4 different applications of photography

Still life | Documentary | Landscape | Advertising

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Still life

Still life photography has been popular since the early 19th century and is today. Early photographers adapted still life painting for that time into still life photography. Around that time painters such as Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and Francisco Goya were painting there famous still life paintings, which give inspiration to the photographers of that day.
Back when photography first came about, still life was a practical choice as well as a creative one. Back in the 19th century, exposure times were measured in minutes rather than seconds, this meant that it would be hard to attempt to take photographs of landscapes or people; anything that moves would be very difficult to capture.
Still life photography is described as 'the depiction of inanimate subject matter', most normally a small group of objects. The biggest advantage of this type of photography is that the photographers have to freedom to place the objects any where they would like, not having to work with unchangeable subjects such as landscapes, and as a result they can often be more creative.
There are different contexts of still life photography. For example it is often used for advertising. Still life is popular in advertising photography because is can show the product clearly and creatively.

Dennis Pedersen
Dennis Pedersen, a technical pro, leading the way in still life and creative product photography from London for over 20 years. Working with a variety of regular clientele, Dennis is a renowned professional within the cosmetic and beauty world, their creative needs are exceeded with his ability to produce diverse, imaginative and technically amazing photographs.
Dennis works from his home in London, in his own retouching and post production studio, which allows him to push the boundaries of the label 'still life' photography, by bringing his images to live wherever it be with an explosion of water or a flare of special effects. Working from his own studio, Dennis has developed an extensive portfolio ranging from editorial to advertising. Some of the clients that Dennis does work for are; Adidas, Lindor, Chanel, Dior, Nokia, Max Factor, Puma, and Toni & Guy, and that is just to name a few.

                                  

             

Documentary

Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people. It is all about sharing experiences of opinions through photographs. 
With documentary photography, one photograph can tell a whole story; which is a good thing, but can also be a bad thing too. It can be used to tell a good story or make a valid point; however it could also make a personal attack or insult someone in some way. Also another downfall to this application is that it turns a story into a photography, but it might be the wrong story portrayed through that images.

Ed Thompson
Edward Thompson is a Documentary Photographer from London. He is very successful, and has been featured in magazines across the globe, such as National Geographic Magazine, Greenpeace Magazine, and The Guardian Weekend.

This Photograph Ed Thompson too of a 'Guardian Angel' member paying respects to fallen war heroes. I believe this photograph shows how ordinary UK citizens still respect the fallen, and are willing to offer up their services for the good of the community. 

The Guardian Angels patrol subways and bus stations during the day and at night time to keep people safe, and deter gangs - they do this for free, with little support from parliament or the police. Ed Thompson took this photo for his project 'Living Historians' - it shows war  re-enactors doing what they love most,                   re-enacting wars. It shows the reality of how wars probably looked.

Landscape

Landscape photography is mainly uses when shooting coastal areas or areas using lakes, reservoirs or anything else like this, this is a very traditional take on landscape photography but there is also other styles such as urban landscapes such as cityscapes and skylines. So really there is no limit to the type of things you can shoot that falls into the category of Landscape photography. Landscape photography is often used to capture immense skylines, surreal coasts and within these photos show and describe a place in great detail only using a single photograph.

Landscape photography mainly aims to get as much of the scene in the shot as possible, this is done by using depth of field. You can increase and decrees the depth of field by changing the aperture setting on your camera as the smaller the aperture the greater depth of field you get in your shots. A lot of landscape photographs that include water or cars or other things that are moving throughout the shot use a long shutter speed ranging from one second to one minute, this is done to give the shot a real feel of life and movement, but if you are using a long shutter speed you must use a tripod to ensure your camera stays still keeping everything in focus. Some photographers even use a wireless shutter release mechanism to ensure complete camera stillness. 

Adam Burton
Adam Burton is of of the UK's leading landscape photographers and an author of four very successful books. Since 2008 he has been working as a full time professional landscape photographer, regularly supplying imagery and undertaking commissions for a wide range of business clients. He has photographed five of the seven continents and now specializes in the landscapes of the UK, particularly southwest England. 

 

Advertising 

Advertising photography is one of the most popular and well-known forms of photography and is categorized into the sector of commercial photography. The best way to describe advertising photography is where the photographer is paid for pictures for commercial use and it is not just works of art. Advertising photography can be used to promote any product such as fashion, food, cars, houses, companies. There is a wide range of options to choose from in the advertising industry. When they promote products and services in this way then it can help the sales become higher and have a higher customer interest; this way more people can know about it. More than £500 billion is spent on advertising each year worldwide which shows how often it is used. Advertising can be split into either video advertisement or photography advertisement.

Jonathan Knowles
Jonathan Knowles is a photographer that is based in London and is known for his excellent work in still life, liquid and people photography.
His photography work had earned him plenty of awards and he has been signed up to help lots of well known brands.
In the past six years he has consistently featured in the '200 Best Advertising Photographers in the World' books. He is now one of the top 10 all time award winners in the Graphis Annuals, and has just had three images included in their volume '100 Best in Photography', published in November 2011.

                                            

Applications of Photography

Cosplay Photography

What is Cosplay?

