Photography

12 Applications and 8 Contexts

Application

Advertising
Advertising has one goal; to sell a product. As such, marketing has grown a myriad of different techniques to beautify or
romanticise a product - often making food items inedible in an attempt to make the product look as good as possible.
Some techniques used include;

Manipulation of products - physical

techniques that add decour such as
condensation on soft-drinks, or gloss to
meat.
Large image size - Advertising images
need to be very high-resolution to
accommodate larger signs and
billboards.
Romanticized camera angles Low-angles, color filters, and DOF
effects help to bring the product to the
forefront and emphasize its presense.

Application

Promotional
Whereas Advertising is used to sell a product, Promotional photography - such as in celebrity twitter accounts or tabloid
newspapers - exist to increase interest and brand value of a specific person, group, or product.
Some techniques used include;

Focus on character - typically, promotional

photography exists to boost the public
personas of celebrities, as such it often
extenuates the subjects with props and
creative posing.
Traditional Technique - artistic techniques
such as varying camera-angles, focus,
and blocking.

Application

Fashion
Fashion photography isnt just about selling the clothing - though that is obviously the end goal - fashion photography is
often more similar to lifestyle-photography. As such, further care and consideration is put into the environment and prop
work of a particular shoot - often including on-location shooting.
Some techniques used include;

Similarities to Promotional - Fashion

photography has much the same
goals of promotional; it exists to
improve the brand identity of
someone or something, as such they
share similar styles and techniques.
Lifestyle - Fashion often focuses on
location and set, using association to
make clothing seem more attractive
for the season.

Application

Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a documentative form of photography, its main goal is to explain and elaborate on real events
accurately. As such there is an element of straightforwardness of photojournalism - however, photojournalism is a tricky art
form, as often photographers work under tight deadlines for magazines and newspapers, and the form is often under heavy
criticism in terms of its legality - often including the illegal activities of so called paparazzi.
Some features of the style include;

In-the-moment Shooting - Photography is a

very staged artform; it requires its
participants to pose and work with the
setting. Photojournalism on the other hand
is taken in the moment - there is no faking
photojournalism - and whilst some might
take it out of context, there is a sense of
accuracy to the things portrayed than
excuses the lack of technique.

Application

Portraiture
A classic staple of renaissance and victorian painting, portraiture has been with us for hundreds of years; however its
versatility and importance is never overstated. Portraiture main goal is to express the character and image of a person, and
often features a simple front-facing position from the shoulders up.
Some features of the style include;

A perfect mid-shot - Some people coin Portraiture

as a look into the soul, as portraiture is first and
foremost a representation of the person. However,
the interesting thing about this description, is that
the style has almost no technique behind the
camera; portraiture is a characterised by a very
steady and front-on image, level with the face. As
such, expression and character portrayed by the
subject is key.

Application

Documentative
Much like photojournalism, Documentative photography exists to capture a realistic depiction of real events; however,
Documentative photography is a much more well practiced form, and as such often tries more traditional technique to
express the emotion of a situation as much as the actual events. Documentative journalism is also far less constrained in
terms of deadlines, leading to the increase in photographical quality.

Some features of the genre include;

Accuracy to mood - Documentative photography

is an artform as any other, however, as it is a
journalistic form of photography, it leads itself well
to including the tone of the history within the style;
using traditional techniques.
Longer Shoots - Some Documentative
photography can last over several years as part of
a larger project of documentation.

Application

High-street
High-street photography is becoming a lost art due to the proliferation of smartphones; though the artform still has value as
an example. High-street photography is characterised by clear and colourful family portraits, often depicting the group in an
abstract studio environment. As a pay-for form of photography, the style is more for the sake of meeting consumer demand,
and usually doesnt stray too wildly in terms of conventions.

Some features of the style include;

Studio Setups - Studio setups allow for a

standard of work needed for High-street
photography, that allows for versatile yet easy
to set up shoots. It is still common for
high-street photography to happen in outside
venues - such as weddings - though most will
work out of an easy to use studio.

Application

Studio
Studios - as a controlled environment - offer a lot of benefits to photographers; for one, much like the high-street example,
they offer clean images without too much fuss in terms of lighting, allowing for controlled lighting, without restrictions from
environment either. It also allows for convenience, as studios are easily bookable and dont have the problems that more
public forms of photography may have.
Some techniques used include;

Staged Performances - Studio shoots are, by

nature, staged. As such most studio shoots
involve various dramatic posing and
performance from the subject themselves.
Malleable lighting - Lighting is as easy as
flicking a switch, and as such photography in
Studios tends to be a lot better staged - though
less natural or full than in venue shoots.

