Photography Unit: 2013

TYPES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

ADVERTISING

The media purpose of advertisement is to encourage people to buy a product. Advertisements usually do this by making the product seem desirable to make people want to own it. To make a product seem desirable companies will make sure the product looks nice and they will try to show of all of it's good features. They will never show any faults or bad things about the product. Products will always have a target audience and the image's advertising the products will always try to relate to that target audience and get there attention as they are the people who are most likely to buy the product and therefore the advertising campaigns should be focused on them. For example this image looks very smart and sophisticated because of the black and white tones. Also the model in the image is a middle aged man so this could mean that the image is targeted at smart and sophisticated adults. Images like this one could be found in magazines, on billboards and posters in bus stops as these are the places that people within the target audience are more likely to see them. This is a good picture because it's really simple and effective. There isn't much colour in the image and it doesn't appear to shout at you which creates a calm and relaxed effect. This is unusual in a poster as usually posters are loud and bright to attract peoples attention. The fact that this poster doesn't do that would defiantly attract the attention of an older, sophisticate target audience.

FASHION

Originally fashion photography's purpose was to document types of clothing worn by women of the time and for other women to look at and know how to conduct themselves. This main basis of fashion photography hasn't changed that much. Fashion photography is still looked at by women to help them but now it's more how they should look and what looks good now in society. Another purpose of fashion photography that is still prominent now is using fashion to document history. For example the clothes that would have been worn during the war compared to now are completely different and by the use of fashion photography we can see how fashion has changed through out history and also how the role of women has changed. Unfortunately fashion photography now days can lead women to believe that they need to look like the women who model in fashion photography images. This can be degrading for women when they are led to believe that they are not good enough or not pretty enough. Images like this tend to be found in fashion magazines. I like this photo because the colours are really vibrant and the lighting looks really good. The model in the photo really stands out because her dress is such a vibrant, bright colour. I think this works well though because this is a fashion photography image and therefore the model should be the main focus of the image like she is here. Also the model is very central and is framed with the plants. This also encourages the fact that she is the main focus of the image.

PUBLICITY

Publicity Photo's are used to represent a famous person or group of people. They can be used to promote film's, TV shows or the persons craft. An example of where you would find this kind of image is on a web page with information about this person, usually whoever made the page would put a photo of them with the information. Also if there was an interview with a singer in a magazine then the magazine's editor would put a photo of the singer next to the interview. However instead of each person who puts information on a web page or does an interview in a magazine taking their own photo of the person or group, they can use the photo's that are already available of the person that have been taken by Publicity Photographers. Sometimes you will need to pay to use them. Some people may have Publicity Photographs taken by them selves for their own personal use. For example on an actors resume they need to have photo's of themselves. I like this photo because it's really simple, you can see the person clearly and it shows you what he does. This is all important because the photo's are taken to show the person and what they do. Also there are no distractions around the person so you will always focus on him and not the pretty scenery.

SPORTS

Sports photography can be used to advertise, promote, inform or entertain. Athletes can use photo's of themselves to promote them and the sports they do. Sports photography can also be used to promote the sports and get more people interested in taking up that sport. To do this the photographer needs to make the sport look fun and they need to make a person think "I want to be in his/ her place". Some ways this could be achieved could be through getting a cheering crowd in the back ground and showing a scene of victory. Another use of sports photography is in magazines or newspapers. If a magazine or newspaper was going to publish a report about a race or a match then they will nearly always have a photo taken during that race or match to accompany the text. Finally people may look at sports photography just as a source of entertainment. Someone may have an athlete that they admire and so they would look through photo's of them in action or maybe the photo's could be used for posters. I like this photo because it's a really dramatic shot and it looks like the player is about to score which gives tension to the photograph because it makes you want to know if he scores or not. Also the cheering fans and the dramatic moment could mean that this photo could promote the sports as it looks like fun and exciting place to be.

PHOTOJOURNALISM

Photojournalism is a type of photography used by photojournalists to tell a story. Usually the photo's are of bad things in the world like war and famine. Photojournalism photo's are mainly used for news broadcasts, or articles in newspapers. This image is effective because it shows the more personal side of war. You can tell it's about a war because of the pattern on the mans hat, he's a soldier. You can then tell that something bad has happened to the little girl and he is saving or protecting her because of the way she's clinging to him and the expression on her face. There isn't much in the image but all the things that are there are very effective at telling a story. Once you realise that the child is being protected by a soldier in a war you start to ask more questions like "Where are her parents", "What happened to her" and "Is she okay". You can almost begin to imagine how scary it must be for her. This is why it is effective. It gets you thinking about it and more deeply into the photo and what's going on which makes it more personal and therefore more likely to affect your emotions, making it an effective image.

