Types of photographs
1) Black and white photography.
Historically the first type of photography. After the advent of color and then digital photography, black and white photographs retained their popularity. Often color photographs are converted to black and white for an artistic effect.
2) Color photography.
Color photography appeared in the mid-19th century. The first permanent color photograph was taken in 1861 by James Maxwell using three-color photography (color separation method). Color separation is the division of a color image of the original into separate single-color images of equal scale.
To obtain a color photograph using this method, three cameras with color filters installed on them (red, green and blue) were used. The resulting photographs made it possible to recreate a color image during projection (and later in printing).
The second most important step in the development of the three-color photography method was the discovery in 1873 by the German photochemist Hermann Wilhelm Vogel of sensitizers, that is, substances that can increase the sensitivity of silver compounds to rays of different wavelengths. Vogel managed to obtain a composition sensitive to the green part of the spectrum (distribution of values of a physical quantity: energy, frequency or mass).
The practical use of three-color photography became possible after Vogel's student, the German scientist Adolf Miethe, developed sensitizers that made the photographic plate sensitive to other parts of the spectrum.
Along with the color separation method, other processes (methods) of color photography began to actively develop from the beginning of the 20th century. In particular, in 1907, the Lumière Brothers' Autochrome photographic plates were patented and went on free sale, making it relatively easy to obtain color photographs. Despite numerous disadvantages (rapid fading of paints, fragility of plates, grainy images), the method quickly gained popularity and until 1935, 50 million autochrome plates were produced worldwide.
3) Instant photography.
A type of photography that uses special photographic materials that have a more complex structure than traditional ones. Such photographic materials contain built-in containers with reagents for chemical processing of photographic layers, and are automatically developed immediately after shooting, giving a ready-made positive image. The most famous manufacturer of such photographic kits was the Polaroid company, whose founder, Edwin Land, invented the principle of image transfer.
4) Digital photography.
Digital photography is a relatively young but popular technology that originated in 1981, when Sony launched the Sony Mavica camera with a CCD matrix that recorded images on disk. This device was not digital in the modern sense (an analog signal was recorded on disk), but it made it possible to abandon photographic film. The first full-fledged digital camera, the DCS 100, was released in 1990 by Kodak.
Genres of photographs
In the 20th century, when photography techniques were sufficiently improved, sufficiently sensitive photographic materials and convenient cameras appeared, photography turned from a technical curiosity into one of the types of fine art, related to painting, but different from it.
The special place and significance of photography in artistic culture is associated with the technical, scientific essence of photography. The most important property of photography is its reliability, the authenticity of the events captured. At the same time, the image, as in painting or drawing, carries within itself an artistic generalization, the disclosure of the inner meaning of the situation shown, the character of the person depicted, and much more.
At his core, a photographer is an artist who has certain “colors” - photographic equipment and photographic materials. The photographer uses the visual means of photography (shot point, angle, linear composition, plan, perspective, lighting), akin to the visual means of painting. An additional tool is chemical-photographic processing. Some modern photography genres repeat the corresponding genres of painting, while others are specific only to photography.
The main genres of photography as art.
1) Portrait.
A portrait is an image or description of a person or a group of people who exist or existed in reality, including through artistic means (painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, printing), as well as in literature and criminology (verbal portrait).
2) Still life.
Still life (French nature morte - “dead nature”) is the image of inanimate objects in the fine arts, in contrast to portrait, genre, historical and landscape themes.
3) Landscape.
Landscape (French Paysage, from pays - country, area) is a genre of fine art (as well as individual works of this genre), in which the main subject of the image is pristine nature, or nature transformed to one degree or another by man. Modern ideas about landscape have been formed over the centuries with the development of artistic techniques for its depiction. In a landscape work, special importance is attached to the construction of perspective and composition of the view, conveying the state of the atmosphere, air and light environment, and their variability.
4) Photo hunt.
Wildlife Photography is a type of photography in which the subject of photography is birds, animals, insects and other creatures in natural conditions. It combines three aspects - sports (therefore can also be considered as a new type of sport hunting, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and has become especially popular in our time); - cognitive, in which it merges with photography as a method of scientific research in the field of biology in which documentation is considered as a basic requirement; - artistic, as it forms one of the types of artistic photography as a form of art - in this case, the aesthetic criterion becomes the main one for evaluating the results.
