What is "genre" photography? Styles in modern photography

Photography as an art direction is very multifaceted. Almost every modern person has taken photographs in different genres. For example, when we take a family photo or a photo with friends, photographs of beautiful places while relaxing, walking or traveling. These are all different genres. But not everything is so simple; as a rule, even among professionals there are no generalist photographers who create equally high-quality and expressive work in all genres at once. This is due to the specifics of the genres and certain difficulties inherent in one or another genre of photography.

I will not talk about new genres, or more precisely about what are called new genres of photography. For example, “freezelight”, maybe it can be separated into a separate genre, but then it should be classified as any photograph of a night city in which a car drove by and left light traces. Most of the freezelight photographs I've seen can be classified into some major genre of photography. Besides, as a rule, there is nothing that sticks into the soul. Although it is worth noting that some enthusiasts make interesting compositions, videos, timelapses or slide shows (I don’t know what to call it).

It has become equally popular to take it from the pantry, load it with film and go take pictures of everything I see, without even thinking about the exposure and contents of the frame. Overexpose the film, add a few artifacts (you don’t even need to wipe it - it’s more fun with dusty glass), then develop it and pass it off as high-concept art. In my opinion, this is ridiculous, a marriage is a marriage, and it cannot have any artistic value (except, perhaps, in one case in a million). But Zenit and analog photography should be given their due; it has its pros and cons. Some, for example, still shoot only on film and create truly masterpieces.

Main genres of photography:

This is a classic genre. It evolved from capturing a beautiful landscape to capturing the state of nature. Through landscape photographs, photographers began to convey the state of a person and his soul.

In this genre, difficulties arise at almost all stages of photograph formation. Unlike a cozy studio, when photographing landscapes, the photographer has virtually no control over the light sources and the objects of the composition themselves. You can spend many days, or even months, searching for and shooting the right frame that reflects your mood and feelings.

Architecture

Photographing architecture has similarities to landscape photography, but it also has its own distinctive features. Not only the transfer of space, but also the shape and proportions of the object depend on the choice of shooting point. The city looks best from the top. It's as if architecture was made for birds, not people. The difference in size between the photographer and the object often makes it impossible to convey all the subtlety and beauty of the structure, unlike other genres, when we can influence the object being photographed, in a still life we ​​can simply pick it up in our hand, in a portrait we can ask the subject to choose the desired pose.

Reportage photography

By definition, a reporter must accurately record an event. But in fact, it is in this genre that the author’s character and his attitude to what is happening most clearly manifests itself.

For example, when photographing a protest demonstration, a photographer can show either side in a favorable light. The authorities are “bad”, the demonstrators are “good”, but you can show that violence is bad and only remove the demonstrators. In reporting, the photographer's attitude is very important; often he needs to have considerable impartiality and an objective view.

Genre photography is very close to reportage; shots in this category show life as it is. A couple in love, children playing, a beggar begging for alms, and other scenes - this is genre photography.

Such photographs, which can evoke sympathy and joy, are very popular. Genre photography is not only about actions, but also about the state of both the subject and the photographer conveyed in the photograph.

Interior

Having already been created, the interior carries a certain aesthetic load. The main task of the photographer is to capture the interior without distortion, although you can use unusual angles. A small element creates an impression of the space surrounding it, and the interior details are interesting in themselves.

Reproduction

This is not an artistic direction of photography, but the European Association of Professional Photographers distinguishes reproduction as a separate genre. In the modern world there are many scanners of all sizes and resolutions. But nevertheless, photographers continue to take reproductions. This is often due to the inability to use scanners or other copying equipment. Additionally, photographic reproduction is perhaps the safest copying method for an item, especially if it is of high value.

On May 29, the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography hosted a master class by Sergei Shandin dedicated to genre photography. Together with the participants, he tried to find the differences between genre photography and journalism and other types of photography.

According to Sergei Shandin, genre photography has three main criteria:

Documentary, the presence of history and plot (that is, what is shown?), form and composition (how is shown?). Sergei dwelled on each component of genre photography in more detail. Here are excerpts from his speech.

