2. Advertising/Promotional
Advertising or promotional photography is probably one of the most present forms of photography you will see day in day
out. Photography for the purposes of advertisement typically will consist of photos of the product which is being advertised
and then other props will be used such as people or the product will be placed on some form of scenery to help and sell it.
It’s essentially all bout creating a good image of the product so that people will be attracted by it.
Promotional photographs is quite similar to advertising photography although is kind of a way to raise a products
“popularity” and get the product out there so people know of its existence.
In 1843 the first photograph with the intention to advertise was taken in the Philippines. Some renown advertisement
photographers are Quentin Shih, Hervé lefebvre (one of his advertisement photographs is featured on the bottom right)
and Bert Hardy who was originally a photographer for the Army during World War II and then he went onto become a very
successful advertisement photographer.
These photographs can appear basically anywhere now
Most commonly the images which are photographed for advertising purposes are quite heavily edited to make sure that the
image will look the best it possibly can do because you wouldn’t want a photograph which is intended to sell something to
look bad, they will do this by possibly using artificial lighting to highlight specific parts of the photograph or to just give it
that “high end” look. Also there is no specific lenses which should be used for advertising purposes because it all depends
on the type of shoot which you want to do.
3. Difference between Advertising and
Promotional Photography
Just to recap on the above slide.
Advertising photography is photography which is taken usually with the intention to sell a product etc..
Example a photograph of a house in a estate agents which then shows the price of the house beneath
would be advertising the house for sale therefore it would advertising photography.
Promotional photography is really just a way of creating awareness for something such as an event or
a business. An example of promotional photography could be a photograph of a nice house and then a
name of a retail estate included somewhere in the image.
The difference between promotional advertising, is that advertising photograph is taken with the
intention to sell a product in the majority of cases and promotional photography is not taken with the
intention of selling a product but with the intention of creating awareness for something, it could be a
product still. You could also say that promotional photography might serve the same purpose as
advertising photography as when you promote a business it might lead to a sale of a product.
Beneath you can see a advertising photograph (on the left) and a promotional photograph (on the
right) both for McDonald’s.
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4. The photograph is
definitely controlled , the
car might have been
stationary when the
photo was taken. Then
post-production work
done on it.
Rain droplets potentially edited into
the photo emphasise on speed ,
also suggest that the car will handle
well in the rain.
A high quality
camera has been
used to capture the
vast range of
colours in the
image.
Colours seem emphasised,
to add colour to a generally
dark photo.
From what I can see
there has been
artificial light used to
make the car the main
thing you see in the
photo, also one half of
the car appears to be
light and the other half
dark is this referring to
the light and dark side
of the car?
The car seems to carve its way
through the rain
The photo is generally quite dark, that will cause the
association of the BMW being a “dark horse” .
5. Fashion
Fashion photographs are photographs which are taken of clothes typically to try and promote and sell a certain fashion
brands clothing. Fashion photography will commonly include a model whether it be male or female with certain items of
clothing on, the model could just be on a plain background or in a scene which will try and help attract the audience.
Fashion photography originates from early as the 1800’s in the form of a book created by Adolphe Braun which contained
288 photographs of Virginia Oldoini the Countess di Castiglione (one photograph of her is in the bottom left corner) the
photographs depicted her in her official court garb, technically making her the first fashion model. There are numerous
other famous fashion photographers such as Annie Leibovitz, Leibovitz was famous for he photos which were set in a fairy
tale theme. Irving Penn and Albert Watson are also other famous fashion photographers.
Fashion photographs are most commonly taken with the purpose to be put into an advert, you will most commonly see
them in magazine such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle & Glamour magazines which are all fashion magazines, you will also
see fashion photographs on Billboards and other forms of adverts as well.
Most commonly Fashion shoots will take place in a studio which has been constructed for the purpose of the shoot, this is
so they can get the lighting for the shoot just right, but sometimes the shoots can take place on a real location.
The images which are photographed are usually quite heavily edited, not so much to do with the clothes but to make the
models “look better” they will do this because , if the person who is wearing the clothes appears to be a “beautiful” person
will associate that piece of clothing with beauty and ar5e likely to think that they will look beautiful wearing it.
6. The photo will also have been controlled as the model will have been told to pose in
the certain ways she has, one way you could argue that it could be observational is
that it might be a ballet dancer and a photographer might have taken images of her
dancing and then compiled them together.