5) Macro photography.
Macro photography (from ancient Greek μακρός - large, large) is a type of photo, film or video photography, the peculiarity of which is to obtain images of an object on a scale of 1:2 - 20:1 (that is, 1 centimeter of an image on the photosensitive material of the camera corresponds to 2 - 0.05 centimeters of the object).
The term macro photography is used more widely in cases of photographing from closer distances than the distances indicated on the distance scale of camera lenses (the minimum focusing distance for most SLR camera lenses is about 0.5 meters, for rangefinder camera lenses - about 1 meter).
Macro photography is the principle of forming an enlarged image. The lens creates a real enlarged image of the photographed object on any light-sensitive material - photographic film, photographic plate, photographic paper, film or on an electronic device (matrix of a digital camera or video camera, videocon of a television camera). Microphotography is used to photograph smaller objects using an optical microscope.
6) Report.
A report is a message from the scene. A genre of journalism, the specificity of which is efficiency. In addition, this genre is characterized by impartial (without judgment) coverage of events and it is assumed that the reporter is an eyewitness or participant in what is being described. The author of the report is not necessarily the protagonist of the event (although he may be, for example, in materials like “a reporter changes profession”), but he is always an active observer and commentator of the action. The events in the report are not staged (as is sometimes commonly thought), but are reproduced in their entirety. In other words, reportage is a genre that gives a visual representation of an event through the direct perception of the author - an eyewitness or participant in the event.
Specific types of photography.
1) Aerial photography.
Aerial photography is photographing a territory from a height of hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers using an aerial camera mounted on an atmospheric aircraft (plane, helicopter, airship, etc. or their unmanned analogue).
The images obtained from aerial photography are especially useful in cartography, in determining land boundaries, species reconnaissance, archeology, environmental studies, the production of films and commercials, etc.
2) Lomography.
Lomography is a genre of photography that aims to capture life in all its manifestations as it is. Lomographers look for beauty in a huge number of obviously low-quality film frames taken from unusual angles.
For this purpose, an automatic compact camera from the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association "LOMO Compact - Automatic" ("LOMO LC-A"), released in 1983, was initially used, which is where the name came from. Maintained and developed by the International Lomographic Society, headquartered in Vienna.
Lomography involves capturing the moment without regard to the traditional quality criteria of documentary photography, such as sharpness, believable color rendition, uniform frame density. This is a consequence of both the availability and simplicity of the design of most Lomographic devices, and the often low photographic literacy of some Lomographers. Because of this, the concept of Lomography is misinterpreted by some photographers and amateur photographers as some kind of blurry, low-quality amateur photographs. At exhibitions, Lomographic photographs are mosaically grouped into Lomo walls, and not only each individual frame has artistic value, but also their totality, on which anything can be depicted.
3) Luminography.
Luminography is photographing luminous objects (light sources or reflections, as follows from the name (Latin lumen “light”, ancient Greek γράφω “writing”). In the West, the term Light painting is most often used to denote this direction in the art of photography .
There are two main methods of luminography: static and dynamic. The general rule is long exposure times.
Static method: the camera is fixed - the light source moves.
Dynamic method: the camera moves freely - the light source is stationary.
Mixed method: the camera and light source are movable.
Luminography appears in the works of some artists back in the first half of the twentieth century. The pioneers of this method were Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Gjon Mili and others. Then interest in it periodically flares up in America and Europe - Kamil Varga, Kensi Goepel and Jens Warnecke from Germany, the groups Lichtfaktor and LAPP PRO, and the American Darius are engaged in luminography Twin, Finn Hanu Huhtamo and others.
4) Underwater photography.
Underwater photography - filming and photography of various objects located under water.
As a rule, this occurs with the use of special waterproof equipment, or with the help of a regular camera or movie camera placed in an underwater filming box or in a soft waterproof case.
A set for underwater photography at shallow depths usually consists of a camera in a box and an autonomous lighting device. Professional filming is carried out using several lighting devices with autonomous power sources, means of installing equipment on the ground or an underwater vehicle, means of underwater transportation of equipment and means of communication between operators. Modern equipment makes it possible to film at depths inaccessible to humans, thanks to the use of remote control devices.
5) Light graphics.
