What Are The Different Types Of Portrait Photography?

Portrait photography is an art of photography. An artist with passion and creativity can excel in this field. The main goal of portrait photography is to capture the personality of the subject by using effective poses, lighting and mesmerizing backdrops.

The style of portrait photography is to focus brightly on the face with a blurred background. Whatever the background is, it does not matter really. This branch of photography is vibrant and authoritative in nature. The basic rules of portrait photography are- the subject basis, the basis of number of people in the photograph, the basis of shot and the frame.

Portrait photographers are present all around the world and cities such as, portrait photographer Dallas, portrait photographer Texas, portrait photographer in Australia etc. 

Photographers have travel extensively to capture the perfect image of an exotic place. 

However, Portrait photography is not only about human faces. It can be categorized into numerous types. They are-

1)      Traditional portrait photography- Traditional photography refers to the image where face is predominant element. The purpose of this photography is to bring out the personality and attitude with the expression of the model.

2)      Candid portrait photography- These types of photographs are taken without the subject’s knowledge. The image is shot either individually or in group. This style of photography is generally used in photo journalism, travel photography, event photography etc.

3)      Environmental portrait photography- Environmental portrait photography means taking the shot of an image of a person in a working environment. For instance, a worker photographed in a construction site, a woman cooking, a painter painting, sculptor in a sculpture studio, a model doing makeup etc. The environment of the photograph is used to complement the photograph and is generally chosen by the photographer itself.

4)      Lifestyle portrait photography- This type of photography emphasizes on the style of living of the subject. For instance, editorial, fashion, and food photographs are used as lifestyle portrait photography. Technically this style of photography is a combination of environmental and candid portrait photography.

5)      Surreal portrait photography- This type of photography emphasizes on the reality. The image depicts on the surrealism by applying special effects.

6)      Glamour portrait photography- The main focus of this style of photography is on the romantic appeal of the subject.

7)      Travel portrait photography- Travel portrait photography is all about capturing images of people and environment by travelling different places. This style of photography is meant to capture an emotion and mesmerizing moments and events. An example of renowned portrait photographer is Steve McCurry. He rose to prominence with his famous photo of ‘Afghan girl’ in a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. This photo of the Afghan girl became very famous and was named the most recognized photo of National Geographic. And still now, this photograph is often seen in social networking sites.

Photography can give a huge exposure to the world if you have the determination, talent and passion. In order to excel in this genre be ready to travel extensively wherever and whatever you are assigned. This job is quite interesting and fancy for those who love to travel a lot and meeting new people often.