The photo has been
heavily edited, as you
can see from the
multiple shots of the
same women in the
image, this will have
been done by the
women posing
separately and then
the all the images will
have be compiled into
one image. Another
way in which it has
been edited is the
models face will have
been airbrushed which
is just a standard
procedure for a fashion
shoot.
The lens which
might have
been used on
this image
would have
been 25-30mil
lens on the
camera. Again
because it has
been shot in a
studio and the
lens will have
been to
compensate for
the studio size.
This photo has been shot in a studio and artificial lighting has been used as
you can see by the strong shadows which are coming of the model, also
there is a slight glow on the background.
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7. Photojournalism
Photojournalism, is photos which will usually contribute to a news media whether it be on the television or in a newspaper
article. Seeing the news can be based on pretty much everything it means that you can be a photojournalist in a vast range
of areas such as you can be a war/conflict photographer, natural disaster and music events.
The first know photojournalist was a man called Carol Szathmari he photographed the Crimean War (one of his photos is
featured on the bottom left hand side). Some other famous photojournalists are Phillip Jones Griffiths he was best known
for his photojournalism work in the Vietnam War .David Burnett & Robert Frank are also other very well know
photojournalist.
As I said above there are intended mainly for the purpose of reporting something, my own personal definition for why we
have photojournalism is, because sometimes words cant do an article justice and pictures can portray emotions better.
The issue of editing the photos taken by a photojournalist has been a big issue, because some people feel that there
should be no editing done because they are trying to document a matter and make the photo will most commonly be of a
real life event and sometimes editing photos can give it an unrealistic feel. Others feel that a small amount of editing is
acceptable.
All the photos are observational rather than staged and the photographer will just take photos as an event occurs
8. The majority of documentary photos of this kind (reporting on war & conflict) seem to be in black and
white, this always gives the place a less advanced feeling and promotes sympathy.
Wide lens camera has been used to capture the
village and the mountains and the sky in the
background.
Natural
lighting, has
been used.
In this photo
it might be
stress the
“darkness” of
the photo
with the only
light source
is what
appears to
be the sun
behind the
clouds, this
could be a
message
about the
part of the
world they
are in
What appears to be a gun shot through the glass has been
faded slightly but is still easily noticed, the fade could suggest
that these people aren't covered in the news and forgotten
about.
Documentary photos like this will be shot
on location all the time and aren't likely to
be staged.
Doesn’t seem to be that heavily
edited, documentary
photographs do this to keep the
“real” feeling there.
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9. Portraiture
Portraiture photography is probably one of the most common forms of photography. Its often commonly referred to as portrait
photo’s and its basically the art of capturing facial features and facial expressions as well. So basically any photograph that you
capture with people in were their face’s are showing is a portraiture photograph.
The earliest portraiture photograph which was taken was a photo taken of a man called Robert Cornelius in 1839, he even took
the photo himself by setting up his camera and after he removed the lens cap he sprinted into the frame. Since that photo was
taken the art of portraiture photographs has changed a lot as they are usually taken to kind of tell a story at the same time some
famous portraiture photographers are Diane Arbus, Angus McBean and Steve McCurry.
There are two main approaches towards portraiture photography are the Constructionist approach which is where the
photographer will construct a photograph around an idea such as a happy family photo or a romantic couple photograph.
The second approach is the candid approach which is were the photo is taken without the person knowing, in my opinion this
captures a more realistic outlook on the photograph because sometimes the constructionist approach can feel staged and
awkward.
Portraiture photographs can be taken in two locations; in a studio usually with artificial lighting which is were the constructionist
approach comes in and then in an outdoor environment where you photograph just what you see this us were the candid
approach comes into it.
Editing can play a large part in portraiture photographs especially in studio photographs because the client might want the photo
“re-touched” so it looks better and the people appear better.
10. Little post production work seems, to go on really in portraiture photos, other than the
retouching of the facial features..
In portraiture photos the
background always
seems to have a
blurred effect on it, this
is to bring all your
attention onto the main
focus of portraiture
photos, which is the
face and what
expressions are being
pulled.
High quality camera’s
are required for
portraiture photos so
you can capture all the
details of the face and
all the necessary
shadow as well.
Portraiture photos can be a mixture of both controlled and observational, for
example this photo appears to be observational and in a natural environment .