Light graphics (English light graphic) or light painting (tracing paper from English light painting - drawing with light) is a style of photography, a technique of painting with light.
The two main methods of light graphics are static and dynamic.
Static rendering method.
Mono composition. The essence of the method is to draw an object with light from different sides. It is necessary to exclude any movement of the switched on light source. Only a directed short burst of light creates a neatly illuminated area and a naturally following shadow.
Multicomposition. Moving a rendering object to several (two or more) fixed positions. In one frame, the same character or object is drawn with light, in different positions.
Dynamic rendering method.
Moving light. Drawing with the help of light sources (light sabers) all kinds of improvisation in space. Used to fill background planes and to stylize the light canvas. Example: all kinds of inscriptions, ornaments, decorations.
Moving rendering plane, light shift (LS). This is a way of recording the light trace of a moving plane.
Blur. Movement of directional light to remove texture and detail. The method is suitable for smoothing composition elements. As the light beam moves, the light-shadow boundary is blurred.
Distortion and refraction. The results of this method are achieved using static rendering and reflective surfaces. The techniques for obtaining such an image are very similar to SS, but the results depend on the shapes of the reflected objects.
All of the above methods are only parts of a single process. They are both independent and perfectly combined with each other.
6) Photo collage.
Photo collage (from the French collage - gluing) is a technical technique in the fine arts, which consists in creating paintings or graphic works by gluing objects and materials that differ from the base in color and texture onto any base.
Collage is used mainly to obtain the effect of surprise from the combination of dissimilar materials, as well as for the sake of the emotional richness and poignancy of the work.
It is believed that the collage technique was first used in art by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in 1910-1912. The first artist to work exclusively in the collage technique was Kurt Schwitters.
One of the strongest, most influential visual media in the world today is photography. Or rather, photography. Photography, with the help of the possibilities given to it, can have a colossal impact on a person. Photography is used both to visualize printed and verbal information, and as an original display, story about some incident or event without the help of words. Everyone has probably heard the popular aphorism: a photo is worth a thousand words.
The art of photography is an accessible, flexible, lively and therefore a form of creativity that has become popular among the people today. Its main advantage over other types of fine art is the relative immediacy of creating a work. In the baggage of a person who is seriously involved in the art of photography, there is a wide field for creativity, for searching, for work. Photography, by its nature, contains a great variety of visual tools, techniques, and effects that help the author penetrate into the most hidden corners of the viewer’s consciousness. Moreover, viewers of any age, nationality, mentality, type of thinking.
Art experts classify photography as a type of activity into three types, three main, main directions: commercial, artistic and technical. Along with all this classification, photography as an art can be divided into many genres.
Each of these genres in photography lives and works according to its own original, internal laws. Today we want to tell you about the ten main genres of photography as an art, to present, so to speak, the Top 10 of them in terms of popularity and significance.
Candid social photography
This is probably the most complex and dramatic genre of photography. Without exaggeration, it can be safely called the most emotional and conflicting. Shots in this genre are almost always taken with a “hidden camera”, that is, the person in the photographer’s field of view usually does not know that he is being photographed. He does not look into the camera lens, does not pay attention to the photographer. Social photographs can be seen mainly in newspapers, magazines, books, today - on Internet news portals and so on. The natural expression of the subject is a distinctive feature of this genre of photographic art. These photographs often completely lack any acting, staging, or direction. Social photography can be called the basis, the basis of photojournalism. Photographs taken in this genre naturally and naturally reflect the real, genuine, living emotions of the characters depicted in them. Without much embellishment, they show and transmit into the viewer’s consciousness the emotions and feelings of the people in the frame. This happens, as we have already said, due to the fact that the person being photographed does not see the person taking the photo. Or for some other reason he simply doesn’t pay attention to him.
In some cases, the emotional impact of such photographs on the viewer is so great that publishers do not risk publishing them in the media.
Here are a few names of photographers who have worked or are working today in the field of social photography : Ivan Shagin, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Becky Depoorter, Alex Masi, Inge Mohr, Dorothea Lange, Christopher Anderson, Robert Capa, Jacob August Riis, Darshan Raghubira, Alexander Glyadelov, Hiroi Kubato, George Roger, Lyalya Kuznetsova, Georgy Pinkhasov, Christina Garcia Robero, Lewis Hine, David Seymour, Tina Modotti, Arno Fischer.