About the documentary nature of genre photography

When we talk about dividing photography into genres, we must understand that there are certain conventions,” said Sergei Shandin. - Photography has a characteristic feature that distinguishes it from other forms of art, from painting, for example. The author's style, choice of composition and color scheme - all this is characteristic of painting. But why does a person pick up not a brush and paints, but a camera?

The main components of genre photography: documentary, presence of history and correct composition. Photo by Sergei Shandin

The main thing about genre photography is that all these elements can be generalized. Photography is inherently documentary. Looking at a photograph, we can say: “Yes, it happened.” Stopped time, relevance, the truth of the moment - these are the features that distinguish photography from other forms of art.

Genre photography: is staging possible?

A photograph may not be documentary if the photographer took a staged photo. An example is the work of Robert Doisneau. He often resorted to staging, inviting actors and friends to perform a certain scene. If we do not call a photograph a document, then, by and large, there is no difference: a staged photograph or not. If the photographer simply creates a situation without pretending to be documentary, then staging is possible.

Robert Doisneau often resorted to staged photography, making arrangements in advance with actors and passers-by. This type of photography is also genre photography, but lacks documentary quality.

Also, the photograph may not contain an event or story. She may not have narrative and compositional photography. If all these features are present, we can call the photograph genre.

The photographer selects a subject to present to the audience

In photojournalism, the photographer explores a certain phenomenon and passes it through himself. This concept is much broader, I mean genre photography. For genre photography, the presence of a plot is important. By the way, photography can create a story that doesn’t exist. If a plot appears in a photograph, although it did not exist in life, a story arises. Photography in such cases creates a reality that did not exist. The photographer has a whole world unfolding in front of him, and it is important for him to see the frame, highlight it and present it to the public. He must choose the elements and characters he wants to show in the frame so that the photograph tells a story. This is why composition is so important. It must be good because it determines the perception of the frame. If the composition is not very good, viewers will not understand the story part of the photo.

The photographer has the whole world before him, and it is important for him to see the frame, highlight it and present it to the public. Photo by Sergei Shandin

Much more important are the boundaries between whether it is a document or not. In any photograph there is always the photographer himself. It influences the situation in a certain way. His very appearance influences the situation and determines the behavior of people caught in the frame. Therefore, no photograph can be one hundred percent objective and documentary. Just by his presence, the photographer brings an element of delivery.

There is always a story in genre photography

It is important not only what is shown, but also how it is shown. Any event can be shown interesting, or it can be shown not interesting. The criteria for an interesting photograph are quite subjective. To understand some works you need to know art history, but for others you don’t. It is impossible to measure the degree of beauty with a ruler. André Kertesz, for example, succeeded in creating both narrative photography and photography in which form is important.

One of the most important components of genre photography is form. The richness of forms creates an aesthetic perception. We look at the frame and say it’s beautiful. Photographer Trent Park shoots the most ordinary subjects, but notices the combination of surprising elements.

Often in such works the plot can be very poorly defined and expressed. But the wealth of forms - we look at the photograph and simply say that it is beautiful. The richness of forms creates an aesthetic perception. The addition of elements into a certain abstract figure. The form determines in this case the emergence of the plot.

Photography is also trying to look for new means of expression. Over time, the means of expression have changed several times.

Another interesting photographer is Trent Park. He films, for the most part, the most ordinary subjects, but shows them in such a way that we are surprised.

Where to look for stories?

Most good photographers I know use the same tactic. They decide in advance what they want to film. A photographer must go for a walk with the specific intention of photographing something.

In genre photography, it is important to be able to “calculate” the picture and wait for the right moment. Photo by Henri Cartier Bresson

Stories can be found everywhere. Your intention determines the appropriate equipment you need to take with you. It is important to know the places where you can shoot what you have in mind. You can find the place where the situation arises, “anticipate” an interesting shot and wait for the right moment. Ambush photography is one of the methods of genre photography.

Genre photography: what is the difference from reportage?

Reporting is when you clearly know that there will be an event and film it. If you photograph a grandmother running across the road, this is not a reportage, this is genre photography, or street photography. Sports photography is also a reportage.

conclusions

The best way to create genre photographs is to get used to the situation, the event, the faces and establish a strong emotional contact with the characters. It takes time to feel the situation. It is ideal if you have enough time to wait for such a mood.

