Now, you as the viewer might ask "What is photography?", well the literal meaning of it (which is found on google) is the art or practice of taking and processing photographs. In my own understanding of photography, it is similar, however, photography is not only the practice/the art of taking and processing the photographs but also considering what makes an image or photograph look good and what story is the image trying to tell.
Now, there are many types of photography; examples of different Photography are: Portraiture, Landscape, Fashion, Advertising and Art. These are only a few types/styles of photography, there are a lot more; but for now, I will be talking about Portraiture, Landscape and Fashion, my extra topics are Advertising and Art photography.
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Portraiture photography is a type of photography taking still images of a person. These photos normally captures the personality of a subject (a human/humans) by using lighting, backdrops and poses.
Example of some photographers who take portraiture pictures are Eric Lafforgue and Peter Hurley.
Eric Lafforgue is a French photographer who takes portraiture pictures of people in their natural habitat (ie. country or a place), whatever the model/subject is doing or have the person/people in-front of a dark/bright background.
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Landscape photography is a form of photography that shows places around the world. Landscape photographs also captures the presence of nature, although it can also focus on man-made features/man-made landscapes.
Examples of two photographers who take landscape photography are Vincent Favre and Trey Ratcliff.
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Vincent Favre is a French photographer who takes landscape photographs that communicates to the audience through the scenery taken in photographs.
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Fashion photography is very different from landscape photography and portraiture photography. Fashion photography focuses on taking photos of clothing and other fashion items; fashion photography is taken for fashion magazines/ advertisements.
Example of two fashion photographers are Alessandro Dal Buoni and Jan Welters.
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Allessandro Dal Buoni and Jan Welters have their own type/theme of photography, however, their photographs are still classified as fashion photography.
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Advertising photography is used for promotional purposes, this type of photography is different from portraiture, landscape photography and fashion photography.
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Example of two photographers who specialise/take advertising photographs are Timothy Hogan and Harold Ross.
Here are a couple of photo's Timothy Hogan took.
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Art photography doesn't have an exact meaning, however art photography is an imprecise category of photographs; it is created with the creative side of the cameraman.
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Example of two photographer who take art photography are Andrew Prokos and Ansel Adams.
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Right, now that I have provided and gave you elucidated examples on a couple styles of photography. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions about Advertising and Art photography; these questions will be similar to/relating similarly to the information I have provided.
Your answers for the questions are for Advertising and Art photography, meaning that for one question, you will have two answers (the answers for Advertising and Art photography).
Questions and Answers
1. What colour palette/palettes was used in these styles of photography?
2. What type of composition was used?
3. What type of camera shots were used and do they give a meaning?
4. Was rule of thirds used in these styles of photography?
5. Was there a use of selective focusing (fore, mid and background)?
6. Does the image/images show/have a narrative?
7. Was framing used?
8. Was the image cropped?
9. Are there any similarities between the same style of photography?
10. What is your opinion on these styles of photography? And What did you learn?
INTO PHOTOGRAPHY
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THEODORE WATERS
On the left, is a highly effective and detailed picture taken by Eric Lafforgue.
In the photo, Eric Lafforgue has edited this picture a lot, this can be clearly seen because of the colour palette has been edited and the image is slightly cropped. You as the viewer can tell the image is cropped as the dimensions of the image is not perfectly a rectangle nor a square, but in between. Furthermore, this picture is a high angle low shot, this is clearly shown as you can see the model looking at the camera with his head tilted up a bit; this shows/gives a feeling to the viewer that the subject is not the one with power as the high angle shot makes the subject look less powerful. In addition, this effective technique gives the viewer an idea that the photography has more power than the subject.
Another point to make is that Eric Lafforgue has applied a masterful edit, by editing the colour palette by making the picture monochrome (black and white); and he has increased the contrast of the image making the
model look darker than his surroundings. Furthermore, this image shows a form of shallow depth or selective focus where the for ground and mid-ground is in focus while the background is blurred out. This draws the attention of the viewers to the subject being the little boy in the water. Also this picture was taken with a fast shutter speed as you can see the ripples in the water are clear and in focus along with the model. Last but not least, in the image is is clearly shown that it was originally a landscape photo because the size of the image is neither a square or a rectangle and the subject is centred. This is because Eric Lafforgue wants the viewer to concentrate their attention to the subject in the water but not only the subject, the subject's eyes as they're the most in focus.
