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Photography styles, the main features and the differences between various genres of photography is an obligatory knowledge for each modern photographer and image editor. With the development of photography and photo industry the number of photography styles and genres became much bigger.

Nowadays, there are about 50 photography styles, from usual landscape photos till fashion underwater images.  Due to this fact, there is also a need of different types of photographers and picture editors. You should understand that wedding images retouching has nothing similar with the high end portrait retouching process. As a rule, the photographers work only with the definite photography genre and they are not interested in the others styles. We want you to learn more about different kinds of photography. If you did not make your mind, which style of photography to choose, this article will help you. 

All genres of photography

Here we gathered all popular types of photography, and also those, about which you have not ever heard. You will be very surprised to get know, how many types of photography shots exist. To begin with, watch the video 10 Photography Genres you need to be aware of to get the overall understanding of general photography types.

Each of this type has its peculiarity, which should be taken into account during the process of photo session’s organization and picture retouching. So, let us start to puzzle out all the important details you should know about different types of photography.

Candid photography

This is one of the most popular types of photography and there is no person, who has never made such images. It is taken in a peaceful atmosphere, and the models are calm and relaxed. Candid style photos are always very natural, emotional and gentle. They show the relationship between the people at the picture, their mood and feelings. All life style images are the best sample of sincere people’s life moments. 

Newborn photography

This is one of the loveliest types of photography shots. Not everybody can imagine how complicated the process of taking newborn pictures is. 

Babies have no idea what the photographer wants from them, so it is important to find the common language with the little model and to warm up the baby. Sometimes people associate the newborn photography with candid photo style. The video Newborn Photography Styles: Portraits vs Lifestyle explains you the difference between them. 

Landscape photography

Landscape pictures also belong to those genres of photography, which are always in use by professional and amateur photographers. Sometimes we do not notice the beauty of nature, which is around us all the time. The landscape photographers draw our attention to the outstanding places of our planet.  Moreover, today it is very popular to apply marvelous views of wild destinations, mountains or oceans as a brilliant background for a photo session. 

Portraiture

This is one of the oldest types of photography shots. We all remember that portrait pictures were taken in the 19th century but the main rules of portraiture did not change. This is a shooting of a person or a group of people. Usually a traditional portrait is made from the close angle. 

During the photo session the photograph should make a lot of shots to catch the necessary emotions, moreover, the image retouching is extremely important for portrait images. You can find a lot of professional portrait photography tips in the following video tutorial How to Take Great Portrait Photos.

Food photography

Someone says that it is easy to make a really cool photo of food. But actually, there are a lot of essential rules of define food photography, which only professionals know. All up-to-day restaurants, cafes and fast food places have the specialist, who makes tasty pictures for their menu. You can also find the examples of food photography on the billboards in your city or in the supermarkets. You know perfectly well that the reputation of the restaurant and the number of visitors depend directly on the good food advertising. 

Architectural photography

Every person, who has experience in selling or buying the real estate, has worked with the architectural photograph. This type of photography presuppose the shooting of houses or flats, which are going to be sold, and historical buildings, which we usually see in the guide brochures. It is quite important to find the proper perspective and to underline the benefits of the building, show the interior and to transfuse the aura of the house. The professional architectural photographer can do that. We suggest you to read Interior photography - features, tips, interior photo processing, here you will find very useful tips about photographing interior. 

Wedding photography

Wedding photographers help us to keep in memory the best and the brightest moments of wedding ceremonies and parties. Moreover, you should know that there are also a lot of types of wedding photography, such as wedding photography journalistic style or even lifestyle wedding photography. The style of wedding images depends always on the client’s wishes. 

The photographer’s task is to organize the photo session, and the main aim of the retoucher is to highlight the beauty of real love. To enjoy the most beautiful examples of wedding photo sessions watch the video Wedding Photography Tips: First Look with Joe Buissink.

HDR Photography 

This kind of photography stays for uniting three types of photos together calculating the lighting, contrast and saturation. Usually pictures in HDR style are especially bright and colorful. This kind of image genres is normally used by professional photographers. It is very popular orders of fashion and advertising companies because such pictures are much better and attractive than simple photos without High Dynamic Range. 

Underwater photography

Without any doubts, this is one of the most difficult photography styles. Working under water, problems with lightning equipment and the movement under water demand the high professionalism and great photography and modeling skills. As a result, you will get unbelievable, unusual and sensual photos. Nowadays, it is quite popular to use decorations and objects, which look really impressed under the water. 

Black and white photography

This genre of photography is elegant and gentle at the same time. It is the best variant for philosophical and thoughtful pictures. Amount different types of photography this one is most awarded at the international photography contests. 

That is why it is often used for social advertising campaigns. Such pictures open the door into human soul and get us to be emotional over difficult live situations. It is very vital to have good knowledge of lightning and shadows regulation during the work with B&W images. To help you with it, we prepared a video Black And White Photography Tips And Tricks, where you can find all useful information.

Motion photography

This category of digital photography demonstrates the quick action of a person or an object. As a rule, a blurry effect and light defects are characterized by this kind of photography. 

We can observe the samples of motion photography on the sport equipment and clothes advertising. The dynamic and silent pictures make us think about the time speed and stop to make a new photo. You can found more creative tips which are connected with fashion motion photography in the article How to Shoot Models in Motion – Fashion Photography Editing For Motion Pictures. 

