunning bit of Fine Art photography must have thought when he was in the pre-production stage to create a photo that not only focused on the items, but by giving them an artistic take to enhance the look and feel once it came down to the end result.

If this Fine Art photo were to be used in any capacity, it would most likely to be in Photo Galleries and in books as well because since Fine Art is a niche genre, it wouldn’t have a lot of exposure compared to other popular photographic genres such as Fashion.

Documentary• Documentary photography is considered to be with most photographers as one of

the most challenging genres to do in photography well because the elements can play a big part in making your photo look good or catastrophically bad.

• Documentary involves telling stories of places or issues that have been enriched by history and it’s up to the photographer to tell that story by only using photos. Time and the time of day can all play a pivotal part in how your Documentary shoot will go.

This bit of Documentary photography looks at Dorothea Lange’s work on “The Great Depression” in the 1930’s and seeing what America looked like post-WW1.

Lange when she came up with this photograph of the Black Americans, gave us a great insight into how American citizens were coping at the time when “The Great Depression” was at full swing.

It also looks at the harsh realities and living conditions the US were putting up with due to the destruction of many lives during WW1 and they had to enjoy every last bit of happiness before Hitler and WW2 came around during the latter part of the decade.

Dorothea Lange’s photo of The Great Depression I think would be used on TV Documentaries because if it were to be based around that subject, it would fit in perfectly around the sombre and depressing nature of the programme itself.