Lighting is also mainly natural because the portraiture photos are heavily based
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on facial expression which are a natural thing and if you start including light
sources it might look unnatural.
11. High street photographs
High street photographs can involve a different range of photograph types such as portraiture photographs and
weddings photographs as well. In a photo shoot there will be hundreds of photos taken and then the client will look
through them with the photographer and select the ones that he likes.
There are lots of little independent high street independent companies out there, but due to the price of renting high
street studio’s being extremely high they seem to be “dyeing out” and the big companies are buying the high street
studio’s companies who specialize in high street photography are studios such as Hamilton Studios, Portland
Studio, Venture and Barkers.
The studios which the photographs are shot in use a lot of artificial light to create a whole range of moods. Once the
image has been taken they will go through some post production process to edit them and make sure they are
looking just right, this is an important stage because now with the big companies producing high quality high street
photos there is a lot of pressure on the other studios to follow suit. A wide angle lens is commonly used in high
street photography as the studio might be quite small and the wide lens can eliminate the feeling of the photograph
been taken in a small place.
12. Artificial light
/high key
flashes have
been used in
the photograph
The lenses will probably have been used for this
particular photo will have been a 50 mil lens this will
of been to compensate for the small studio that they
will have been in.
This photo is definitely
controlled because
the child will probably
have been told to act
in a certain way as
well as the adults will
have been told to act
in a certain way.
Some post production work has been done
on this photo, quite poorly as well as you can
see the two light boxes which have been
used in the shoot, the light boxes should
have been airbrushed out because if you
notice the light boxes it just looks
unprofessional.
Despite some of the bad post-production
work has been done, some aspects of the
photo have been edited well such as the
face looks airbrushed and it has a
professional outcome as well.
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13. Architectural
Architectural photography is were photographs are taken of buildings or other structures. For example the photography
of a really old and historic building such as the Leaning tower of Pisa would be classed as architectural
photography.
The first architectural style photo which was taken was by a photographer called Nicephore Niepce and it was just a
simple photo of some buildings in a line (see the photo in the centre) but because it was a photo of some buildings
and only really about the buildings it was classed as a architectural photo. Some of the most recognized
architectural photographers of now are Hutton + Crow and Adam Mork.
Obviously the only approach that you can take when you do architectural photographs is to actually go out and take
photos of architecture, in my opinion its on of the hardest forms of photography I have talked about because it is
hard to take a photo of a building which people might be used to seeing and make it look like a good photograph
what will keep people interested.
You can see architectural photographs in quite a lot of places whether it be in the form of a real estate magazine or
even if it has been included in a advert as a setting in the background. It can also be used for construction
purposes such as for engineers, surveyors or other building related items.
Some editing can be done to the image but some prefer it not to be edited.
14. Natural lighting has been
used aswel, as in
architectural photography,
especially when it is taken
outside it will be hard to set
up artificial lighting.
Wide angle lens has
been used in this
photo as in the
majority of
architectural photos,
this is to make sure
the shear size of the
building is captured.
This photo is definitely observational, as there aren’t any
controlled elements in this photo because its just taking a
photo of the building as you see it at the time.
In this photo from what I can
see there hasn’t really been
that much post production
work done if any. Maybe
there has been abit of work
done were the arrow is
pointing from because it looks
abit edited down there. There
might have been some postproduction down, such as to
bring all the colours out and
make them stand out more,
but its nowhere near as
edited as fashion photos are.
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15. Illustration
Illustration photographs are photos which are supposed to go along side newspaper articles to give the reader more
information thank what the text can put across. An example of this is if a flood had recently happened and a
newspaper was publishing an article about it a picture could be used to show the scale of destruction further.
Some people believe that it can heavily influence someone's opinion about something, I think this is true also
because if someone's publishes an article about a celebrity and then the illustration that they choose to use is of
that celebrity in a negative light then the reader is likely to have a bad opinion about them.
Illustration can take many forms, whether it be in the form of photos which are used to convey information in text books
or photos for the purpose of illustrating educational literature.
Seeing you can illustrate a lot of different articles there isn't really a set technique for the method of getting photos for
illustration purposes, because you can take photos in studios if they need to et in a certain way e.g for educational
books, or you can take them outside were the photo hasn’t been stages this is the case for illustrations for articles
in newspapers etc….Also any lens can be sued really it all depends on the conditions of the photo that you take.