Photography shows simple things in a way that makes us interested in looking at them. During filming, photographers often do not understand what they are doing. It is important then to select one picture out of hundreds from the footage. You can find a subscript in any image. A photograph should speak to the viewer in a simple, understandable visual language. There are as many associations as there are people watching. There is no need to prevent the viewer from seeing something of his own.

Photography is a very multifaceted art form that includes not only portraits, reportage and landscape. There are various genres of photography, not only in the professional but also in the amateur sphere. This is what the blog will be about.

Reportage photography

Genres of photography

The peculiarity of this direction in photography is that the main part of the reporting niche is occupied by professionals. The main goal of a photographer-reporter is to convey the mood and integrity of the entire event in one photograph.

Another goal of photojournalism is to tell the facts without the subjective opinion of the photographer. The viewer usually learns about events from reportage photographs. A good photo report perfectly illustrates the news. The ability to notice the emotion and decisive moment of an event usually takes years of practice and experience.

Documentary photography

Genres of photography

Documentary photography is a reflection of history. The main difference between this direction in photography and photojournalism is that documentary photographs are usually historical evidence of a particular political or social era. Reportage photography, on the contrary, tells about a specific scene or event.

The theme of this direction in photography can be any event. A photographer can talk about the life of homeless people or war. As in reportage, the main goal of documentary photography is to objectively tell the story of events.

While reportage photography may become obsolete over time, documentary photography lives on for many years.

Sports photography

Genres of photography

Sports photography is one of the most fast-paced and exciting types of reporting. The peculiarity of this direction in photography is that in order to obtain successful photographs, the photographer needs to know many of the subtleties of the sport being photographed in order to capture the right moment in time.

Macro photography

Genres of photography

Macro photography is the photography of objects at close range. High-quality macro photography is available to a greater extent to owners of expensive lenses, while other areas of photography are more loyal to photographic equipment. However, in recent years, owners of inexpensive compacts with macro settings have also begun to take up macro photography.

Macro photography has a wide scope - from flowers and insects to textures and other objects that are interesting to look at in detail.

Microphotography

Genres of photography

Microphotography uses special cameras and microscopes. The peculiarity of this direction in photography is the microscopic size of the objects being photographed. Most microphotography subjects originate in the scientific community. For example, microphotography is used in biology, medicine and even astronomy.

Glamor photography

Genres of photography

Glamor photography is one of the most popular modern photography styles. Glamor photos can be erotic, but they should not be confused with pornography. A characteristic feature of this direction in photography is that in their works photographers strive to convey the model in a “glamorous” light. That is why in most of these photographs there is a degree of flirtation and mystery.

Aerial photography

genres in photography

Aerial photography includes all types of photographs taken from a bird's eye view. The peculiarity of this direction in photography lies in the complexity of its implementation. Aerial photographers use airplanes, parachutes, hot air balloons and remote-controlled aircraft in their work.

Underwater photography

genres in photography

Underwater photography is one of the common hobbies of scuba divers. The narrow focus and unpopularity of this direction in photography is a consequence of the high cost of the hobby, as well as the high cost of photographic equipment for underwater photography. In addition, even if an amateur photographer has scuba gear and equipment, underwater photography is often complicated by the fact that it is difficult to see a good scene through an underwater mask.

Artistic photography

genres in photography

Fine art photography covers many subjects. An underwater photographer can create an artistic series, and a portrait artist can create an expressive black and white portrait, which only emphasizes the versatility of this direction in photography. The main requirement for photography that claims to be artistic is to have aesthetic value.

PHOTO

Photography (French photographie light painting - light painting technique) - obtaining and saving a static image on a photosensitive material using a camera.

Photography is the art of taking photographs, where the creative process consists of searching and choosing the composition, lighting and moments of the photograph. The choice is determined by the skill, ability, and taste of the photographer, which is inherent in any type of art.

Main genres in photography as art

Night photography

Night photography involves taking photographs at night, given that at night there is not enough light to take photographs, the photographer must use fast lenses, long shutter speeds, and high ISO sensitivity values.

