Author: Roy Barker

As we have discussed there are many avenues open to a professional photographer. Some actually graduate from the world of business into corporate photography. Corporate photography has many facets; it is used for publicity, in the form of advertisements; for public relations, for historical purposes, and for in-house brochures. Some corporate photographers can work for the same company for many years. They cover special events in the companies’ history, as well as being as in some cases an important aspect of industrial history. The history of the steamboat, the transition from the Agrarian to the Industrial revolution has all been captured on film.

Not only industrial history but history has been captured on film. War photographers usually by press photographers’ have captured history.

In the 1940’s Ansel Adam’s was probably the best-known American photographer. He captured images of the enforced internment of American citizen’s of Japanese descent at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California. These prints record history in another way as the Photographic Division of the Library of Congress show digital scans of his negatives as well as his prints; this allows a student to study his dark room techniques.

The art of action photography is a specialised art that presents unique challenges, requiring both technical skills in capturing a moving image, as well as knowledge of the activity you are photographing. A sense of timing is vital as well as having the ability to pre-focus. Some types of photography has peak moments, such as the hour before dusk, action photography has peak milliseconds! Your sense of timing has to be well developed to know when this is going to be, because you have to shoot a millisecond before that to give the camera time to actually shoot. This is where knowledge of the activity is very helpful to allow you to anticipate the peak second. However, this is a very specialised aspect of the photography business, your techniques can be improved. Sport photography is easier than moving wildlife, or breaking news stories, as it is more predictable in its outcome. Common sense is fairly important with your positioning, you need an interesting backdrop, as well as a place that allows you to make best use of ambient light, be it also to keep yourself in a position of safety. The Pulitzer Prize for photography is no use to anyone when they are dead. Often these skills can be refined at amateur sporting events, where you do not need a press pass.

Another specialist type of photography is underwater photography, partly because you also need to be a qualified diver and partly because the equipment is specialised. It is possible to take shots underwater, with a normal camera, but amphibious cameras, get better results, unfortunately they are expensive, with a lot of things to learn and the possibility of very expensive repairs. As with action photography this is best left to the specialist and it is not a feasible option, unless you work in this media for the majority of your time. The sea can be a dangerous medium to work in, and it presents special challenges such as night, and wreck photography, as well as drift photography, all of which challenge both your diving skills as well as your technical skills.

Scientific photographers take images of a variety of subjects to illustrate or record scientific or medical data using knowledge of scientific procedures. They typically possess additional knowledge in areas such as engineering, medicine, biology, or chemistry. Often the photography of this type of record is an adjunct to a scientific career.

Assignment photography is the delivery of material for a specific assignment, often with limited appeal. It includes portrait photography, as well as wedding photography. Portrait photographers often have their own studios, as their clients come to them to have a formal portrait photographed. SLR digital cameras are often preferred to do this type of work, as there are more opportunities to view real timework”, you do not have to wait for the negatives to be printed to see if you have created a shadow on the face with a hat. Also they can be retouched, pixel-by-pixel, which means the small time imperfections can be glossed over. The adage the camera does not lie has never been completely true, but in today’s world is even less so. A portrait photographer has the opportunity to go out on assignment and covers events such as weddings, and christenings.

Author: Jim Johnson

Consumers are clearly switching over to Digital photography from film photography in droves. All you have to do is take a look at the number of ads for digital cameras and compare them to those that you find for film cameras these days. It becomes very obvious then that digital photography is the wave of the future. What if you’re still using film to take your snapshots and photos though? Well here are the top five reasons that you should start seriously considering switching over to digital photography in the near future.

1. Perhaps one of the most outstanding features of digital photography that makes it so much easier and more convenient for the average person is that you can actually see the photo or snapshot that you just took in the viewfinder of your digital camera. This is an invaluable aid to help you make sure that you get the shot that you want. With film cameras, you have to wait until the film is processed and developed to know whether it actually got the shot that you intended. And by then, its usually too late to do anything about it. But a digital camera gives you immediate feedback and lets you see exactly the photo that you just took. If it didn’t turn out the way you want, just delete it and try again until you get it right. Now isn’t that easy?

2. A second big advantage of digital photography is the ability to print out your photos almost immediately. With film cameras, you have to take the film to be developed, and then go back to pick them up. Even with a one-hour photo store, it still takes longer than with digital photos. In fact, if you have a digital photo printer, all you have to do in many cases is just connect your camera to the printer and press a button.

3. Another huge benefit of digital photography is the ability to edit and change your photos and snapshots in any way that you desire. Because the photos are in digital files, they can be opened in photo editing software programs that let you adjust the image in lots of ways to make it better. For instance, you could crop out sections of the photos that you don’t particularly care for, or you could adjust the brightness or contrast of the snapshot to your heart’s content. There’s lots more that can be done with a good photo editing software package. And all of this gives you far more creative control over the finished product than you could ever get with film cameras.

4. There are lots of products on the market today that let you unleash your creative side too, and turn your digital photos into coffee mugs, T-shirts, greeting cards and so much more. You can make calendars out of your family photos if you wish, and all of this creativity is due to the fact that the files are in digital format allowing you to use them in a variety of ways other than just printing them on photo paper.

5. Finally, one of the great advantages of digital photography is the fact that you can quickly and easily share your photos and snapshots with friends and family no matter where they are around the world by e-mail. Try doing that with your film camera. Of course, you can have your film photos converted into digital format but that is an added expense that is just not necessary for digital photographers.