16. This photo will have been controlled, but not all
illustrational photos will be controlled because if
the article is describing something in real life then
the image will most likely need to observational,
so it gives the image the same real feeling as the
image.
This will have been
shot in a studio most
likely, just so
everything was just
right, such as artificial
lighting will have been
used in this image also
another reason why it
will be shot in the
studio is so there are
no background
distractions in the
image.
A lot of post production work
has been done to this
photograph, its evident in the
“zipper” which appears to be
“un-zipping” him from his
head downwards, there also
appears to be some sort of
gradient or glow which seems
to be in the background or
glowing outwards from his
head. Also there seems to
this kind of gray, almost like
talc effect all over the ,mans
body as well, which will have
been some more postproduction work.
This might also be classed as a fine art photography.
This image will probably of been shot
with a wide lens, because if it was shot
in a studio then it will of most likely of
been a small area.
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17. Medical Photography
Medical photographs are taken with the intention of accuracy or fulfilling their objective , they need to be accurate
because they can be used with the intention of recording images or diseases and if the photos aren't accurate
somebody might come to the wrong conclusion about an important matter. The work that the photographers
produce can be used for a variety of different matters, they can be used for the purpose of coming to a conclusion
by taking accurate measurement and analysis of the photos, or they could be used medical reports or even for the
purpose of education in the form of educating medical students who aren't ready to come face to face with the
“real thing”.
The first instance were medical photographs took place in 1840 were someone called Alfred Francois Donne took
photos of sections of someone's bones and teeth.
With medical photography being a specialist subject there aren't really many companies which will specialize in it, so
the majority of medical photographers will work in small departments and work for the hospital or a medical school.
The technique that the medical photographers will use will normally be using a digital camera and normally a flash to
photograph patients, they will also use the same technique to take photos in the operating theatre. When
photographing more complicated situations such as on bodies were a simple, photo might not be good enough
evidence so they can employ specialist equipment and photo imaging techniques such as a thermal imaging
camera, time-lapse cinematography(to show rate of decomposition)and endoscopy which is used to photograph
internal organs.
18. When you first look at this photo the first thing what draws your
attention, apart from the dead body is the post production work
which has really obviously been done you can see the editing
which has been done because the entire background is blurred,
this will be so your attention is drawn straight to the body
because nothing else in the photo is actually important.
Definitely a high
quality camera has
been used for this
photo to capture,
this would be to
ensure that all the
different details of
the body are
captured.
Artificial light will
be the only light
source in this
image and there
will be no natural
light because a
morgue is inside,
so the only light
source there will
have been will be
the lights which
are fitted in the
room
This photograph will have been controlled, because
it’s a dead body so there is no chance it will change
what it is doing. Also it appears to be controlled
with the faded out image of the computer and other
equipment to maybe stress the technicality of
medical work.
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19. Fine Art Photography
Fine art photography is what it says it is, photography of what somebody would consider as fine art, the most common
form of fine art photography that you will see is photographs of naked people, photos of architecture and also
wildlife photography might be considered as fine art photography. My personal opinion on this form of photography
is that it is a very vast area, because who defines what fine art is? I think that anything could be classed as fine art
as long as the viewer see’s it as what they would consider as fine art.
Fine art photography isn't really taken for any specific reason, I think that the only real reason why it would be taken is
just simply for “appreciation” of the art. Fine art photography might also be featured in magazines, the photos
which are featured in magazines usually aren't accompanied by that much text as the picture are “worth more than
a thousand words”
The first photo to be taken which was considered as fine art was a photo by Alfred Stieglitz, he was also notable for
introducing fine art photography into museums. Other notable artists who are famous for their fine art photography
work are Ansel Adams he specialized in taking photos of “fine environments” he was also a activist for the
environment and the wilderness maybe this is why he tried to out across the beauty of society in his work. James
Nachtwey was also a notable photographer he was know for his work in the “fine art of war”.
Fine art photography is not taken in a studio at all really because the fine art usually only exists outside of a studio and
cant really be stage apart from a woman who stages her fine art in a studio called Grace Weston an example of
her work is in the bottom left corner. Also a range of lenses can be used it all depends on how you want the image
to come out.
