Applications of photography

AO1: Describe different applications of photography

Advertising

Advertising photography is one of the most popular and well known forms of photography and a type of commercial photography. The fundamental aim for advertising photography is to produce the ultimate setting and make use of photography techniques in the best way possible in order to display the product in the most appealing way to the target audience. Photographers make use of various ideas and visuals to make a clear message of what the company want to convey. Photoshop is often used to improve the overall look of the product that is being advertised. Advertising photography can be used to promote many products such as fashion, cars, food and companies. Advertising photography is used in places such as on billboards, buses, bus stops. These are places where many people will see the advertisement, the image is usually the first thing you see on the advertisement and what you are more likely to remember than the information on it. Promoting products through advertising can help boost sales and increase customer interest for the product and allowing more people to know about it. Advertising can be split in to video advertisement or photography advertisement.

This is a 1940s cola ad targeting African Americans,

A young Ron Brown is the boy reaching for a bottle. 

The colours are dull as it only uses black and white. The image shows an old African American family. Overall, this ad is not very catching. 

This is a recent ad and you can already see it’s a lot more appealing with the use of bright colours and more writing and bolder fonts. Also this ad features celebrities which appeal to the target audience.

Photojournalism

Photojournalism is a form of journalism that uses images to tell a news story. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work is both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media. Photojournalism photography ranges from serious current affairs to paparazzi style photos, sports photography and travel photography.

This is a photograph taken by Wallace Hooper of the madras famine in India 

(1876-1878). The photographs he took during this time, especially this one were very powerful to convince a visual truth of the suffering of others.

Nowadays a lot of popular photojournalism is taken by the paparazzi of celebrities and tells us about what they get up to. This is not as an effective use of photojournalism such as earlier photojournalism which highlights important events.

Fashion Photography

Fashion Photography is a genre of photography devoted to displaying and advertising clothing and other fashion items. It is featured in magazines, catalogues, websites, etc. It’s the work of the photographer to make the images look eye-catching and show the intended design. Quite often fashion photography uses celebrities to increase the appeal to the audience because of the celebrity appeal. So for a person who works in fashion photography, their job is to promote a company’s clothing in the best way possible.

This is a vogue cover from 1950. The photo is quite plain with a pale background. There isn't much writing, just the title and the issue. The eye catching image itself uses bright colours but combined with the plain background, colours and minimal writing the cover looks dull and not very interesting to look at.

This is a recent vogue cover from 2010 with Nicole Kidman who is a famous celebrity. The covers main colour is bright red as it’s highlighted from her dress, lipstick and the background. There is plenty more writing on this page in a contrasting colour to the magazine which makes it stand out. The fashion element is definitely the main focus for this magazine by looking at the cover at what she’s wearing and her pose. It is overall more appealing to look at.

Fine Art Photography

Fine art photography is photography created purely to express the vision of the artist through photos. Unlike most types of photography, fine art photography doesn't have a core purpose like to promote a product or tell a story, it just has to look appealing. Photographers may go to different places for photographs and mostly try and fit as much as they can in to a photograph but still follow some of the rules of photography such as the rule of thirds. These photographs usually work freelance and will try and sell them to people for good amounts of money.

This is one of the works of Ansel Adams from 1942. He was one of the most widely recognized fine art photographers of the 20th century. This photo captures the scenery in good detail and the lighting does manage to capture the depth of the clouds and reflection of the river. The lack of colour doesn't limit the photo as it adds to the expression and definition of the photograph. 

This photo of the flower is taken by Alex Greenshpun and the aim of this photographer is to freeze a moment in time and capture its most subtle and delicate essence. The use of a close up shot really defines the smooth edges of the petals and the elegance and delicacy of the flower. This is fine art at its best. Art for art sake that captures something beautiful.

Portraiture

Portraiture is photography of a person or group of people that displays their expression, personality, and mood of the subject. The focus of the photograph is usually the person's face, although the entire body and the background or context may be included. There can be formal and informal portrait photography, as a posed photo to a captured photo in the moment. When portrait photographs are composed and captured, the photographer has control over the lighting of the composition of the subject and can adjust direction and intensity of light. It is desirable to capture the subject's eyes and face in focus while allowing other less important elements to be rendered in a soft focus. At other times, portraits of individual features might be the focus of a composition such as the hands, eyes or part of the subject's torso.

This a portrait of Winston Churchill taken in 1900. Portraits at this time were generally of important people and royals, and tend to focus on their face.

Portraits today have not changed much from early Portraiture. The focus is still the same. However, we now have better equipment for photography and anyone can have a portrait taken of themselves, not just important people. 

Documentary Photography

Documentary photography is a popular form of photography used to record historical events. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures featuring people.

This photo was taken by Jacob Ris. It is documenting the living conditions of the poor in New York during the 1800s. This image looks like it was taken without the knowledge of the subjects. 

This photo is taken by Aaron Heuy, in Afghanistan, this is a more modern photo of documentary photography. It is obvious that photography equipment is better and improves the quality of the photo. This picture does look posed as the subject is directly in front of the camera and looks to be aware of the photo being taken.

Architectural Photography

Architectural photography is about capturing images of buildings and similar structures that are both aesthetically pleasing and accurate representations of their subjects. Architectural photographers, are usually skilled in the use of specialized techniques and equipment and an expert in visual representation.

This photo is of London Bridge in the 1800s. It’s not very aesthetically pleasing and doesn't look skillful and shows the lack of techniques and equipment at this time.

This is a modern photo of the gherkin in London. You can tell the photographer has carefully chosen their shot. This looks like a high up landscape/ scenery shot. The level of the camera allows you to see the sheer height and size of the building as well as the overall structure of it. There is much better techniques and equipment used in the 21^st century.

Medical Photography

Medical Photography is a specialised type of photography that documents the clinical presentation of patients, medical and surgical procedures, medical devices and specimens from autopsy. The practice requires a high level of technical skill to present the photograph free from misleading information that may cause misinterpretation. The photographs are used in clinical documentation, research, publication in scientific journals and teaching.  They record the work of healthcare professionals to assist in the planning of treatment and education of the public and other healthcare professionals. The nature of the work requires a respect for and sensitivity to people, an awareness of sterile procedures and an adherence to privacy legislation and policies.

This photo consists of a long shot that shows the medical equipment and doctors and nurses at work. The quality of the photo is poor suggesting the photographic equipment and techniques where older and we can see that the medical equipment was not as developed as it is today. 

This photo is a long shot and combined with the perfect angle shows the doctor at work clearly. This photo shows the advancement in medical equipment as well as the development of photography equipment and techniques.  

High Street Studio work

High street studio work is done in a studio and the photographer takes a number of pictures with different backgrounds and prop. The images can be developed for families to take home and have a copy of them to frame around their house. High street studio work is popularly used for wedding photos, model shoots and family shoots.

This is an example of high street studio work in the 1900s. It is a very formal family portrait consisting of a long shot. No one is smiling they are looking plain faced at the camera. The quality of the photo is poor suggesting the under developed photography equipment that was available at the time.

High street studio work today is more informal with the subjects in different poses and they can dress up, it’s not like early works of family portraits. The subjects are clearer and the photo has better lighting and more colour. This indicates better photographic equipment and techniques. This photo consists of a long shot also.

Illustration Photography

Illustration Photography is the visualization or a depiction made by an artist through a photograph.  Illustrations can be artistic images illustrating text, fashion, magazines or a book etc.  The aim of an illustration is to provide a visual representation of something.

This photograph is a visual representations of a woman.This photo looks abstract and maybe used to illustrate fashion. It is a close up as the background does not hold much importance as the subject and main image is the focal point.