Thursday, 19 March 2015

Nature Photography

Nature Photography

Nature photography can refer to multiple types of photography taken outdoors and devoted to natural elements and disasters. Ranging from landscapes, wildlife, plants and natural scenes and texture, nature photography can cover these many things and more.

Nature photography is commonly used for photographic genres like photojournalism and documentary photography. Photographs of nature are published in travel, cultural and scientific magazines such as National Geographic Magazine and some of the best known nature photographers include: 
  •  Frans Lanting 
  • Galen Rowell
  • Eliot Porter
  • Art Wolfe.



To the left is a photograph of a landscape and on the right is a photo of wildlife in a forest



Wildlife photography is devoted taking images of animals in their natural habitats nd are often captures in action either flying, fighting or eating. However, the techniques required for a wildlife photographer differs greatly from a landscape photographer. Wide apertures are used to achieve a fast shutter speed and freeze the motion of the subject in wildlife photography. Landscape photographers prefer to use small apertures. 


Macro photography can be used in nature photography to capture close up, sharp images of insects and small animals. Also, for close up images of stone texture, leaves or tree trunks, macro photography would be brilliant.


Macro images of an insect and a flower.




I think nature photography is beautiful and stunning to observe because not only are they bold, colourful images most of the time, but they show animals and flowers etc from other parts of the world, giving us an idea of just how incredible other parts of the world are.

Wedding Photography

 

Wedding Photography

Wedding photography is photography that focuses on capturing the events at weddings. Taking images of the event itself, or just of the bride or groom, wedding photography manages to capture that special day that those two people were looking forward to for a long time.




This image captures the bride and groom well in a coloured, focused image, its clear and sharp final outcome







Usually, wedding photography is taken to provide professional images to print on thank you cards, portrait displays and announcements and will cover the wedding itself and reception.











I believe wedding photography is a great way to capture someone's
special day and provides a beautiful theme for the photographers who have the opportunity to create many wonderful images not only for them self, but for the married couple and their families also.

Fashion Photography

Fashion Photography


Fashion photography is a type of photography that focuses on displaying clothing and many other items of fashion. Mostly conduced for advertising and inside magazines, fashion photography has, over time, developed its own aesthetic. Now, the clothes and fashions are enhanced by the presence of exotic accessories and locations. Fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Elle hold hundreds of different images of new, old, returning fashion.


Fashion photography is everywhere - if not in magazines, then on our TV screens, on posters and even in shop windows. When it comes to fashion, it is not only about the advertising of the products, but also the photography. If shown in the correct way, the photography of the fashionable clothing is what will sell it in the end.






With this image, we can see a great example of how the fashion look while being worn, and how it looks while in the natural light of the outdoors.







However, in this image, the photogrpher has taken it in black and white, which makes viewrs focus more on the style of the fashion as oposed to the colours and how it looks in the light.

Besides the fashion itself, photographers also take into account the model who is wearing the clothes - usually ridiculously attractive and heavily made-up, almost as if to exaggerate the idea that the fashion will make you look flawless.


I believe fashion photography can be misleading depending on whether the photographer decides to take the image in colour or black and white. I also believe that the commonly used, beautiful models used to model the fashion in the photos provide an almost unrealistic approach towards the clothing, as the clothes may not necessarily suit everyone and has been purposely given to a chosen model to wear.


Celebrity Photography

Celebrity Photography



One of the many types of photography in the world, celebrity photography is only one. Celebrity photography is a form of photojournalism where the subjects can be music artists, actors, sports stars and even politicians. Most commonly used by newspapers and magazines, are three type of photography:





1) Event Photography


Event photography includes photographers who work at events such as film premiers, parties and even award shows. Other event include music festivals, private functions and weddings.




The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 film premiere in London









2) Celebrity Portraiture

Portraiture involves photographers being assigned a portrait session with a celebrity taken or in a photos studio.





A studio where photographic sessions may take place







3) Paparazzi


The paparazzi are known best for surrounding celebrities and capturing images of them with or without consent in hope of catching exclusive new images. They mostly frowned upon for their desperation and never-ending attempts to take images of celebrities, paparazzi and will even resort to very long telephoto lens shots or even secret, more discreet photography.






Images taken of George Clooney and One Direction taken by paparazzi









I believe celebrity photography is quite a good type of photography as it is necessary to have images of stars to go along with newspaper articles and magazine columns for people who are especially interested in celebrities. Though the paparazzi are probably the worst kind of people to take photos of famous people, they still manage to produce great images and sometimes, ones as good as those taken in studios.

Focus


Focus


Photographs are almost always sharpened and clear unless intentionally taken blurred. Many image-taking devices such as digital cameras offer the chance to sharpen images, and there are several ways of making sure your images are clear.



MANUAL FOCUS:


Because many cameras struggle to focus onto very close subjects and the lens ends up looking for the subject every time the shutter release button is depressed, manual focus is especially good with macro photography (small images are exaggerated to look larger than they really are).




The focus on the left image has been focused solely on the butterfly, blurring out the background while the image on the left has been taken completely out of focus.






Depending on what the subject of the photograph is, focusing on the closest items will make sure the image is in focus the closer it is to the camera while the background will blur and be out of focus. For example, the railing in the bottom left is in focus and very clear and easy to see while the street background is blurred and out of focus as it is further away.





I believe that focusing on the wanted image makes a massive difference to how the outcome of the final image will appear. With a blurred out background, the main image becomes more eye-catchin and clearer for viewers to notice.

Angles

Angles



Another important technique to think about when taking photographs, is the angle of which you take the images. You can very dramatically alter the effect of an image depending on how you angle the camera when taking photos. 

Different ways of taking images:

  • Straight up



Taking images like above give a dramatic and unusual effect to the normal type of photograph - it shows how a forest looks from a low perspective and exaggerates the size of the trees.


  • Low down


By getting low, down to the ground, unusual angles can be achieved from the low position and can exaggerate the size of the subject. For example, the man's leg looks exceptionally larger than the rest of his body due to the fact that his leg is closer to the low camera.





  • Twisting the camera
By turning the camera in different directions, images that are difficult to capture when holding the camera. By turning the camera, the lens can focus around larger, more difficult objects to capture, such as the car below.




I believe that by considering different angles in which to take pictures, a more effective image can be produced and can even create a better, final photograph.




Light


Light  


When thinking about photography, one of the main things to look into is the lighting that will effect your image. Paying more attention to the light in your photo is one of the most important things to consider if wanting to improve your photography skills. If it's a landscape you are aiming to capture, then natural lighting could be more important than the subject itself and different types of natural light can produce a wide variety of subject appearances despite having the same source of lighting. Achieving how to find the right lighting for your subject may involve looking into the time of day and what the weather is like.


TIME OF DAY:
After noon, when the sun is starting to set, this will result in a lower contrast of light as it will not highlight the subject or give the warmer overall appearance.

WEATHER:
Extent and type of cloud cover is also something to be taken into consideration. It is another influential cause of the variation of lighting. Because of cloud cover, the balance between direct sunlight and skylight changes the contrast and colour temperature of the subject.




Three most important factors to think about when aiming for a good lighting:

  • time of day
  • camera direction
  • weather




I believe that lighting is one of the most important things to be taken in to consideration when taking photographs. It not only has the ability to change the look of the image but how to make certain areas of the image stand out and capture attention more.