Cosplay is an abbreviation of Costumed Role-play. In short, to cosplay is to dress as a character from a Japanese animated TV show or a video game, and to act as that character. Most Cosplay is done at Anime Conventions, which have large Cosplay contests as main events.Anime fans, sometimes called Otaku, are the most prevalent participants. They like to don costumes, go to events, and hang out with people with similar interests. Costumes can consist of various parts and accessories. The main body often includes several layers, as the outfits worn in these shows are often very elaborate. Additionally, important care is taken to get the hair/wig just right. Some costumes include props, like giant staffs or over sized plastic guns. [http://whatiscosplay.com/]

Cosplay photography is a form of photography where the subject of the photo focuses mainly on a cosplayer and their attire and/or prop making skills. A majority of this form of photography is done at events or conventions, such as San Diego Comic-Con where cosplayers attend in costume, however, it is becoming more popular to schedule individual photoshoots at various locations and outside convention schedules.

This form of photography is a combination of fashion photography and portrait photography where both the clothing and the portraiture are the main subject. Cosplay magazines, such as Cosmode, have developed a focus on the photographer and the different styles of cosplay photography. The photos can be black and white, colour  any size or shape with any lens, so long as a coslayer is the main subject. 

The photography of these individuals is becoming a style of photography that photographers can now be hired for a shoot rather than as a hobby, which it has been up until recent years. Groups like The Enthusiasts have begun to capitalize on this growing trend by setting up booths at conventions to take photos of cosplayers and sell them the photos for a certain price per photo, either digitally or print. But there many others who still do cosplay photography on-location and in private, scheduled shoots.

What is the purpose of Cosplay Photography?

The purpose of Cosplay is so "cosplayer's" are able to be different and stand out. Also it give the opportunity to leave the real world and enter their favourite amine characters word. The cosplayer's purpose is generally to be sorted into 1 of 3 categories, or maybe even a mix. Most cosplayer's draw characteristics of all three categories.

• The first is to express  their love and adoration for a character, or in feeling similar to a character in personality, wanting to become that character. This type of cosplayer may be associated with being a fan and is often labelled as an 'otaku'. Other characteristics may be an enthusiastic manner and less attention to detail and quality. Some cosplayers are also most likely to adopt the character's personality and are known to criticise other cosplayers for not having a full knowledge of their character, or not also adopting character mannerisms.
• The second is those people who enjoy the attention that cosplaying a certain character brings. Within the cultures of anime and manga specifically, as well as science fiction and fantasy, there is a certain level of notoriety that is attached to cosplayers. Some cosplayers are usually characterised by attention to detail in their garments and their choice of popular characters. They are also noted by participation in cosplay competitions.
• The third is those who enjoy the creative process, and the sense of personal achievement upon completion. These people are more likely to have a greater budget dedicated to the project, more complicated and better quality outfits with access to more materials. They are also more likely to engage with professional photographers and cosplay photographers to take high quality images of the cosplayer in their garment posing as the character.

Where?

Cosplay Photography is mainly takes place at Anime and Cosplay conventions. At these conventions people go dressed up as their favourite Anime character. The word "anime" is an abbreviation of the the word animation. In Japan the word is used to refer to all animation. Outside of Japan, it is the term for animation from Japan.

History of Cosplay Photography

http://www.cosplay-ftw.com/

Literally speaking Cosplay is the contraption of the words "costume" and "play", and people who take part in cosplay are known as "cosplayers". The term "cosplay" was coined by Nov Takahashi in 1984, while attending a sci-fi convention in Los Angeles. He was so impressed by the costume masquerade that he wrote about it in Japanese sci-fi magazines. Word spread quickly through Japan of this new performance art, and since then Cosplay in now something that people worldwide now take part in, to meet other people who also enjoy taking part and share a similar love for anime. Because Cosplay became very popular, people wanted to capture others creativity. This is when people started attending cosplay conventions and take photographs  of 'cosplayers'  costumes and creations. I was unable to find who was the first cosplay photographer, but since many companies have started up and have a few different photographers that all focus on Cosplay. Cosplay Photographers is one of those companies and they have a few photographers working for them, going to cosplay events and taking pictures.

Cosplay Photographers

Shiro Ang

 Shiro Ang is a photographer, specializing in portrait, fashion, and live music/concert photography. During his personal time, Shiro Ang also enjoys shooting portaits, animal photography, and also doing the coverage on Anime/Gaming/Manga and Cosplay related events, both locally and internationally.

(http://www.facebook.com/shiroangphotography/info)

Here is a small amount of Shiro Ang's cosplay and anime photography work which are designed for anyone to see on his deviantart.com page.

http://shiroang.deviantart.com/

 Here is a list of equipment that Shiro Ang uses, not only for his Cosplay photography, but also for his other photography work that he does. Such as; portraits, animals, and live music photography.

• Nikon D800

• Nikon F3HP

• Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 ED

• Nikon AF-S 24mm f/1.4G ED

• Nikon AL-S 28mm f/2

• Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G

• Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G

• Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 ZF Planar *T

• Zoom H4N

• Rode Videomic Pro

• Adobe Lightroom

• Adobe Photoshop

• Adobe Premiere Pro

Z3LL

Z3LL is another cosplay photographer. Z3LL is from the Philippines and has several years experience in this hobby. He started attending Cosplay events in 2007, and just started out using his camera phone, but a year late, he bought his first DSLR. Some of his friends took part in cosplay and that's what got him started with the photography, and as he attented more events he met more cosplayers, and that's what got him started with being a cosplay photography.

--- http://www.cosplaygen.com/z3ll-cosplay-photographer/

I think that Cosplay is a very interesting type of photography, because it is something that is quite new, and is a way for people to express their creativity through dressing up as their favourite anime characters in the costumes that they have created. But because it is a new thing, many people have yet to hear about, so this makes it harder on the photographers, because there are not conventions all of the time and close by, so Cosplay photography can only really be a hobby for now, as they are not many opportunities to go out and capture this. Unless the photographer knows people, who are willing to be posed and the subject for an organised shot.