types of photography assignment
TRANSCRIPT
Photographic
uses and
techniques in
industry
Brad Goodspeed
Fashion• Fashion photography is a type of photography that is taken in a studio with an attractive-
looking model posing in the latest clothes released for a company such as H&M or Calvin
Klein. This type of photography tends to use a lot of special lighting and/ or filters on
specialist cameras to generate the desired look for the model. Special lighting is used in
conjunction with heavily made-up models because the camera picks up every detail and
imperfection on the model’s skin. Photographers traditionally use thin, attractive, popular
models to photograph, however this has had a very negative impact on people’s body
image and how they perceive themselves as beautiful, especially vulnerable teens who
are prone to worrying about what they look like more and more. These photos tend to be
heavily edited in software such as Photoshop to
make models look even thinner, fitter and prettier than before, often
removing imperfections such as pores and even cellulite. The fashion industry is being
held accountable, wholly or in part, for the .6 percent of adults who will develop anorexia,
one percent who will develop bulimia, and 2.8 percent who will develop
a binge eating disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health. Last year,
Glamour Magazine published a survey in which they found 97 percent of women
“will be cruel to their bodies today,” proving just how low our own body images are.
Mario Testino
• Mario Testino: Born in Lima Peru, October
30th 1954, Mario Testino -OBE- is one of the
most popular fashion photographers. His work
is featured internationally in and on
magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and
GQ. He is a popular choice among well known
celebrities such as Beyonce, Cara Delevingne
and even Princess Diana. During an interview
for The Guardian, He claims that you might
think his busy schedule and non-stop work life
is hell, but “its not” he protests. ”It's amazing; I
adore it. It's exciting. Every day a new city,
new people, new everything. I can't get
enough of it."
Annie Leibovitz
• Annie Leibovitz: Known for her influential and
popular works with Vogue magazine, her
trademark use of bold colours and poses makes
her work widely recognisable. Born on October
2nd 1949, she began her mainstream
photography in 1983 working with entertainment
magazine Vanity Fair. During the 1980s
Leibovitz started her works on a multitude of
high-profile advertising campaigns and since
1990 to the present day, she has been
exhibiting and publishing her work and working
with Vogue picturing celebrities such as
Angeline Jolie, becoming one of the world’s
most influential fashion photographers.
100 years of fashion• Since the 1910s, fashion has constantly been evolving and changing, becoming more and more appealing to target audiences
and being influenced by popular culture such as movies and music genres. In the 1910s fashion was more conservative for
both men and women. Women wearing long dresses usually accompanied by a bonnet of some sort and a pair of formal shoes
and men wearing smart-casual trousers accompanied by a blazer and smart shoes. This look continued through the 1920s;
becoming more casual and creating the “vintage” look we know today. The 1930s sees a fashion style which you will recognise
being in the “Wolf of Wall-street”
The 40s saw a change in fashion for women, usually wearing attire that would be commonly associated with business and
hard-work accompanied by heels, due to the second world war. Men’s fashion also saw a change, looking more noire and
detective looking, while still maintaining fashionable standards outside of war. The 50s also saw the rise of the fashion for men
that we associate with bikers and mechanics, also popularised by the classic movie “Grease” and the song “Grease Lightning”.
Fashion for women was still quite conservative, possibly representing the oppressive society that women lived in due to the fact
men had more freedom over their clothing choices.
The 60s saw the implementation of colours not seen before, such as fuchsia for women and mustard yellow for men. Women’s
clothes are widely more colourful and appear to have more freedom, while men’s fashion also become more geeky and nerdy,
seeing a rise in that sort of culture.
The 70s was a wild time for fashion, with the rise of disco culture and fashion being influenced by music, people were wearing
lots of vivid colours and patterns. Men typically wore unbuttoned, vividly patterned shirts with huge heels usually worn in clubs.
Women saw the creation of jumpsuits and pantsuits, commonly adorned with large sunglasses and more vivid colours due to
hippy culture.