Wildlife Photography
Wildlife life is very, very difficult to photograph. Photographers who connect their work with this genre of photography voluntarily doom themselves to significant difficulties. Sometimes their work even poses a serious danger to life. Masters of this genre simply need good and expensive equipment, powerful long-focal lenses, with which they can photograph animals at a safe distance for themselves. Original photographs of animals taken in their natural habitat are always valuable not only emotionally, but also purely materially. And this is natural: not every one of us is ready to undertake this kind of expedition, both physically and in monetary terms: as we have already said, the equipment necessary for such filming is usually very expensive.
Wildlife photography is mainly dealt with by specialized publishing houses. The most famous of them are Animal Planet and National Geographic.
In addition to having expensive and sophisticated photographic equipment, a photographer engaged in this genre of photography must have certain character traits. He must be accustomed to risk, he must not care about cold and heat, he must be attentive and patient. Must know the habits of animals, their lives.
The most famous photographer working in this genre is Mario Herta.
Street photography
The genre of street photography is no less interesting and fascinating than the two described above. And, besides, he is no less complex than them. Street photography is, first and foremost, documentary photography. It is close in essence to the genre of social photography. But its spectrum is somewhat wider. Street photography is far from just photographing the streets of various cities. This is documenting everyday life, the life of an ordinary person, his routine, life activities in his usual environment. A good photograph taken in this genre usually reflects the soul of the street, betrays its mood to the viewer, shows its life naturally, without embellishment, without any external intervention from the author of the photograph. Street photography can to some extent be classified as photojournalism.
This type of photographic art is mainly known to news agencies. The most popular of them today is “Magnum”.
Street photography was glorified by such masters as Alexander Rodchenko, Ho Fan, Eliot Erwitt, Alfred Eisenstadt, Ernst Haas, Stuart D. Halperin, Daido Moriyama, Rinko Kawauchi, Trent Park, Eli Reed, Tai Kei Chin, Zoe Strauss, Sibylle Bergemann, Diana Arbus, Eva Arnold, Andre Kertesz, Robert Frank,
Scenery
Without exaggeration, we can say that the landscape genre in photography is the most popular of all its genres. At the same time, landscape is the most rewarding genre. The point here is that the photographer often has no need to invent anything. The surrounding world, the nature of any of the many corners of our majestic planet Earth are beautiful in themselves. The Creator himself took care of this beauty and harmony. Many photographers from different countries devote all their creativity to landscapes and spend their entire lives doing it.
The genre of landscape photography, just like photography of wildlife, requires enormous attention and patience from those involved in it. In order to have a good result, a magnificent photograph worthy of the attention of the strictest critic - the viewer, its author needs to spend a huge amount of time and effort, both physical and moral. For example, in order to take a beautiful photograph of a dawn, you need to go out to shoot long before the sun appears above the horizon in the place the photographer needs. And to capture a stunning sunset with its colors, you need to wait a very long time for it. And sometimes you may not even get what the photographer wants. The landscape genre does not tolerate any fuss or haste. Just like nature itself does not tolerate this. Nature reveals itself in all its beauty and grandeur only to those who love it, who understand it.
The popularity of photographic landscapes is also due to the fact that almost anyone with a camera, even the simplest one, can engage in this genre. Landscape is accessible to everyone, and therefore many people engage in it. For many, this is nothing more than just a hobby; for others, it is a report for friends and family about travel to distant countries or trips to the forest on weekends. But the apparent accessibility of landscape photography does not mean the simplicity of this matter. Not every photographer succeeds in making a good landscape. And it doesn’t even depend on what exactly the photographer photographs, but how he does it, how he sees the world around him, what visual means he uses in his work.
The leader in world landscape photography can be called Ansel Adams, who devoted his entire life to landscapes. Dave Hacker, Alex McLean, Don Hong-Oai, William Abranovich, Brian Kosoff, and Michael Levin are also known for their work in this genre.
City or architectural landscape
Generally speaking, in a broad sense, an architectural urban landscape is, first of all, photographing a city, its aesthetics, beauty, and culture. Photographing buildings and structures that exist in the urban environment, living their own lives in it. Cityscape is a bit similar to the genre of street photography. The difference between these two genres of photographic art is primarily that the landscape emphasizes the beauty of the streets, and not what happens on them.