Overall, this style of photography is very effective when communicating the mood and the personality of the person/model/subject towards the viewer. Furthermore, the use of editing, lighting and backgrounds give the portraits more depth and feeling. However, to improve this style of photography, I would say that editing the portrait image too much can destroy the depth of meaning and feeling.
Landscape Photography
The photograph on the left was also taken by Eric Lafforgue. As you can see there is somewhat a similarity between Eric lafforgues style of photography. This image was not edited as much as the photograph above, however, both show the subject having a lot of vulnerability. This can be supported the the use of a high angle mid shot and the pose the subject is doing.
These two photographs above was taken by a photographer called Peter Hurley. Peter Hurley is a photographer who also does portraiture photography. Although comparing Eric Lafforgues photography to his, it is clearly shown the difference being where the photographs were shot (ie. studio based or location based) and how unnatural/natural these photos are (from the two photos above, it is an unnatural photo as the models were told what to do).
On the left is a highly effective picture Vincent Favre took.
As you can see, the photo does not seem to be edited as much as Eric Lafforgue's photo, this is because Vincent Favre wanted to capture the scenery and the presence of nature.
This picture was taken from a mid angle shot and the image does not seem to be cropped; also this photograph has a landscape composition.
In addition, the colour palette used in this image has not been edited which gives the image an unparalleled significance; this is because landscape photography is all natural meaning that editing the image would ruin the image. However, the sharpness of the image is clearly shown in the foreground of the image as you can see the clearness and the edges of the rocks; and in the background, you can the the lines/edges of the mountain. This shows depth of field in the image although the does
not seem to be any blurring in the image meaning that everything in the photo is the subject. Furthermore, in the image, you can see in the mid-ground that there is a reflection of the mountains and the sky in the background, this gives the image an aesthetic feeling as it shows that not only the photographer Vincent Favre wants to draw the viewers attention to all the scenery but also to the different levels in the photograph.
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Overall, this style of photography is very effective when communicating to its viewer because of the immense detail and texture the image provides. However, to improve this style of photography, some landscape photography is edited to make it look 'better' by changing the colour palette or try to reduce noise (make the picture have less grain if there is any) leading the image to look unreal.
These two images on the left and right are photographs taken by Trey Ratcliff. As you can see, this is another type of Landscape photography. However, they are not similar to Vincent Favres photographs this is because these images have been edited a lot, to the point where the colour palette was changed, the composition and what the subject is. In addition, the image being edited almost looks unreal.
Fashion Photography
In the photo on the left, is a picture Allessandro Dal Buoni's took.
From the photo, you can tell that is is a landscape composition, the image is cropped a little to draw the audiences attention to the subject and the colour palette has been edited a lot.
This image is an effective image; this can be supported by applying the rule of thirds to this image, the subject is just on the right power line, however the top of her head and lower body is touching the top and bottom power line; this draws the audiences attention to the subject.
The colour palette in this photograph has been edited a lot which gives the image a significant feeling, as the model is highly contrasted while the background and mid-ground is contrasted low. This further supports the idea that Alessandro Dal Buoni wants to draw his viewers attention to the subject/model wearing black clothing.
Furthermore, the sand in the fore, mid and background seems to be very
Overall, this style of photography is very effective because the pictures taken from the photographers have total control over the project; this allows them to be as creative with the photos as they want; meaning after the photo is taken, they can edit it as much as they want.
However, fashion photography only focuses on promoting clothing and other fashion items, and not focusing on the model or the background. Another point to make is that fashion photography is only used for promotional material meaning the photographs will be shown in magazines, on bill boards or other types of advertising.
In the two photos on the left and above are photos taken by Jan Welters. Jan Welters is another fashion photographer, although she has a different style from Alessandro Dal Buoni. Jan Welters' colour scheme are all monochrome and are mostly mid, close up shots of the model staring at the camera. This is highly effective as it gives deep meaning behind the image (or in other words, it shows more of the personality of the model).
Advertising Photography
Fine Art Photography
Portraiture Photography
Here are a couple more photo's Vincent Favre took on the left and right. As you can see, the image on the right seems to be more similar to the image above, however, on the image in the left, there are a lot more negative spaces and the palette used draws the viewers attention towards the trees.