20. The women has also been placed on a black background, I
think is to further represent the feeling of depression and
sorrow
The women is placed in centre
of the image , maybe they did
this to further represent the
feeling of sorrow because the
women appears trapped in the
centre of image
This photo will have been
conditional, because the model
will have been told to pose in
the way they have. Not all fine
art photos are conditional
though because some people
consider just everyday life as a
fine art. This photo will also
have been taken in a studio
Artificial light has been used in this
photograph, I think it has been used in
this photo to light up the mask, and
other features of the body such as
the hipbones .
There also appears to be some postproduction work done on this photo as
there seems to be a slight glow around
the mask and the body of the women as
well.
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21. Documentary
Documentary photographs are used to often tell a long story or project the same as a documentary you watched would,
for example if you watched a documentary on the first world war it would tell the story of a section of the first world
war so a documentary photography of the world war would probably would try and do the same but by conveying
messages through the photographs. Documentary photographs are seen as very powerful images and usually
quite emotional (as you can see from the image in the bottom left)
One of the first instances were documentary photography was used was by a man called Lewis Hine who's images
were mainly of children in a work place, he documented the photos in such a negative way that he helped pass the
Child Labor law in America. Other famous documentary photographers are Tim Hetherington who photographed
peoples experience’s of war the images all seemed to be from the perspective of an individual. And another
notable modern day photographer is Corey Arnold.
Documentary photography is usually done with observational photographs rather than them being staged, this gives a
more realistic feel to the image, as they should have that feel as well because they are supposed to look as real as
possible. Some post production work is also done on the photos but not so its that notable and nowhere near the
extremities that fashion photographs undergoes.
22. Some post production work might have been done to this photo I
think the bear might have been shot separately and then edited
into the photo.
In the majority of cases photographs
documenting nature will use a telephoto lens
because if they get too close the animal will run
away, but in this case they will have probably
used a slightly wider lens than normal.
The rule of thirds also
applies to this
photograph as one of
the man’s eyes are at
one of the points and
also the bear will fall near
another one of the points
in which the rule talks
about.
This photo will have
been controlled,
because the guy is
quite clearly “posing”
for the photo
Natural lighting has definitely been used in this photo, because they are
outside and it’s a very nature orientated photo, so it needs to looks as
natural as possible and if they started including lots of artificial lighting it
would start to look un-natural.
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23. Should Post-Production be carried out on images and if so when?
I don’t really agree with post-production work being done because I think that photography is a method of capturing still
moments of life and life doesn’t have any glow on it or a filter on it so why should the photos? Also in fashion photo I don’t
agree with post-production work because there are many examples of what a model looks like in the original photo and then
what the model looks like in the final photo and in some of the photos there is a drastic change, I disagree with this because
some people will see these photos and then aspire to look like the model, they will go to extreme lengths to then try and look
like the person in this final image and the person in the final isn’t even technically “real”. There are a few examples in which I
think that post-production work can be done and that is in the example of fine art when you take photos of landscapes and the
photo might not do justice to the what the landscape actually looks like, so you can put it into Photoshop and bring out the
colours in the photo.
To what extent should post-production be carried out on images and in what context?
I think that if any post-production work is going to be done on an image it should only be done to bring out the “real” image or
it should be done so that the majority wont be able to notice it and only the “trained eye” will be able to notice them. So the only
work I think that should be done is slightly re-touching the images, such as removing red eye or any other slight faults which
might be the fault of the photographer.
Fashion photography is less important than medical photography?
I disagree and agree with the this statement, firstly I disagree with it because in my eyes medical photography does serve a
purpose and that purposes can be to benefit patients because they can send a photo to a medical expert in an area and get
there opinion on that matter, also medical photos can be used in medical text books in the hope to educate medical students
who might not be able to come face to face with the condition that they are studying. The only real practical reason for fashion
photography is the purpose of advertisement in magazines etc.. In my opinion helping someone and educating someone is
more important than showcasing someone's beauty and advertising the latest brand of clothing. My reason for fashion
photography being more important than medical photography is in the terms of advertisement because fashion photography
plays a huge part in the advertisement for new clothes etc.. Also fashion photography is featured are in a lot of fashion based
magazines and medical photography has basically no advertisement capabilities so in this instance fashion photography is more
important than medical photography, but my opinion still stands that fashion photography is less important than medical
phootgraphy.
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