The complexity and interest of this genre is that in his work the photographer is forced to use the light that occurs in a specific place at a specific moment. Unlike studio or reportage photography, when photographing a cityscape, it is impossible to use additional lighting devices. During the day, there is usually only one light source - the sun. In a city at night, the number of light sources is measured in hundreds, if not thousands. These include advertising lights, car headlights, light from house windows, and street lamps of various shapes and systems... Sometimes even the light of a smoking passerby’s cigarette can play a role. And the moon? This is also a great light source. We must never forget about her.
Modern technology and experience in creative work in the urban landscape genre allow modern photography masters to create works of magnificent beauty and deep content. They know how to work with light and shadow, with composition, and carry out all sorts of experiments...
Here are the names of famous cityscape photographers: Josef Sudek, Dave Hacker, Susan Barnstein, Stuart D. Halperin, Joseph Zarub, Ho Fan, William Abranovitch.
Photographing plants
More than a hundred years have passed since Anna Atkins, considered the world’s first female photographer, took the world’s first photographs of individual plants (it’s hard to believe that she was born more than two hundred years ago, two months before Pushkin, in March 1799! ). And since then, many photography masters have devoted their creativity to photographing plants. Hundreds and hundreds of photographers from different countries have revealed themselves in this genre of photography. In the history of photography, there were even such masters who photographed exclusively vegetables, fruits and flowers. This genre of photography art includes not only photographing food and food products in general. Here, the object that the photographer photographs is not just the subject of photography. In this case, the plant acts as an object for photographic experiments, as an object of art. A photograph created in this genre should not just document the appearance of the object, but show its beauty and perfection. Photographing individual plants is one of the types of minimalism in photography. This is a very interesting genre. To the average person uninitiated in the intricacies of photography, at first glance it may seem that in order to photograph, say, an apple, a potato or a rosebud, it is not at all necessary to have any knowledge and experience. But this is a fundamentally wrong opinion. A photographer engaged in this kind of creativity needs to have not only skill, knowledge of technology, the laws of composition and much more. He needs to have a special sense of style and tact in art.
Magnificent photographs of plants were taken by Anna Atkins, already mentioned today, as well as by Denis Brihat and Joyce Tenneson.
Portrait
The portrait genre is very widespread in all types and genres of fine art. And photography here, of course, is no exception. Just like in landscape, the popularity, apparent simplicity and accessibility of this genre do not mean that it is accessible to everyone who picks up a camera. Take a close look at the photographic portraits made by the great masters of this genre. A portrait is not just a photograph of a person in which he resembles himself in appearance. A good, real portrait conveys a person’s character, his inner world. In order to create a truly good photographic portrait, you need to have vast experience, knowledge of a person, his psychology, and the ability to understand the person being portrayed. Among other things, you need to know and understand light, be able to organize it correctly... Portrait can and should even be called the most difficult genre of all photography genres.
The best portrait photographers in the world can be called Moses Nappelbaum and Yusuf Karsh. Also, the genre of portraiture and their names in it were and are glorified by Alexander Rodchenko, Lilian Basman, Cindy Sherman, Mario Gert, Diane Arbus, Victoria Will, Eva Arnold, Bert Stern and many other magnificent masters of photography.
Fashion photography
The genre of fashion photography has developed in the world along with the development of the fashion industry. Fashion photography is a special genre of photographic creativity, it is completely different from other genres of photography. Fashion photography is varied and broad. It includes studio shooting, and shooting on location, in nature, on the street, against the backdrop of various architectural objects, shooting at fashion shows and much more.
There is no point in naming the names of photographers who work in the fashion industry today. This is a thankless task both for them and for us, the audience. But, nevertheless, we will risk citing a few names. These photographers introduced a lot of new things into the development of fashion photography, their own, previously unknown to them. These names are: Cindy Sherman, Fabrizio Ferri, Annie Leibovitz, Corinne Day, Lillian Busman, Slim Aarons, Deborah Tuberville.
Erotic photo
The erotic genre in photography, like some others, includes elements of several genres. He borrows some from fashion photography, some from portraiture, and sometimes from landscape and reportage. By and large, erotic photography is a photograph of a person’s naked body. The degree of eroticism and nudity here depends entirely on the photographer, on his plan, on the very idea of the photograph. It depends on what goals and objectives the author sets for himself.