The 80s fashion became more wild, punk, clubby. Women’s hair was fashionable to be backcombed to be messy and wild,
their makeup becoming more colourful and wild while wearing slightly skimpier outfits than previous decades, also LOTS of
hairspray. Men’s hair became overrun by mullets with their fashion inspired by casual beach wear accompanied by aviator
shades.
The 90s women’s fashion became more gothic, with the addition of choker necklaces and dark coloured floral dresses, Men’s
fashion became more bland and boring, wearing baggy jeans and polo shirts.
The 2000s became slightly more modern, women wearing flared jeans and skimpy tops and men wearing shirts and baggy
jeans still. The fashion of this era is portrayed well in the movie “Mr & Mrs Smith”.
Now in 2015, fashion has become much more modern and well presented, with the addition of skinny jeans and smart-casual
clothing in wardrobes people can be much more themselves.
• Women over 100 years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4z90wlwYs8
Men over 100 years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaSkMWVlFUU
Landscape• Landscape photography typically features little to
no human activity, there is also a sub-genre called
a cityscape that mainly focuses on human activity
and the busyness of a populated city.. Landscapes
feature natural scenes such as forests, beaches
and mountains, not to be confused with macro
photography, landscape includes a wide
perspective of the area and can also reveal a
perspective and hidden beauty of an area you may
not have thought existed. Landscape photography
is also used widely in tourism photos and travel
guides to persuade travellers to go to a certain
country/ city. This is also well accompanied by a
travel writing piece. Landscape is also most
beginner photographers choice of photography,
usually uploading images to social media such as
Instagram and Tumblr, sometimes these images
are edited with filters and other editing software to
focus on a specific point of interest or enhance a
certain colour. Landscape photography is also a
popular choice for amateur photographers who
wish to make it in the industry and when executed
well, photos can be framed on a canvas and sold
for large sums of money.
Ansel Adams
• Ansel Adams: 1902-1984 As one of the most famous
names in landscape and nature photography, Adams
typically photographed great, sprawling landscapes of
mountain ranges and majestic lakes typically found
around America and close ups of small objects such
as leaves and pine cones. Adams was also known as
the pioneer inventor for the Zone system, which
identifies the correct exposure and contrast levels with
his large format camera. This technique resulted is
high resolution and extremely sharp images which are
even popular today. Most of Adams’ work is in black
and white however he did experiment with colour at a
later stage in his career. In his more than five decade
long journey through photography, Adams gathered a
multitude of awards due to his works with photography
such as the Presidential medal of Freedom in 1980
and the Sierra club John muir award in 1963.
Instagram famous
• Instagram photographer “Soratane_”: Due to the
rise of socal media such as Instagram, people
have been able to more easily publish their works
into the world awaiting approval from others.
People ranging from amateur photographers who
just take pictures with their phones, to
professional photographers who have cameras
and other equipment dedicated to photography
upload their images for the world to see. This
blogger has around 4,500 followers who enjoy her
works and the number increases every day. Her
photography is mainly focussed on landscape,
focussing on her travels around America
capturing places such as Banff national park and
Yosemite falls, her page also features types of
photography other than landscapes such as
Fashion, Art and Food.
Portrait• Portrait photography focusses only on a person and their
facial features. When taking shots for portraits, lighting is
extremely important as it can symbolise many things.
Having a light straight on will show all of the subject’s
features making them look younger and more childlike,
whereas only having half a face illuminated can show
mystery and links to horror. Many photographers like to
take pictures of this nature during the times around
Sunrise or Sunset, this is called “The golden hour” as the
sun has a hazy golden hue and can illuminate a person
in the right way and purpose for the shot. This
photography is also a great way to capture someone’s
raw emotion whether it being happiness or sadness, it
can be used to create a political standpoint. Many
advertisers for cosmetic products and hairdressers use
portrait shots as this depicts their product or style in more
detail and shows the beauty of the model with perfect
skin and hair etc. People on social media have also
taken up the self portrait, commonly known as a “selfie”
or “selca” to show people their own beauty and clothing
style, awaiting approval from other people in the form of
likes. With people raising their standards of beauty due to
the rise of the selfie, this has also created an epidemic of
raised beauty issues in males and females and people
thinking they aren't good enough because they aren’t as
beautiful as the models in magazines and
advertisements.
