From idyllic landscapes to personality-packed self-portraits, photography can inspire, amaze, and inform through one-of-a-kind stories. Thinking about starting a career in photography to capture special events? Or looking to get the most out of your phone camera? Even if you aren’t interested in professional photography, it can be a really fun hobby. Plus, it’s one of the best ways to connect with your inner artist. Whether you’re trying to curate your Instagram feed with beautiful photography or take your career to the next level, here’s everything you need to know about the various types of photography available.
Why Is Photography Interesting?
Even if you’re not trying to grow your social media following or build a business, photography is 100 per cent worth your time and effort. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to take beautiful pictures.
If you’re unsure about photography, here are a few reasons why you should give it a shot (pun intended).
- It’s filled with endless opportunities. You can head out to the beach, shoot local sports games, roam your city streets, or capture awe-inspiring scenes from behind your telescope. Photography offers infinite opportunities to try something new and step outside of your comfort zone.
- You’ll set your creativity free. Creativity is good for you (and nothing beats the feeling of finally capturing an amazing sunrise photo). Photography gives you an outlet to flex your creativity, and your photography style can grow and evolve as you dive into new niches.
- There’s something for everyone. The best thing about photography? There are plenty of different types of photography out there, all involving different subject matter, equipment, and artistic techniques. Even if you’re not into traditional landscape photography, you’ll find something that sparks your curiosity.
How Do You Become a Photographer?
With the rise of social media, digital photography has exploded, both as a creative art form and as a career choice. The basics of becoming a photographer are pretty straightforward: you’ll need a camera, some equipment, and editing software to transform your photos into museum-worthy pieces of art.
Sounds easy, right? But professional photography is a competitive field. Photographers need to be talented, with an eye for detail and dedication to creativity. At the same time, they need the motivation and tenacity to put in long hours, channel their creativity toward new assignments, and build their business as an entrepreneur.
What Different Types of Photography Exist?
Whether you’re just starting out or trying to grow your photography business, you’ll need to decide what type of photography to master.
For many photographers, deciding which photography style to pursue is the most challenging aspect of photography as a career. The following types of photography and photography styles might help you whittle it down:
1. Nature Photography
Nature photography covers landscapes, flowers, animals, and other natural elements in their natural environment. Thanks to changing weather conditions, varying light, and movement, nature photography is different each time. For the best results, you’ll need to plan ahead, choose the right gear, and fine-tune your photos in post-processing.
2. Cityscape and Structure Photography
Cityscape and structure photography uses an urban landscape as the main subject matter of the photograph. These types of shots in photography focus on city skylines or sections of a city, typically with wide-angle lenses.
Not sure where to start? Search for high elevations, like top floors of high-rise buildings, to capture beautiful shots. Take pictures at different times of the day, from sunrise to golden hour, to capture moody photos with melancholic blues or magical golden hues.
3. Landscape Photography
Love spending time in the great outdoors? Landscape photography can help combine your passion for nature with the fun of photography. These shots typically focus on beaches, deserts, mountain ranges, and other aspects of the natural world.
To amplify your landscape photography, try experimenting with different camera settings, like depth of field and shutter speed. You can always tweak your photo saturation, adjust the brightness, and add photo effects in post-processing.
4. Portrait Photography
Portrait photography captures a person or a group of people. To tell a story in a single shot, photographers often use backdrops, lighting, and posing. Self-portraits, silhouettes, and headshots also fall under portrait photography.
5. Lifestyle Photography
Lifestyle photography captures people in real-life situations to tell stories about their lives. Most photoshoots are directed by the photographer, but these types of shots in photography are meant to appear candid.
6. Commercial Photography
Trying to upgrade your Etsy shop? Kickstarting your Instagram ad campaign? Commercial photography will be your best friend. This type of photography promotes a product or service. It’s usually used in marketing collateral (think: menus, brochures, ads, and more). Food photography, product photography, and clothing photography can all double as commercial photography.
7. Artistic Photography
If you want to convey something in your work, artistic photography can be your MVP. Artistic photography, also known as fine art photography, focuses on the message behind a photo rather than the subject matter. Unlike documentary photography, artistic photography starts with an idea, message, or emotion. You might explore the impact that consumerism has on the environment, or capture the sky at different times to express different emotions.
8. Event Photography
If you’ve ever hired a photographer to capture photos for your wedding, graduation party, or engagement, you’re already familiar with event photography. This type of photography captures guests, activities, and gatherings (think: corporate parties, awards ceremonies, and live concerts). These shots can be used for personal value or to promote an event for commercial purposes.
9. Astrophotography
Have a passion for the planets? Try taking pictures of astronomical objects, like stars, planets, and eclipses. Fun fact: astrophotography transformed astronomy research, with long-term exposure capturing nebulae otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
Photographers can use both film and digital cameras to capture long-term exposure photos. But if you want to take your pictures to the next level, you’ll need special techniques and equipment (think: tripods, telescopes, and wide-angle lenses).
10. Drone Photography
Drone photography, also called aerial photography, captures scenes using drone technology. In other words, you’ll need access to a helicopter, plane, drone, or another airborne object to capture drone photographs.
By using drones, photographers can capture shots for maps, archaeology, movie production, and real estate marketing. However, many countries have regulations regarding drones, so be sure to check your local regulations before investing in equipment.
11. Macro Photography
Macro photography involves close-up pictures of small objects (think: bugs and flowers). You can take macro pictures in a professional studio or outdoor environment, as long as you’re magnifying the subject.
How To Edit Photos Like a Professional With Picsart
Whether you’re taking product pictures for your Etsy shop or capturing drone photos of your latest landscaping project, professional pictures can make all the difference. The good news? Even if you’re not a professional photographer, you can still edit photos like a professional.
With Picsart, it’s easy to upgrade your photography into a professional-level masterpiece. Here’s how to realise your creative potential with one-of-a-kind photography.
On Desktop:
1. Open the Picsart Photo Editor and start a new project.
2. Click on the Layout icon and select your preferred canvas size.
3. Now it’s time to add your image. Click Uploads and select the image you’d like to edit.
4. Want to add a filter or effect? Click on the FX tool and browse the options available before making your selection.
5. There are a range of further edits available and tools to explore. Feel free to experiment with each to see how they affect your image but when you’re finished, click Export to download your work.
On mobile:
1. Open the Picsart app and tap on the plus sign (+) to start a new project.
2. Tap Photos and choose the image you’d like to edit.
3. To add fun filters and special effects to your photo tap on the FX tool.
4. Browse the options available and preview them on your image.
5. Once you’ve picked a filter, you can long-press or double-click on it to edit the opacity or adjust the blend mode.
6. You can add further edits and tweaks here, such as adding a Lens Flare.
7. Experiment with various options and the levels you wish them to appear on your image.
8. Be sure to tap on Apply to confirm the edits.
9. When you’re finished, tap Next. Then, choose Save and Share your edit.
Create at the Speed of Culture
Picsart is a full ecosystem of free-to-use content, powerful tools, and creator inspiration. With a billion downloads and more than 150 million monthly active creators, Picsart is the world’s largest creative platform. Picsart has collaborated with major artists and brands like BLACKPINK, Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, Lizzo, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, One Direction, Sanrio: Hello Kitty, Warner Bros. Entertainment, iHeartMedia, Condé Nast, and more. Download the app or start editing on web today to enhance your photos and videos with thousands of quick and easy editing tools, trendy filters, fun stickers, and brilliant backgrounds. Unleash your creativity and upgrade to Gold for premium perks!
