Let us explore the 25 different types of photography. If you are confused in making a decision on which style suits you the best, then I highly recommend reading this. Once you go through this guide then you can easily point out one from these.
👉🏼 📖READ: Different Types of Cameras
Table of Contents
Different Types Of Photography
#1. Wedding Photography
Wedding photography is the best way to earn from photography.
If you are looking to make a career out of photography then wedding photography is a good choice. It can generate a decent amount of money for you.
#2. Macro Photography
If you are interested in shooting frogs, snakes, insects or if you want to capture the fine details of a subject then you should go for macro photography.
You should buy a dedicated Macro Lens for your DSLR camera if your interest is in macro subjects. You can even make use of a lens reversal ring with your 18-55mm kit lens of 50mm lens and convert it into a macro lens.
#3. Black and White Photography
In this digital age where you have the high-end cameras recording all bands of colors, Why do you need to shoot in Black and White? This would be the question which you ask yourself.
Certain scenes look better in monochrome than in color. many great photographers still shoot in Black and White. You can bring the texture details, contrast and emotions into life in Black and White Photography.
#4. Bird Photography
There are people who only photograph birds. Some do bird photography just for documentation purpose whereas there are Bird photographers who put lots of effort to get the best picture of the bird.
You will need a good telephoto lens to photograph birds.
#5. Underwater Photography
People who are interested in Marine subjects like fish and life underwater choose underwater photography.
You will need a good underwater camera housing to photograph marine life under water.
#6. Fashion Photography
In Fashion, photography model plays an important role. You will need a stylist for makeup. A Location for shooting needs to be decided based on the theme.
It can be indoor as well as outdoor. These photographs are basically for advertisement purposes.
#7. Sports Photography
This can be challenging at times. You need to act fast and capture the person in action. You will not get a second chance. So, you should be able to predict what is going to happen in the field.
This will help you to get the right shot at the right moment. You will have to use long telephoto lenses. So you need to be physically fit too.
#8. Food Photography
You might have already seen lots of Instagram account with awesome photographs of food. A good macro lens would be needed for getting the best shot.
Even the basic kit lens or a good smartphone can do the job provided the lighting is good. If you just want to publish in web then this would be fine. Otherwise, you will need a good macro lens.
#9. Long Exposure Photography
You need to have a solid understanding of Image Exposure and Camera settings if you want to take good long exposure shots. This comes only through practice. You can create photographs which cannot be visualized by normal Human eyes, like the Star trails.
A good tripod is required for long exposure shots. It is one of the different types of photography which requires lots of patience. Here, you will learn by trial and error method.
#10. Architecture Photography
Architecture photography deals with different types of architectural structures. It can be modern Architecture like tall skyscrapers or old Ancient buildings.
A good wide angle lens would be needed. Full frame DSLR camera would be the right camera body.
#11. Documentation Photography
There are people who photograph just for documentation purpose. They will include these photographs when they publish their final reports.
There are birders who just click the snap of the bird for documentation purpose. A point and shoot camera or a bridge camera would be sufficient for doing documentation photography
#12. Landscape Photography
There are many good Landscape photographers out there. A good wide angle lens is the basic requirement for a landscape photographer.
You should also have some good camera filters like the ND filter or Graduated Neutral Density Filter.
#13. Photojournalists
These are the people who work for newspapers or magazines. There are also freelancers who sell their pictures to newspapers.
A general-purpose zoom lens would be a good choice for photojournalists. A good external flash would be required to cover things at night.
#14. Aerial Photography
Aerial photography is done mostly with Drones. Otherwise, you need to have an aerial view from the top. This is possible if you are inside an airplane or a helicopter.
You can also get aerial shots if you are on top of a mountain. But nothing can beat the view of drones in the case of aerial photography. Drone photography is one of the most popular types of photography these days.
#15. Product Photography
As the name suggests, it deals with photographing products. These photos are used for marketing the products. It can be in the form of advertisements and labels. It involves lots of retouching after the shoot.
This is to ensure that the final photo has all the details with good clarity. You need to have a good wide angle lens for photographing bigger objects and a macro lens for shooting smaller ones.
#16. Night Photography
There are many Night Photographers out there. Tripod, Flash, and Torchlight are the best buddies of a Night photographer apart from the camera.
You can create interesting light patterns and even do light paintings.
#17. Fine Art Photography
Fine art photography is also known by the name “Conceptual Photography”.
Photographer unleashes the artist in him in this type of photography. These are mainly created for selling.
#18. Street Photography
This can be a challenging one. In the case of Street photography, you need to capture the essence or feel of the street.
Here the Image composition plays an important role. You need to bring life to picture using the elements in the frame.
#19. Candid Photography
Nowadays, Candid shots are gaining more importance especially in the field of wedding photography and portfolio stuff.
It’s basically capturing the natural emotion and movements of the person with interesting frames, without asking the person to pose for the frame.
#20. Portrait Photography
Portrait not only means photographing headshots. It also includes creative portraits, where a photographer conveys some message through his portraits.
He captures the emotions and feelings of the person in portrait photography. There are people who shoot portraitures alone.
#21. Infrared Photography
It can be done in two ways. Either you can make use of an Infrared filter or you can change your camera sensor to an Infrared one.
The first one is easier to do as it involves only a filter change. The second option is costly since you need a sensor replacement. Once you made the sensor swap then you can only click Infrared images.
#22. Event Photography
People who capture stage shows like dance comes into the category of Event Photographers.
They generally carry a wide angle lens and a portrait lens. Flash is used in case of events at night.
#23. Travel Photography
If you are Traveller interested in photography then you belong here. You can make use of the basic kit lens or a good zoom lens along with your camera.
Even a point and shoot camera or a bridge camera would be fine. If you are interested in publishing on social media sites then I would recommend buying a DSLR camera.
#24. Wildlife Photography
If your interest is in animals then this is for you. It can be physically challenging since you need to be quick.
Here, you don’t have much control over lighting. So you need to have good control over your camera settings to get a good exposure.
If you are interested in doing wildlife type of photography then consider reading, 101 Wildlife Photography Tips
#25. Composite Photography
In this type of photography, the photographer creates the image using multiple images.
This involves post-processing in tools like Adobe Photoshop. They make use of layering and masking technique.
Different types of photography demands for different types of camera lenses.
👉🏼 📖READ: Different Types of Camera Lenses
So, Now you have a basic idea of different types of photography.