Steve McCurry
• Steve McCurry: As an American based editorial
photographer, McCurry is mainly known for his
striking image titled “Afghan Girl” which originally
appeared in National Geographic magazine and
has even been likened to Leonardo Da Vinci's
Mona Lisa due to the expression of the girl’s face,
you can’t really tell what she’s thinking. You can
see every detail on the skin and hair, the dust on
her face and even the gradation from blue to
green in her eyes including the mystery that
comes with wearing a hijab. After graduating from
the Pennsylvania State University, McCurry set off
to what would be one of many trips to India with a
little more than a bag of clothes and a bag of film,
which he made his way across the country with his
camera, taking influential and artisanal shots
every way of his journey.
Johannes Helje
• Johannes Helje: While a relatively new
photographic name mainly based in sweden,
Helje mainly photographs people in an artistic
style for editorial, commercial and his own
journalistic purposes. While mostly recognised
for his works starring swedish-born pop singer
Tove Lo, Helje has also had many other clients
for not only portrait but also advertising also,
such as Absolut Vodka, Diesel and MTV. For
his own purposes, Helje uses his old, trusty
35mm cameras and shoots landscapes but
mainly specialises in portrait. His professional
images, such as the cover of Tove Lo’s album;
Not on drugs, can be heavily edited in certain
software but he prefers the raw look of people,
even when advertising and doesn’t remove too
many impurities like wrinkles.
Advertising
• Advertising photography is the biggest industry of
photography in the world and advertising as a whole is
worth a whopping £100Bn to the UK economy, with
photography being the biggest contributor to this huge
figure as it is literally found everywhere. Advertising
photography uses a myriad of methods in an effort to get
you to purchase a product, mainly using the motto “Sex
Sells” as their mantra to advertise Fashion, cosmetics and
even vehicles. Advertisers often bring in famous faces
that everyone knows and loves, saying that they love this
product and they use it every day; causing their 100 year
old face to look 23, in order to procure more sales for their
product. This form of photography can also fall under a lot
of criticism if not done carefully, if a company tends to only
use attractive white models, they could be branded as
racist by not being diverse at all. If a company only uses
extremely skinny women to advertise, they will be branded
as affecting young people’s perceptions on beauty in a
negative way. However some companies exclude the use
of people in their advertising posters and just focus on the
product, however this can also be misleading as the
product in the poster is usually made extra carefully,
McDonald's burgers are a prime example of this.
Jonathan Knowles
• Jonathan Knowles: As a holder of many
awards won throughout the years for his
brilliant works in photography, Knowles is
mainly recognised for his works in the
advertising industry. The photographer is
known for his partnerships with companies
such as Guinness, McDonald’s and Coca
Cola and how he portrays the products to be
more desirable while emphasising the
newest or main feature. The majority of his
product advertisement does not feature
people, and just focusses on the product
itself; going against the saying “sex sells”,
instead he uses creative ways of visualising
the product making it targeted to a wide
variety of people.
Eugenie Grey
• Eugenie Grey: Also known on social media
website Instagram as “Feralcreature” Gray
mainly posts images of her trendy fashion
and where to find the clothes, promoting the
brand as a whole. Gray has over 425,000
followers on instagram and the majority of
her income is received from the website by
promoting brands by using them herself.
Gray was featured on a video by BuzzFeed
on YouTube, showing how she is payed to
promote products on her page. With this
many followers, she draws a large crowd of
big brands from America such as Q Tips and
even promotes people who photograph her
and do her makeup and wardrobe changes
for her fashion shoots.