Portrait

Portrait photography is one of the most difficult types of photography, requiring considerable skills and knowledge. The main task is to convey all facets of the personality depicted in the photo, from the beauty of appearance to the rich inner world.

Still life

Still life is one of the genres of photography in which the subject of photography is various inanimate objects, products or goods: artwork, dishes, flowers, fruits, etc. Today, this genre of photography is often used in advertising photography.

Scenery

Landscape - (French paysage - country, area). Of course, like any other photograph, landscape photography is subject to the laws of light and composition.

Mobilography

Mobilography - appeared in the 21st century. Produced by mobile phones, pocket personal computers, etc. Due to the low resolution, photographs taken with such cameras are of very low quality, but they can be interesting because they are taken from an unusual angle or taken spontaneously. In this genre of photography, what is important is what is shown in the photograph, not the quality of the photograph.

Nude (nude)

Photographs of the naked human body, revealing beautiful forms, plasticity and sensuality.

Flora and fauna

Flora and fauna photos often become the property of various scientific encyclopedias, educational magazines or entertaining books for children.

Macro photography

Macro (from the Greek μακρός - “big”, “large”) is a type of photography in which the depicted objects are photographed on a scale of 1: 1 or larger. Macro photography is the principle of creating an enlarged image. filmed at a scale of 1:1 or larger.

Microphotography

Microphotography is a technique for photographing small objects at high magnification, usually using a microscope. Divided into optical, electronic and digital microphotography.

Reportage

News photography is the prerogative of photojournalists who photograph events from local to global scales. Requires the photographer to quickly build a composition and instantly react to changes in the situation.

Documentary photography

This is any type of photography if it documents events or an object. Documentary photography has today given way to photojournalism. Often, photographs taken by documentarians have not only documentary, but also artistic value. The works of such photographers can be seen in galleries, books, and art photo albums.

Aerial photography

This is photographing a territory with an aerial camera from an airplane, helicopter or other type of aircraft. To improve the quality of aerial photographs, special aerial lenses with high resolution are used. The resulting photographs are processed using special computer systems – digital photogrammetric stations.

Architectural photography

Documentary photography of the appearance or details of an architectural object. Often used in artistic photography. One of the types of architectural photography is interior photography. Lenses are mainly used wide-angle, allowing for wider image coverage.

Astrophotography

It is used for observing and studying space objects using astrographs. Based on the use of long exposures, it allows you to obtain images of very low brightness objects. Long-focus lenses and specialized optical systems are used.

Glamorous, glossy photography

These are always rich and bright photos, even if they are made in black and white, they have the chic and charm characteristic of glamor. Most often, such photographs depict beautiful girls in various images, each of them is always spectacular. Beautiful glamor photos always look flawless, without flaws, which in some way idealizes what is depicted.

Genre photography

To determine genre photography from non-genre photography, it is worth knowing the following rule: landscape, still life, portrait are not genre photography, a genre photograph implies the state and action of people. The origins of this concept go back to painting.

Lomography

The type of film photography does not take into account such concepts of quality as sharpness, color rendition, density. Capturing the moment in any form, the picture can depict anything and how you want. The purpose of Lomography is to depict moments on Earth; everything has artistic value. The motto of Lomographers in all countries is LoMo - “love and motion” - love and movement.

Luminography

Luminography (light painting, light graphics, freezelight) - painting with light in a darkened space with a long exposure. The essence of photography is to draw with a beam of light from any source (flashlight, lamp, laser...)

Panoramic photography

This includes photographing various panoramas. Panoramas are divided into planar and virtual.

Pin-Up

The pin-up style appeared a long time ago, but even today, photo shoots in the pin-up style are popular, and not only in studios.

Papparazzi

The word comes from Italian and means “an annoying, squeaking mosquito.” Photographers specialize in photographing scenes from the personal lives of celebrities, without their knowledge or consent. Most often these are shots of an intimate or scandalous nature.

Pictorial photography

The genre developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Photographers tried to emphasize in their photographs those features that brought photography closer to painting. For this purpose, special photography techniques, soft-focus lenses, and filters were used.