Wildlife photography 

It is a very exciting, and sometimes extreme type of modern photography. The photographers, who deal with wildlife pictures, travel a lot. They usually work alone and in different conditions independent on the weather and season of the year. The main feature of the wildlife photography is animals and their candid pose. Only this way you will get really funny, natural and creative pictures of wild nature.

Beauty photography

Actually it is a type of portrait photography but there are some differences between the basic portraiture. This category combines a portrait of a high quality with the creative worldview of the artist. Working with beauty photography allows the photographer to demonstrate his/her creativity through experiments with colors, make-up, shapes and decorations. Beauty photographers generates the photography trends, like milk bath photography or drone photography.

Besides, the beauty photography needs only professional photo editing. The examples of high end retouching before after help you to understand how the pictures were transformed during the retouching procedure. If you are interested in the beauty photography, get know more having watched the following video What Is Beauty Photography?.

Fashion photography

This is one of the most widespread genres of photography in the modern fashion world. All fashion magazines all over the world use this kind of photography in their business.

This is not only a beautiful image, this is a great work of a big number of artists, which think out the idea of photo session, create the make-up and a costume, and work hard on decorations. For those, who is looking for new fashion ideas we advise to read New ideas in fashion style photography.

Still-life photography

This is a genre of photography, which demonstrates inanimate objects, which build a composition. Nowadays still life pictures are presented not just with a sum of fruit and vegetables, which are placed in a proper way. 

There are a lot of amazing photos of still life compositions which are permanently posted by Instagram users. The most important thing is the idea of shooting and the procedure of photo retouching, with the help of which you can give the image a special charm. 

Macro photography

As a rule, macro style photography is used for nature or wildlife scientific magazines, but today the artists found a new variant for macro style photography. 

They apply very unusual little details like candy toys, or chocolate crunchy or even shavings from pencil sharpeners. Among different types of photography this one demands the photographer’s creative thinking and his/her ability to see the procedure of photographing usual objects from unusual points of view. 

Panorama photography

Creating panorama pictures is always connected with shooting landscapes, nature and architectural objects. This photo consists of series of shots, and when the picture is ready, you have the possibility to see the image, which embrace a much wider territory, than the usual digital image without this effect. 

Frankly speaking, it is not so easy to learn panorama photography, but it worth these outstanding photos. And if you desire to try panorama photography, read Panorama photography tips: look through a broader lens, there a great number of useful tips there.

Past and Present photography

At the last time along with different kinds of photography a past and present photo style enjoys popularity of million internet users. People find their old pictures from childhood and try to re-create them using the same place of the photo session, similar clothes and the same photo composition.

After that they merge both pictures and get a cool past and present story. It is a very funny and creative way to remember the most important moments from the past. 

Night photography

This kind of pictures unites various photography styles and techniques together. It is understood that the photo session last at night and because of that the photographing procedure is inconvenient and complicated. 

That is why the photograph has to have the appropriate equipment and the professional camera, which has special options for night shooting. Night photos are very romantic, they show the beauty of people which is underlined by means of darkness, which looks very spectacular. Learn more with a video tutorial Night Photography Tips and create your own night images. 

Colorful photography

When we compare the different kinds of photography, we can observe that each type has some demands, which are crucial for photographers during the choosing categories of photography. 

Talking about colorful photography the main rule here is as much color as possible. This is the most cheerful and bright kind of up-to-date photography styles, which aim is to create positive emotions and a good mood. 

Travel photography

It is not a secret that all types of photographers are looking for new photography ideas all the time. The best way to do that is while traveling. But sometimes it becomes not just a passion but a specialization. Such photographers devote their lives to travel images. 

You have probably heard about Palani Mohan or Rob Howard, who had visited a lot of countries to gather the unique pictures, which demonstrate a culture, traditions and customs of all nationalities from different corners of the world. 

Street photography

This is not just the amateur photos of a tourist, this is the art of presentation about the real life of usual people around you. You never pay attention to the people you meet on the street on your way home, you have no idea who are they and what they do, but the task of street photographers is to make you stop, to look around and notice the things, which were invisible for you before. 

Sometimes the beauty hides in really simple things, and to make you sure in it, we suggest you watching Street Photography: Top Selection - October 2017.

Documentary photography

Documentary photos tell the true story about the real people and a history of something. As a rule, such types of photographers want to highlight the definite life situation, social phenomena and global changing in the world like a war, social and environmental issues. The close contact with the photographed person is an integral part of documentary photography; you should get as more information as possible to achieve the proper result.

Time Lapse Photography

It is similar with motion photography but there are some different features between them. This type of art photography describes the process of motion of different objects like the sun and the moon. Besides, it is the perfect way to show the process of flowering or the season changing. 

The idea is to make a photo of the same object for a considerable time. After retouching the photographer get only one picture, which combines all the photos. So, it is a very difficult style photo shoot, which takes a lot of time. 

There are many types of photography styles, they are quite different, besides, some of them have some similar features, but each genre is unique. We hope you like the photography styles list we prepared for you, and enriched your knowledge in this sphere. In any case you should remember that each kind of photography needs to be improved with help of Photoshop or Lightroom. So, we can also help you with this. You can write to us to ask any question about photo retouching prices, services and special offers.