Here are the names of the most famous masters of erotic photography: Igor Mukhin, Alexander Grinberg, Newton Hellmuth, Irina Ionescu, Nobuyoshi Araki, Bert Stern, Frantisek Drtikola, Brassaï, Robert Mapplethorpe, Josephine Sakabo.
Experimental photography
Nowadays, in the age of Photoshop and other modern miracles, photography has gained many possibilities that it did not have a few decades ago. But, nevertheless, “Photoshop” in some way existed before. Combined photographs by superimposing one negative onto another were printed back in the 19th century. This technique was first used in his work in 1858 by Henry Robisan. Since then, many photographers began to realize their ideas through various experiences and experiments in photographic technology, both in shooting techniques and in processing techniques. Today, the modern photographer has much more opportunities to achieve his goals than his predecessors. It has become many times easier to create your own unique world in photographs, the fictional world of your dreams, your emotions, your dreams. And more and more photography masters are succeeding in this. Experimental photography is gaining popularity every year, every day.
Here are the names of the best photographers who worked and are working in this genre: Fedor Markushevich, Dave Hacker, Josef Sudek, Francesca Woodman, Frantisek Drtikol, Cindy Sherman, Pep Ventos, Susan Bernstein, Jersey Welsman, Josephine Sakabo.
“Genre” photography is a very interesting, but ambiguous concept. And it is very difficult to give an exact idea of which photograph is made in a genre style and which is not. A genre photograph is about the action and state of people. The theme of such photographs is often scenes taken from life, social, domestic, everyday environments and the lives of various people.
Genre photography can be:
reportage – filming of events that does not involve staging or directing;
staged - involves directing a shot and introducing the hero into some fictitious circumstances. If necessary, such pictures can be taken inexpensively by a wedding photographer.
With the help of photo reporting, excellent genre photographs are created. And the photographer needs to find the subject in reality. Proponents of this method proceed from the belief that the external world around them is filled with various expressive ensembles, and the goal of any photographer is to notice and capture them. A reportage genre photograph is the transfer of events to a photograph.
A genre production shot is created as a result of the director's efforts. Photographers often use this method when creating wedding photos. Carrying out the plan, the photographer selects the setting, composition, and also sets the lighting and suggests a pose, action, and gesture to those being photographed. And this should be done in such a way that then none of the spectators would guess that everything was thought out in advance. The director who is involved in the production must have a sense of proportion and taste, otherwise the photograph will come out artificial and devoid of life, and, believe me, you will immediately notice this when viewing.
Based on composition, genre photographs can be divided into two types:
pictorial - a roll call of lines and colorful spots;
effective - connections between objects in the photograph are expressed through gesture, action, movement.
The main task of a genre photographer is randomness. Sometimes the best photographs are taken in conditions that arise by chance. Or rather, the photographer must subjugate chance. He needs the following qualities:
observation;
invisibility;
knowledge of shooting techniques;
compositional vision;
ability to press the shutter button in time.
After some time, photography becomes part of history. And if such a photograph is not devoid of expressiveness, then such work will certainly stand the test of time. Vertical
Currently, photography is perhaps one of the most dynamically developing areas of contemporary art. It’s hard to imagine that just recently there were ongoing debates regarding whether photography can even be considered a full-fledged art. Now photography has taken a confident place on the same level next to classical art, such as painting, graphics and sculpture.
A camera is now not just a technique, it is a special tool that helps a person look at the surrounding reality differently, and photographs are not just paper with an image, but a reflection of the thoughts and inner world of the author himself. A new wave of interest in photography swept across society with the advent of inexpensive digital photographic equipment, which, moreover, was able to provide a decent level of photography. The size of the audience interested in amateur photography has now reached impressive proportions.
Photo exhibitions are regularly held in all corners of the world, presenting the work of different photographers, usually made in the same style. Although, it must be said that the concept of style in photography has become very subjective, not every photo can be adjusted to any of the standard styles. At the same time, it is not difficult to recognize the style - just look at the photo.
What are the characteristics of styles in photography?