Pinhole photography

Pinhole photography (stenope) is photography using a camera without a lens; the role of the lens is played by a small hole. A stenotop can easily be made from a regular SLR camera, film or digital. A hole up to 1 cm in diameter is drilled into the cover to protect the internal parts when the lens is removed. The inside of the cover is covered with foil in which a micro-hole is made with a pin or needle.

Plein air photography

Plein air is a technique of photographing in natural conditions with natural light. The term “plein air” began to be used by photographers working on location photography.

Underwater photography

Photographing underwater objects using waterproof equipment. Professional photography is carried out using special lighting devices.

Post-mortem photography

The custom of photographing recently deceased people, which appeared in the 19th century with the invention of the daguerreotype. At the end of the century before last, such photographs were commonplace, but nowadays they are an object of study and collecting.

Reproduction

Reproduction, reproduction of various images using photography, as a result, using printing, an exact copy of a particular object is obtained. These can be paintings, drawings, documents.

It is carried out by photographers of the highest level of skill. This type of photography includes all genres, all types of photography. It is also called commercial photography and includes the following subsections: catalog photography, image photography, interior photography, subject photography, as well as business and political portraits.

Product photography

This is a genre of photography that is used in advertising. Design, structures and significant elements of the advertised product. Based on the task, photography is carried out of goods, items or assortment groups united in a frame by a common composition. Filmed from the most advantageous angle. Talking about differences from competitive products.

Wedding photography

This is a very interesting and creative direction in photography. Wedding photography is a labor-intensive genre that requires high professionalism, quick response and an exceptionally creative approach to photography. Includes such diverse types of photography as photojournalism, portrait photography, artistic, staged and studio photography.

Light graphics

Light painting technique.

Scanography

With the modern development of computer technology, almost any scanner can be used for scanning instead of a camera.

Sports photography

Sports photography is associated with a journalist with a camera and a large telephoto lens, as it is designed to zoom in on particularly distant objects. Their typical focal length ranges anywhere from 60mm to 1000mm.

Stereo photography

This is obtaining a stereo pair of images using a photographic method. It is a combination of two images of the same object from different points of view. One for the left and one for the right eye. When viewing a stereo pair, the image of the object is perceived with the same local depth as the object itself.

Strobism

This is a photographic technique using compact external flash units. Allows you to obtain high, almost studio-quality images outside of studios - in offices, museums, factories, apartments, on the streets, in nature.

Travel photos, travelphoto

Tourist photography. The modern traveler is unlikely to forget his camera. All the impressions and sights that he will take will be a travel photo.

Photo story, photo story

Photostory

Identikit

This is a computerized process of drawing up a photographic portrait of a person based on the testimony of witnesses.

Photo hunt

The subject of photography is animals, birds, insects in natural conditions. The photographer has to be patient and persevering, as he has to sit and wait for hours for an animal or bird.

Black and white photography

The very first type of photographs. It is especially popular, despite the fact that color photography has existed for a long time, especially in artistic photography. Color photographs are converted to black and white to give special meaning to the elements of the photo.

Chemical autograph

A section of biological tissue (plant, animal) is applied to photographic paper, the substances of the intercellular fluid enter into a photochemical process, the result is an accurate image of the object. One of the types is autoradiography, when an object containing radioactive isotopes is pressed against photographic paper, a latent image is formed.

Rayography

Named after the photographer Man Ray, who in 1921 resurrected the method of cameraless photography. The photograph was taken by directly exposing the subject to light-sensitive paper.
ShadographyA type of photography that represents abstract photographs. In 1918, artist-photographer Christian Schad created abstract compositions using newspaper clippings and light-sensitive paper.

spotting

Spotting – (from the English word “spot” - “see”, “identify”) This is a special type of hobby; spotters photograph aircraft, mainly airplanes at airfields. The essence of the hobby is to record the aircraft number and where it is at that time. The devices move at high speed, so this type of hobby requires a lot of experience. Sometimes spotters manage to record emergency situations at airfields.

