3.1 Photography Genres

Ansel Adams 1942

Landscape photography is a genre intended to show different spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic.Many landscape photographers show little or no human activity in their photos, striving to attain pure, unsullied landscapes that are devoid of human influence, using instead subjects such as strongly defined landforms, weather, and ambient light. Despite this, there is no pure or absolute definition of what makes a landscape in photography, as such it has become very broad term, encompassing urban, industrial, macro and nature photography.

Joel MereyowitzUta Barth

Landscape

Portrait

Portrait photography or portraiture is the capture by means of photography of the likeness of a person or a small group of people (a group portrait), in which the face and expression is predominant. The objective is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the subject. Like other types of portraiture, the focus of the photograph is the person's face, although the entire body and the background may be included. A portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position.

Brian Harris

Rineke Dijkstra

Still Life

Still life photography is the depiction of inanimate subject matter, most typically a small grouping of objects. Still life photography gives the photographer more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition.

Still life photography is a demanding art, one in which the photographers are expected to be able to form their work with a refined sense of lighting, coupled with compositional skills. The still life photographer makes pictures rather than takes them. Knowing where to look for propping and surfaces also is a required skill.

Edward Weston Irving Penn Irving Penn