This document discusses various genres of commercial photography and their typical codes and conventions. It describes genres like advertising, fashion, still life, editorial, photojournalism, wildlife, and landscape photography. For each genre, it provides examples of photographic techniques commonly used, such as rule of thirds, depth of field, lighting, color schemes, and more. It concludes by identifying codes and conventions that are frequently used in commercial photography based on the analysis, such as use of shadows, black and white/sepia, depth of field, experimental angles, and texture.

1. Commercial Photography
Codes and conventions

2. Advertising
Advertising photography is made to usually sell a product or
a service.
• In the photo below it can be seen that the use of the
rule of thirds is in place, also the use of depth of field is
used through the foreground, middle-ground and
background to make it look more 3D.
• The ISO speed is reasonably high in order to give it a
more grainer look so as to give it more of a textured
look.
• The use of colour here is important, the main colour
scheme would be red, blacks and browns. The bright
red of the motorbike , girls top and the drinks logo gives
a subliminal message to the audience and also shows
that arguably the target audience is male.
• The ‘animation’ style also arguably reminds us of
gaming and this also links with the target audience
being mainly male.

3. Fashion Photography
Fashion and glamour photography usually incorporates models and is a form of advertising
photography. Fashion photography emphasizes clothes and also the body form. Glamour photography
is closely linked to fashion photography and is used in magazines and increasingly advertising through
television.
• Fashion photography like the work featured in Harper’s Bazaar emphasizes clothes and other
products; glamour emphasizes the model and body form.
• The photograph on the left is taken from the popular magazine by Harper’s Bazaar, the use of the
rule of thirds allows for the viewers eye to naturally pick out the model and it also adds interest to
the composition. The use of depth makes it more 3D, the shadows in the background help to
make it look more 3D and to also make the model stand out more.
• The colour scheme consists of mainly burgundy colours with a sepia overtone, this emphasises
the ‘old-style’ clothing making the photograph look faintly aged and golden.

4. Still life photography
Still life photography usually is of
inanimate objects that are commonly
found such as flowers. Still life is similar
to food photography and some nature
photography and can be used for
advertising purposes.
• The background for this photograph is
basic so as to make the red and green
of the flowers become the focal point.
• The lighting allows for the flowers to
look textured, the way the light is
positioned creates shadows and
texture so as to make it give it more of
a 3D look.
• It can also be seen that there is a use
of leading lines, the eye is drawn to
the more lighted part and this is the
bottom of the stem, the eye then
follows it up and so the flower
becomes the focal point.

5. Editorial Photography
Editorial photography illustrates a story or
idea, these types of photography are often
used within magazines and is closely linked
with fashion and glamour photography.
• The shutter speed is a important factor
to this photo, The shutter speed for this
photograph would be fast so as to
capture the movement of the water.
• The contrast of the light and dark is used
to create the illusion that the sea is a
‘dark and mysterious place’. This is a
contrast to the white and pale blue of
the water at the top of the photograph.
• The lighting does make it look more
textured and also more 3D, this creates
depth for the image drawing the viewer
in to the ‘story’ that is being told.

6. Photo Journalism
Photojournalism is considered a sub-set
of editorial photography, they are
considered to be accepted as a
documentation of a news story. (It is
similar to paparazzi)
• The picture opposite uses the rule of
thirds in order to split up the scene, it
also arguably uses reflection and
symmetry, this creates interest to the
photograph.
• It also is in black and white to keep it
simple and is also a characteristic of
photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson
who took this photograph.
• The white balance has been put up in
order for there to be a harsher
contrast of the black and white, for
example it makes the gun black
connoting ‘evil’ and the white face of
the men connote ‘goodness’ in this
circumstance.

7. Wildlife Photography
Wildlife photography demonstrates the life of animals, the use of the background
and the focus in this photograph gives the bird more of a focal point and it also
makes the colour stand out against the pale background.
• The shutter speed is fast so as to capture the water moving and also to get the
photo of the bird.
• The use of the cropping tool could have been used to make the bird more
centralised and more of a focal point.

8. Landscape Photography
Landscape photography depicts the location, the depth in this photo makes it look
3D and it also gives the illusion of it being a countryside setting.
• The use of shadows and light adds interest and also adds weight to the objects in
the photograph.
• The green colours make it look more ‘natural’ and reminds the viewer of the
countryside.

9. Codes and Conventions
• As there is not a set of codes and conventions for commercial photography
which is the type of photograph genre I am intending on using within my
website and digipak I decided to analyse photographs within that genre and
make my own set of codes and conventions to stick by.
• Here is a list of the codes and conventions I found were most frequent
within the photographs I analysed:
• Shadows (light)
• Use of black and white and sepia
• Depth of field
• Experimental angles
• Use of texture
These conventions are a basis for my photography, I will look to include some if
not all of these conventions within my photographs in order to link with the
genre of commercial photography.