Application

Architectural
Architectural photography is a much more grandiose form of photography, capturing large-scale buildings, skyscrapers, and
monuments in a fantastical perspective. Architectural photography is interesting, as it makes use of the blockier lines and
shapes of buildings for clear perspective, allowing tall buildings to look genuinely grand.
Some tropes of the style include;

Low-angle shots - Many pieces of Architectural

Photography enjoy focusing on the buildings
from a low-angle, this allows the buildings to
seem taller and more grandiose than a standard
shot, and is sometimes necessary for larger
buildings.
Natural Perspective - The generally utilitarian or
geometrical design of most larger city buildings
leads to a lot of natural leading lines,
extenuating the perspective of the images.

Application

Medical
Medical photography is not a
form for technique, so much as
clarity. Medical professionals
may sometimes refer to images
in books to perform accurate
medical exercises, as such its
important for such images to be
accurately lit and
photographed, as any
accidental issues with the
image may lead to confusion.

Application

Fine Art
Fine art - whilst a rather wide style - is synonymous with many traditional artistic tropes, focusing on the language of
photography, allowing story to be told through pure photographical technique.
What makes Fine-art photography Fine Art is several things;

Interpretive - Fine-art photography is generally abstract

and left to interpretation, this lets the audience decide
the worth of the piece and gives a higher element of
analysis to the work.
Experimentation - Fine Art photography can cover a
huge amount of themes, as such the form is
experimented with often to support said themes.

Context

Magazine
Magazines are one of the biggest places - at least
traditionally - for promotional or advertising
photography, and due to their monthly release, have a
much higher standard of quality than something like a
newspaper print.
Magazines are usually printed in an A4 portrait form,
though some have experimented with extended pages
and or other effects such as texturing - though the
most common use of the form is for double-page
spreads for larger articles. This is sometimes important
to plan, as double-page spreads must account for the
fold between pages.

Context

Newspaper
Newspapers are traditionally focused on larger articles,
though feature a large amount of photojournalistic
photography within them. Newspapers are a weekly sometimes daily - print format and, as such, require
photos to be submitted fast and easy for the printing
company. This focus on efficiency can sometimes lead
to a lack of technique in Newspaper photography,
sometimes taking on a more paparazzi-esque look sometimes literally paparazzi - though clarity is
rewarded most for print.
Newspaper photographys aspect ratio is often
malleable, as articles can simply be arranged around
the images.

Context

Advertising hoardings
Advertising Hoardings - such as billboards or large posters
are an imposing form of photography, designed to pop out to
passersby; they tend to be a variety of different proportions
and aspect ratios, and often use a variety of different tactics to
catch the eye.
Posters for movies are usually heavily edited, and often
require incredible attention to quality for the sake of
advertising. Often said pieces are edited together entirely
from previous studio photography of cast members or
locations. One poster can appear on a multitude of different
billboards of different size and shape, and as such multiple
versions of advertisements are constructed.

Context

Books
Books can have a variety of different cover types;
some can be portrait or landscape, abstract,
medical, fine-art - it really depends on the book in
question.
Genre fiction often works with heavily photoshopped
studio-shoots - so as to allow easy cover design
creation for many smaller book series, such as sci-fi
or fantasy novels.
Photography within larger picture books is also
common - especially in medical science books, and
is usually made to varying sizes for publishers to
insert into pages.

Context

Web Pages
Web-page photography is generally best as
landscape - so as to better use modern
wide-screen displays - however the
proportions are variable, from banner ads too
splash-pages, web page photos vary wildly.
However, due to the speed of displaying such
images, its important to use JPEG formatting
for most, as it allows for a much smaller
file-size - and therefore faster display speed.

Context

CD Roms
CD Rom photography - whilst mostly a thing of the
past due to modern file-sharing and stock asset
companies online - was a common practice for news
and print outlets, as it was a simple and affordable
way to collect stock assets to use in future articles.
They are more commonly comparable to stock
photos as seen on websites such as Shutterstock.
CD Roms are non-rewriteable, and as such can only
be used to retrieve information from the original disk,
rather than burn more onto it.

Context

Individual Clientele
Individual clientele are common business for
high-street photographers, and usually consist of
family portraiture or wedding photography. Most
individual clientele - at least from the consumerist
market - expect a professional level of quality.
Its also common for organised venue shoots to
take place, such as weddings, and said shoots
usually require portable equipment for ease-of-use.

Context

Galleries and Museums

Gallery photography is normally reserved for
Fine-art photography, usually consisting of large
displays and featureless rooms - so as to not
distract from the piece.
Some question the purpose of said events, though
the value of museum displays is often in their
pristine presentation and coordination. There is
also the social aspect.