In general, modern photo styles can be characterized using concepts such as:
- composition;
- interpretation of the topic;
- use of colors and tones;
- shooting technique;
- the mood of the author that he is trying to convey, and so on.
The combination of these concepts forms the style of photography. At the same time, modern photographers work both in classic styles, such as glamor or retro, and create their own original styles, each of them in one way or another characterized by their own style, making any photo unique. Style in photography is formed under the influence of a variety of factors: processes occurring in society at the moment, trends and tendencies inherent in different segments of the population, new ideas arising as a result of human activity.
Pop art erases all boundaries
The pop art style, which became a kind of avant-garde in the 50s and 60s of the last millennium, was incredibly popular in America and could not help but leave its mark on modern art. This style is based on signs and symbols characteristic of that period of time. It was then, thanks to artists working in the field of this style, that the lines between mass-produced objects and unique objects of art were blurred. One of the most prominent representatives of that period is the American photographer and artist Andy Warhol. It is he who owns the glamorous collages depicting Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.
The characteristic features of the pop art style in photography are the following:
- bright colors;
- increased level of contrast;
- abstractness of images;
- streamlined forms.
Any of the above techniques helps a photographer working in this style to attract the viewer’s attention, however, the most unexpected methods are suitable for this. Since pop art has always encouraged the photographer to approach the photography process as creatively and with imagination as possible, in our time this style still remains very relevant and popular among artistic photographers.
Retro photographs that preserve memories of a time long past
Historical affiliation is what will always distinguish retro photographs from others, in addition, they have a certain sophistication and sophistication. Such photographs, as a rule, capture the most striking events of past days, memories of people and places. It is for this reason that retro photographs often become objects of interior decoration, bringing into the atmosphere a certain spirit of the past. If we talk about modern times, it turns out that taking a retro photo in our time is by no means easy, because now technology is able to capture components that were previously impossible for a camera to see. To achieve the desired result, masters use black and white photographic materials, sometimes adding a little color to them, but sometimes they are distinguished by a minimum of halftones and dimness. In addition, in order for retro photographs to be as realistic as possible, you will have to try to recreate the atmosphere of antiquity in clothing, furnishings and furniture that would correspond to a particular historical era. Of course, such manipulations take a lot of time, effort and money, but the end result, as a rule, justifies all the stated expectations. Photos taken in retro style carry notes of sadness and longing for bygone days, which is what enchants and at the same time evokes vivid emotions.
Vintage chic - the best of the past
An ignorant person can easily confuse a vintage photo with a retro photograph, however, this style has its own original features that are unique to it. The word “vintage” came to us from the French language and is translated as wine of the best variety and quality. This is also inherent in photographs taken in this style; as a rule, they are exclusive and unique in their kind. It’s not for nothing that the title of this section says that vintage photographs are the best that has come down to us from the past. Despite the many new trends and trends in modern photography, vintage photos never become outdated or lose their relevance. However, in order for a photograph to stand the test of time and not cease to be original, the photographer-artist must make a lot of effort. And here modern technologies come to the aid of masters. For example, using various editing programs, you can give a photo a vintage effect, make the colors fade, or create a worn-out effect with splashes.
Popular glamor photo
Hardly anyone will deny that glamor photography is the most common photography style at the moment. Photos of this style filled literally everything around: billboards, pages of glossy magazines, movie posters, restaurants and nightclubs. The origins of glamor photography lie in cinema, which became widespread in the 20-30s of the last century. The languid looks of women dressed in dresses with a deep neckline, open high-heeled shoes, all this served as the source of the emergence of the glamor style. Of course, bright pictures depicting the sex symbol of that time, Marilyn Monroe, also left their mark, which significantly contributed to the development of glamor. The characteristic features of this style are chic, charm, brilliance and sexuality. Photographs in this style, as a rule, depict movie stars, models and other public figures, on whose images entire teams of stylists, hairdressers and makeup artists work every day.
Of course, at the present stage of development of glamor photography, the scope of this style has significantly expanded. Now photos can reflect both light romanticism and tenderness, and tough sexuality mixed with arrogance, challenging the entire society. However, a certain attachment to chic and luxury, impeccable images and brightness have not disappeared. It is in these features that lies the success of glamor and the inexhaustible interest in such photos, but the intensive development of advertising, fashion and the interest of glossy magazines in this style only contribute to its development.