Click Here to see more of his photos.
Click Here to see more of his photo collection
grainy while the subject/model is not grainy, this also draws the viewers attention to the model. In addition, another point which makes this photograph a highly effective image is that the background, top left side of the image shows a lot of negative space, this suggests that that specific part of the image is not important bringing the viewers attention back to the model once again.
Click here to see Alessandro Dal Buoni's photography collection
Here is another photo Alessandro Dal Buoni took. This image is very similar in a way, because of the colour palette used and the distance shown in the background by showing depth of field. However, the model is not highly contrasted as the other image.
Click Here to see Jan Welters' photography collection
As you can see from the photos above, Eric Lafforgue's style of photography mostly consists of people who don't have power in the world and how they live in these remote places where it is quite hard to get to. Eric Lafforgue has taken photos of these people in their remote locations because he wanted tell a story or show another side of humanity where not everyone has power or has money to afford
education or has enough money to afford a nice home and provide food and water for their family. And, by doing this, he needed to go to these locations where these people live to take a picture of them. This kind of work might appear in photography exhibition that is related to poverty in the remote locations of the world.
Vincent Favre's style of photography is very much different from Eric Laffourge's style of photography. As you can see from both photographers photos, Vincent Favre's style of photography is landscape photography. Vincent Favre has been taking photos in remote
areas/places around the north, this is because of the beauty of colours that are shown through the sky, trees, water, and the sun. From looking at the styles of Vincent Favre's photos, I believe that he is trying to communicate to his viewers through the landscape photos he has taken and alter the colours on photoshop to draw out more of the colours. Vincent Favre's work might appear in landscape photography exhibitions as well as backdrops on presentations or desktops of computers.
Allessandro Dal Buoni's is a fashion photographer who works with models who wear specific clothing told by the photographer. Allessandro Dal Buoni takes pictures of female models in different locations, these locations are always on a beach of some sort where the ocean is behind the model. From the photo I analysed and the other photo, I believe that Allessandro Dal Buoni is trying to communicate that the photos that he takes are trying to show that clothing matters and it can express ones feeling by how they dress. This type of photographer might be seen at fashion shows, make up room, fashion photography exhibitions and many more.
As you can see from the photo on the left, this is an advertisement for female footwear and perfume.
You can tell that these are for women because of the features/the style of foot wear and the types of colours that are used to depict that these are female products.
In addition, the contrast levels are very dark (for the footwear), and also the colours are quite glossy for the product (both products). Glossy items are usually associated with female footwear/perfume styles as women in general like to have 'fashionable' items which look bright in colour as well giving them the feeling that they are the star of a show and everyone is looking at them.
Timothy Hogan intentionally decided to do this, because he wanted to show
power of these products which would lure all women to buy this product as it looks expensive and it could potentially make them feel like a millionaire if they wear them.
On the image on the right is another picture/photography advertisement that Timothy Hogan took. As you can see already, the difference between male product photography and female product photography is that; female products has at least has a female hand holding the product, while the mens product has no one holding the product as is all by itself with a backdrop of a location.
As you can see above this text, these two images are previewing female accessories and small hand bags. These two pictures were taken from a photographer called Harold Ross, comparing Harold Ross' style of photography to Timothy Hogan's style of photography, Harold Ross takes pictures of his product with fabric background; and there is no female hands previewed holding the products. This is what distinguishes Harold Ross' photographs to Timothy Hogan.
On the image on the left, you can see that this photo is of a city skyline of a city. This image was taken by Andrew Prokos.
From this image, you can see the colours of the sky have been toned to be brighter while the city is in a dark contrast. However, the city is full contrasted to be dark, but there are lights which shows the individual tiny lights of the office rooms of the buildings. Furthermore, Andrew Prokos could have adjusted the
hue of this image, you can tell, because not all building lights are bright yellow or white, and the sky being very blue/purple is not normal. Furthermore, from this image, if you look as the cloud, the clouds are not in focus, this is because the clouds are moving; Andrew Prokos made this effect by using long exposure to take this image, this means that anything moving in the picture will be smudged or blurry.
On the image on the right is another image Andrew Prokos took, it is a low angle to high angle shot of a sky scrapper in a city. This is very different from his other photo as he took a city skyline shot instead of an individual picture of a building.