One of the strongest, most influential visual media in the world today is photography. Or rather, photography. Photography, with the help of the possibilities given to it, can have a colossal impact on a person. Photography is used both to visualize printed and verbal information, and as an original display, story about some incident or event without the help of words. Everyone has probably heard the popular aphorism: a photo is worth a thousand words.

The art of photography is an accessible, flexible, lively and therefore a form of creativity that has become popular among the people today. Its main advantage over other types of fine art is the relative immediacy of creating a work. In the baggage of a person who is seriously involved in the art of photography, there is a wide field for creativity, for searching, for work. Photography, by its nature, contains a great variety of visual tools, techniques, and effects that help the author penetrate into the most hidden corners of the viewer’s consciousness. Moreover, viewers of any age, nationality, mentality, type of thinking.

Art experts classify photography as a type of activity into three types, three main, main directions: commercial, artistic and technical. Along with all this classification, photography as an art can be divided into many genres.

Each of these genres in photography lives and works according to its own original, internal laws. Today we want to tell you about the ten main genres of photography as an art, to present, so to speak, the Top 10 of them in terms of popularity and significance.

Candid social photography

This is probably the most complex and dramatic genre of photography. Without exaggeration, it can be safely called the most emotional and conflicting. Shots in this genre are almost always taken with a “hidden camera”, that is, the person in the photographer’s field of view usually does not know that he is being photographed. He does not look into the camera lens, does not pay attention to the photographer. Social photographs can be seen mainly in newspapers, magazines, books, today - on Internet news portals and so on. The natural expression of the subject is a distinctive feature of this genre of photographic art. These photographs often completely lack any acting, staging, or direction. Social photography can be called the basis, the basis of photojournalism. Photographs taken in this genre naturally and naturally reflect the real, genuine, living emotions of the characters depicted in them. Without much embellishment, they show and transmit into the viewer’s consciousness the emotions and feelings of the people in the frame. This happens, as we have already said, due to the fact that the person being photographed does not see the person taking the photo. Or for some other reason he simply doesn’t pay attention to him.

In some cases, the emotional impact of such photographs on the viewer is so great that publishers do not risk publishing them in the media.

Here are a few names of photographers who have worked or are working today in the field of social photography : Ivan Shagin, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Becky Depoorter, Alex Masi, Inge Mohr, Dorothea Lange, Christopher Anderson, Robert Capa, Jacob August Riis, Darshan Raghubira, Alexander Glyadelov, Hiroi Kubato, George Roger, Lyalya Kuznetsova, Georgy Pinkhasov, Christina Garcia Robero, Lewis Hine, David Seymour, Tina Modotti, Arno Fischer.

Wildlife Photography

Wildlife life is very, very difficult to photograph. Photographers who connect their work with this genre of photography voluntarily doom themselves to significant difficulties. Sometimes their work even poses a serious danger to life. Masters of this genre simply need good and expensive equipment, powerful long-focal lenses, with which they can photograph animals at a safe distance. Original photographs of animals taken in their natural habitat are always valuable not only emotionally, but also purely materially. And this is natural: not every one of us is ready to undertake this kind of expedition, both physically and in monetary terms: as we have already said, the equipment necessary for such filming is usually very expensive.

Wildlife photography is mainly dealt with by specialized publishing houses. The most famous of them are Animal Planet and National Geographic.

In addition to having expensive and sophisticated photographic equipment, a photographer engaged in this genre of photography must have certain character traits. He must be accustomed to risk, he must not care about cold and heat, he must be attentive and patient. Must know the habits of animals, their lives.

The most famous photographer working in this genre is Mario Herta.

Street photography

The genre of street photography is no less interesting and fascinating than the two described above. And, besides, he is no less complex than them. Street photography is, first and foremost, documentary photography. It is close in essence to the genre of social photography. But its spectrum is somewhat wider. Street photography is far from just photographing the streets of various cities. This is documenting everyday life, the life of an ordinary person, his routine, life activities in his usual environment. A good photograph taken in this genre usually reflects the soul of the street, betrays its mood to the viewer, shows its life naturally, without embellishment, without any external intervention from the author of the photograph. Street photography can to some extent be classified as photojournalism.

This type of photographic art is mainly known to news agencies. The most popular of them today is “Magnum”.