MUSIC

Music photographers work within the music industry photographing gigs and concert for clients, taking the photographs to go on album covers and taking promotional photo's of bands or artists for posters or websites. You could find music photography in loads of places like in magazines, newspapers, on line, on posters and other promotional items and on album covers or inside the CD case. I like this photo because it's really calming and really fits the feel of acoustic music. I like the lighting because it's really interesting and the way the sun is shining on the sea makes it look calm as well. I can tell that the persons music style is acoustic because he has a guitar. The only thing I don't like about the image is that you can't see his face. I think for this kind of image you need to be able to see the musicians face or have some other way of identifying them because if you can't tell who it is then it's no longer use able for any of the purposes above.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Wedding photographers are hied out by people getting married to take pictures of them and their guests on the big day. A wedding photographers job is to make sure that the photographs they take at the wedding show all aspects on the wedding and are suitable for the clients to look back at the photo's in years to come and remember the day well. You could find wedding photo's on people's walls or in albums. Usually it is the job of the photographer or the company that the photographer works for to put the photo's in an album or in a frame in order for the client to be able to have the photo's fully finished when they receive them. I live this photo because the lighting is effective. The lighting almost represents a spot light on the bride and groom which is relevant because they are the most important people of the day. One thing I don't like about this photo is the way the groom is hidden behind the bride. This may be to represent that they are one now, that they are together, but I think the photographer could have found another way to represent this like having the couple holding hand or hugging.

LANDSCAPE

Landscape photographs don't usually show the land scape influenced by humans. They find area's where nature is at it's best to photograph. They tend to focus a lot on defined landforms, weather and light. You can find landscape photo's almost anywhere. People put them on their walls, there used on leaflets, all types of advertisement, on websites and on the photographers own personal portfolio. I love this photo because of the colours in the photo. The colour are really bright and vibrant and I love the way the colours in the sky are reflecting on the ground. I also love the way the image has on definite focus. The silhouette of the tree is such a defined shape and it looks really good against the bright lights of the background colours. I think this is a really nice, really simple image and it looks very dramatic. Also the way the clouds appear to slope upwards within the image kind of pulls you in to the tree in the middle.

WILDLIFE

Wild life photography is taking photo's of wildlife. It's regarded as challenging because of the animals behaviour. A wildlife photographer would usually have to study an animal and it's habits etc before they go to take the photo so that they can understand and predict the animals movements and therefore be able to take the perfect picture. You can find wildlife photography anywhere. Some wildlife photographers take photo's as a hobby and some take photo's as a profession so some would just keep the photo's for there own personal enjoyment and use whilst others would take photo's to sell. You can find a lot of wildlife photography in magazines. Mainly in wildlife magazines but also in children's magazines as posters. Some people like to collect wildlife photographs and so you may see them up in peoples homes, or work places. You can also find wildlife photography in the media on adverts, posters, leaflets etc... I like this photo because it's so detailed and you can see a small animal really well up close that you wouldn't usually see. The colours in this image are really effective as the main colour is green and people associate green with nature. This exaggerated the whole wildlife part of it.

Contact Sheet

Here is a contact sheet of all the photo's I have taken in this photo shoot.

Final 10 Photo's

Here is the top 10 photo's I selected from all the photo's that I took and reasons why I selected each photo to be in my top 10.

1. This is the first photo I chose to use in my final 10. The idea behind this photo was to have the jumper as the main focus of the image and for the whole image to look christmasy. I tried to achieve the jumper standing out by having a bright and colourful jumper against a not so bright and colourful background. Then I tried to achieve the Christmas theme by firstly, using a Christmas jumper and secondly, using the logs as the main prop in the image because logs (log fires, log cabins) seem to relate to Christmas. I feel that the image does portray this theme effectively because of the way I have used the logs and the bright jumper to achive this theme. I could improve the way the theme is conveyed by maybe having more props that also suggested Christmas. I think the lighting in this photo is quite simple but effective considering it was natural lighting. The main focus of the image (the model/ jumper) is lit well enough and there are no shadows that obstruct of effect how well you can see the important things in the image. I like the way the lighting is soft and warm because it fits in with the theme of the logs because people associate logs with log fires and log fires are associated with warmth. This photo also fits the rule of thirds because the jumper is along/ within 4 of the 9 lines and as it is the most important thing in the image this is quite an imporant point. Also this means that people will focus on the jumper which is the main point. Also the face and the hand are along lines too.

2. The theme of this photo is the same as the previous photo. The christmas logs and the christmas jumper creating an over all christmasy theme. Also the bright jumper so it stands out against the background. I think this image does seem Christmasy like the last one but I dont think its as Christmasy. I think that this could maybe be because you cant see the logs as much so they dont have as much of an impact. Also becuase the lighting isnt as warm which makes the logs have even less impact. I could make it look more Christmasy by having the logs in it more, changing the lighting or adding Christmasy props like presents or Christmas tree's. The one thing I dislike about this photo is the lighting. I think it's a bit too dark and shaddowy especially on the background. However I like the texture in this image. The whole image has a lot of texture in it; the leaves, the logs and the jumper. I think this adds a dimention to the photography that makes it a more interesting photo to look at. Also I like the angle that the image was taken at becuase you can see further into the background and it gives the image more depth.

3. The idea behind this photo was to be able to see the patterns on the cardigan quite well. Since the front of the cardigan was open, I decided that photographing it from the back was more effective.