Researching applications of photography

We are affected by photography in our day to day lives, its all around us and pretty much unavoidable. Everybody in their lives looks at at least one photographic piece during their day. Photography as a whole has a multitude of different applications of which it can be used in daily. A small example would be an advertising banner along a motor way or popular street in a populated town.

In this post, I will go over all the different types of photography and what they’re used for.

Advertising Industry

In the advertising industry, photography has become a vital part. Gone are the days of painting and drawing the object you’re advertising and welcome to a new age of taking pictures and then editing them to advertise your product.

But where is photography generally seen by the people in the world of advertising?

Its simple, for the most part images of their product are seen on billboards, banners or the sides of busses and bus stops. You can see these all the time, especially as a bus drives past and advertises the latest movie all along the side of it.

The advertising billboards and such have to meet certain criteria, they’re impactful in their simplicity and how they portray the product. When you see an advert, it’ll be the first thing you generally notice around and you and also the last because of this and the way the photographer has taken the picture, it will be something you remember above all else.

Photographs taken are shot with the message and idea behind them being extremely clear, and unlike TV adverts or adverts online, there’s only one image to sell their product on. This means the photograph has to be as best as it can in order to sell the product.

Fashion Industry

The fashion industry arguably uses photography more than advertising does. Advertising relies more on film in recent years but is still present.

However, fashion and photography go together nicely but also ties in part of that advertising. Photographs of models wearing clothes are common and also used as advertising, it gives an idea to the viewer of what the clothes would look like on someone and how they could potentially look if they bought it.

Fashion photography is taken in a different way with different intentions though, when people have a photographer come and photograph models trying to look fashionable, its In their best interest and job to make their photographs eye catching and make the viewer want it. Clothing brands often are photographed in a specific way to advertise and show off the product.

Celebrities also have an impact on the fashion industry via photographs. When wearing certain items of clothing, celebrities are often photographed by paparazzi or done by themselves for the purpose of sharing. This brings an increase of appeal towards the the items of clothing all just because of celebrity appeal and the following they have.

Music Industry

Photography is used a little less in the music industry but its still relevant. Though the whole basis of what music is and how we experience it has nothing to do with photography, its used in other ways such as magazines and album covers for example.

Photographs being taken of the artist/musician/band give a chance for their face to be seen and also later down the line, their music heard. Its in the photographer’s best interest to make the subject look best as possible.

Festivals and concerts are also promoted via photographs, it gives the viewer an incite and idea into what the place looks like with other people in it and where the place is. Often, a photographer will go to concerts and take pictures there to then include them in magazines or websites online, further promoting the artist or concert.

Sports Industry

The sports industry uses photography in the same way the music industry does. They both use photographs for magazines and websites. Football magazines are common and their images aid the piece of text, giving a deeper look into the situation as well as promoting the club or sport.

Photographers attend events like a football game or tennis for example, and capture photographs of the players/participators or crowd to use in articles online or in magazines. Big events receive more exposure, with entire crews and groups of photographers trying to get a snap of the area or people. For example, in the Olympics or World Cup, photographers are hired to take the best pictures that they can.

Sports photographers try and capture the facial expressions and emotion of the people taking part. Again, these are used in magazines and online articles.

Photo journalism

Photo journalists work for a company or as a freelance, their job is to look at current news stories happening and take photographs which could be used in the papers or online.

Depending on their job, the photo journalist returns to the news company they belong to, or tries and sells the taken photographs to a news company. The same photographers may also work for a magazine or website, they fall into the same category as the applications above often and take a range of different photographs.

A photo journalist’s main skills involve being able to tell a news story through photographs and to give a meaning to the photographs taken.