Street photography was glorified by such masters as Alexander Rodchenko, Ho Fan, Eliot Erwitt, Alfred Eisenstadt, Ernst Haas, Stuart D. Halperin, Daido Moriyama, Rinko Kawauchi, Trent Park, Eli Reed, Tai Kei Chin, Zoe Strauss, Sibylle Bergemann, Diana Arbus, Eva Arnold, Andre Kertesz, Robert Frank,

Scenery

Without exaggeration, we can say that the landscape genre in photography is the most popular of all its genres. At the same time, landscape is the most rewarding genre. The point here is that the photographer often has no need to invent anything. The surrounding world, the nature of any of the many corners of our majestic planet Earth are beautiful in themselves. The Creator himself took care of this beauty and harmony. Many photographers from different countries devote all their creativity to landscapes and spend their entire lives doing it.

The genre of landscape photography, just like photography of wildlife, requires enormous attention and patience from those involved in it. In order to have a good result, a magnificent photograph worthy of the attention of the strictest critic - the viewer, its author needs to spend a huge amount of time and effort, both physical and moral. For example, in order to take a beautiful photograph of a dawn, you need to go out to shoot long before the sun appears above the horizon in the place the photographer needs. And to capture a stunning sunset with its colors, you need to wait a very long time for it. And sometimes you may not even get what the photographer wants. The landscape genre does not tolerate any fuss or haste. Just like nature itself does not tolerate this. Nature reveals itself in all its beauty and grandeur only to those who love it, who understand it.

The popularity of photographic landscapes is also due to the fact that almost anyone with a camera, even the simplest one, can engage in this genre. Landscape is accessible to everyone, and therefore many people engage in it. For many, this is nothing more than just a hobby; for others, it is a report for friends and family about travel to distant countries or trips to the forest on weekends. But the apparent accessibility of landscape photography does not mean the simplicity of this matter. Not every photographer succeeds in making a good landscape. And it doesn’t even depend on what exactly the photographer photographs, but how he does it, how he sees the world around him, what visual means he uses in his work.

The leader in world landscape photography can be called Ansel Adams, who devoted his entire life to landscapes. Dave Hacker, Alex McLean, Don Hong-Oai, William Abranovich, Brian Kosoff, and Michael Levin are also known for their work in this genre.

City or architectural landscape

Generally speaking, in a broad sense, an architectural urban landscape is, first of all, photographing a city, its aesthetics, beauty, and culture. Photographing buildings and structures that exist in the urban environment, living their own lives in it. Cityscape is a bit similar to the genre of street photography. The difference between these two genres of photographic art is primarily that the landscape emphasizes the beauty of the streets, and not what happens on them.

The complexity and interest of this genre is that in his work the photographer is forced to use the light that occurs in a specific place at a specific moment. Unlike studio or reportage photography, when photographing a cityscape, it is impossible to use additional lighting devices. During the day, there is usually only one light source - the sun. In a city at night, the number of light sources is measured in hundreds, if not thousands. These include advertising lights, car headlights, light from house windows, and street lamps of various shapes and systems... Sometimes even the light of a cigarette from a smoking passer-by can play a role. And the moon? This is also a great light source. We must never forget about her.

Modern technology and experience in creative work in the urban landscape genre allow modern photography masters to create works of magnificent beauty and deep content. They know how to work with light and shadow, with composition, and carry out all sorts of experiments...

Here are the names of famous cityscape photographers: Josef Sudek, Dave Hacker, Susan Barnstein, Stuart D. Halperin, Joseph Zarub, Ho Fan, William Abranovitch.

