How I Developed My Photographic Style

I’ve been a photographer by trade for 10 years. I may have started young, but it gave me plenty of time to practice and grow, and although I am not proud of the work I created in those first few years, I am happy to say that I have honed in on a photographic style that I love over the past 4 years or so. I want to share with you a little bit about that process and what things define my style.

When I first picked up a camera, I remember loving any photo I took with tons of bokeh (the blurred out light spots in the background). A few years later, I was obsessed with golden light (the hour before sunset when the sun is low on the horizon) and the lens flare it created. I took any work I could get and decided my favorite thing to shoot was different almost every season. From weddings to families, from posed to lifestyle, I just loved being behind my lens…and I still do! I am thankful for the experiences I’ve had to shoot almost any type of work because it led me to brand photography.

And so I come to my first point, PRACTICE! If you are trying to find your photographic style or niche, you must practice, practice, practice. Try shooting it all and give yourself time (I mean, a lot of time) to really decide what you love and to get good at it. You might fall into different fads and phases like I did, but eventually, you’ll discover your true style.

In addition to practicing shooting, you’ll also spend hours and hours behind a computer screen practicing editing. This is part of your style almost as much as shooting is. Over the years I borrowed other photographers’ presets and ideas. I tweaked and molded them to become something uniquely, my own. Now, I have a distinctive editing style as well as shooting style. Yours may be warm or cool, it may be faded or have plenty of saturation and contrast. The point is, again, PRACTICE! And then once you’ve found your editing style stick with it consistently. It’s part of your brand as a photographer. I made a preset for myself that I run every single photo through. If I find myself consistently tweaking a certain setting, I change the preset to reflect it. It’s gotten better with time, like a fine wine.

When I set out to define how I developed my photographic style, I thought it would be a neat little 3 or 5 point article, but as I continued to brainstorm, I realized that every thought I had fell under the same umbrella. For instance, trying new things, shooting with different light, at different angles…it’s all practice! So I’ll move on to tell you a little bit more about my style of shooting.

Lighting: I always shoot with natural light and when I can (almost always) I shoot with diffused side-light (usually the source is a window and often times a little higher than my subject). It gives images the sort of softness I like.

Angle of view: I used to always shoot my scene at both a 90-degree and 45-degree angle. It took me a while to realize that I almost never shared the images shot at the 45-degree angle. My eye is always drawn to the image that is shot with straight angles. So now I shoot images two different ways, looking straight on (90-angle) and looking straight down (flatlay).

Simplicity: The last thing I want as a brand photographer is a cluttered frame where the product I’m photographing doesn’t stand out. I tend to throw a bunch of props into the scene and slowly weed them out until my shot is simple and compelling enough to please my eye.

Negative Space: This goes hand and hand with simplicity. I don’t like clutter and I shoot a lot for Instagram. One way to achieve an Instagram grid that isn’t cluttered is to include a lot of negative space in your photos. As a brand photographer, it also leaves space for text or to turn the image into a website banner more easily.

Subject Placement: This is a funny one. In art school, you are always taught to use the rule of thirds and that images are more compelling when the subject is placed where the lines intersect, slightly off to one side. Although I understand this rule and agree with it in many cases, I have developed a style that consistently breaks this famous rule. I tend to place my subject directly in the center of my frame where it is clearly the center of attention (and often support that subject with a simple prop on the rule of thirds).

Depth of Field: I rarely change my f/stop from f/2.8. This narrow depth of field softens the background and keeps my subject (usually a product) in sharp focus.

Human Element: While not all of my photographs have a human element, almost every shoot includes at least one image with someone’s hands holding something or doing something. I love these shots focused in on hands and think they tell a powerful story.

This is not a comprehensive list of my photographic style, but I think it covers a lot of it. If you like what you see you can hire me for your brand photos too! Just click the button below!