Photographing plants

More than a hundred years have passed since Anna Atkins, considered the world’s first female photographer, took the world’s first photographs of individual plants (it’s hard to believe that she was born more than two hundred years ago, two months before Pushkin, in March 1799! ). And since then, many photography masters have devoted their creativity to photographing plants. Hundreds and hundreds of photographers from different countries have revealed themselves in this genre of photography. In the history of photography, there were even such masters who photographed exclusively vegetables, fruits and flowers. This genre of photography art includes not only photographing food and food products in general. Here, the object that the photographer photographs is not just the subject of photography. In this case, the plant acts as an object for photographic experiments, as an object of art. A photograph created in this genre should not just document the appearance of the object, but show its beauty and perfection. Photographing individual plants is one of the types of minimalism in photography. This is a very interesting genre. To the average person uninitiated in the intricacies of photography, at first glance it may seem that in order to photograph, say, an apple, a potato or a rosebud, it is not at all necessary to have any knowledge and experience. But this is a fundamentally wrong opinion. A photographer engaged in this kind of creativity needs to have not only skill, knowledge of technology, the laws of composition and much more. He needs to have a special sense of style and tact in art.

Magnificent photographs of plants were taken by Anna Atkins, already mentioned today, as well as by Denis Brihat and Joyce Tenneson.

Portrait

The portrait genre is very widespread in all types and genres of fine art. And photography here, of course, is no exception. Just like in landscape, the popularity, apparent simplicity and accessibility of this genre do not mean that it is accessible to everyone who picks up a camera. Take a close look at the photographic portraits made by the great masters of this genre. A portrait is not just a photograph of a person in which he resembles himself in appearance. A good, real portrait conveys a person’s character, his inner world. In order to create a truly good photographic portrait, you need to have vast experience, knowledge of a person, his psychology, and the ability to understand the person being portrayed. Among other things, you need to know and understand light, be able to organize it correctly... Portrait can and should even be called the most difficult genre of all photography genres.

The best portrait photographers in the world can be called Moses Nappelbaum and Yusuf Karsh. Also, the genre of portraiture and their names in it were and are glorified by Alexander Rodchenko, Lilian Basman, Cindy Sherman, Mario Gert, Diane Arbus, Victoria Will, Eva Arnold, Bert Stern and many other magnificent masters of photography.

Fashion photography

The genre of fashion photography has developed in the world along with the development of the fashion industry. Fashion photography is a special genre of photographic creativity, it is completely different from other genres of photography. Fashion photography is varied and broad. It includes studio shooting, and shooting on location, in nature, on the street, against the backdrop of various architectural objects, shooting at fashion shows and much more.

There is no point in naming the names of photographers who work in the fashion industry today. This is a thankless task both for them and for us, the audience. But, nevertheless, we will risk citing a few names. These photographers introduced a lot of new things into the development of fashion photography, their own, previously unknown to them. These names are: Cindy Sherman, Fabrizio Ferri, Annie Leibovitz, Corinne Day, Lillian Busman, Slim Aarons, Deborah Tuberville.

Erotic photo

The erotic genre in photography, like some others, includes elements of several genres. He borrows some from fashion photography, some from portraiture, and sometimes from landscape and reportage. By and large, erotic photography is a photograph of a person’s naked body. The degree of eroticism and nudity here depends entirely on the photographer, on his plan, on the very idea of ​​the photograph. It depends on what goals and objectives the author sets for himself.

Here are the names of the most famous masters of erotic photography: Igor Mukhin, Alexander Grinberg, Newton Hellmuth, Irina Ionescu, Nobuyoshi Araki, Bert Stern, Frantisek Drtikola, Brassaï, Robert Mapplethorpe, Josephine Sakabo.

Experimental photography

Nowadays, in the age of Photoshop and other modern miracles, photography has gained many possibilities that it did not have a few decades ago. But, nevertheless, “Photoshop” in some way existed before. Combined photographs by superimposing one negative onto another were printed back in the 19th century. This technique was first used in his work in 1858 by Henry Robisan. Since then, many photographers began to realize their ideas through various experiences and experiments in photographic technology, both in shooting techniques and in processing techniques. Today, the modern photographer has much more opportunities to achieve his goals than his predecessors. It has become many times easier to create your own unique world in photographs, the fictional world of your dreams, your emotions, your dreams. And more and more photography masters are succeeding in this. Experimental photography is gaining popularity every year, every day.

Here are the names of the best photographers who worked and are working in this genre: Fedor Markushevich, Dave Hacker, Josef Sudek, Francesca Woodman, Frantisek Drtikol, Cindy Sherman, Pep Ventos, Susan Bernstein, Jersey Welsman, Josephine Sakabo.