High Fashion What?

With the rising popularity of photography among the public, there has been an obvious increase of aspiring photographers and models alike. Their numbers are most evident within the social media flooding your inbox and walls with captured photos. Most of these photographers (yours truly included) may not even have any formal education or training in photography -- not am I implying that one should have some sort of formal training to be photographer. Though, I do strongly believe that an aspiring photographer or model (in some ways) should have at least a basic understanding and knowledge on the subject at hand most importantly the terms used in the field.

Every time I open my Facebook account, I often find myself browsing over several tagged photos in my wall leading me to an album entitled "High Fashion Photography" or "My Fashion Photo Shoot". And instead of finding something similar to that of a fashion catalog, I find myself misled to a collection of random pictures of a 'model' in a blouse or a bikini with no composition whatsoever. I am not a photographer by profession and I have no intention of offending any of my fellow aspiring photographers/models nor will I pretend to be a master of this art. There is just probably a point that I want to get of my chest and that point is that maybe before clicking on the shutter or posting/printing your photos, one should at least know the kind or type of photo he just took before spreading for the world to see.

Since the inspiration for this entry has been my constant browsing over inappropriately classified photographs, let me just share a couple tidbits on basic photography terms I have previously researched and learned.

Snapshot versus Photograph
A photograph is normally planned in some way. A photographer know when he will shoot and maybe take several equipments or come at a certain time of day, bring lights, and hire models or assistants.

A snapshot on the other hand requires less or no preparations and most often spontaneous. For example, a picture of your kids while walking in a mall is a snapshot.

 
                             Snapshot                                                    Photograph


Glamour Photography versus Portrait Photography
Glamour photography, sometimes confused with pornography, may be sexy and erotic but it is not pornographic. Instead of focusing on nudity or lurid poses, glamour photography seeks to capture its subject in suggestive poses that emphasize curves and shadows. As the name implies, the goal of glamour photography is to depict the model in a glamorous light. Consequently, many glamour shots carry flirtatious, mysterious and playful tones.

Portraiture or Portrait Photography is one of the oldest types of photography. Whether the subject is your family or your pet, the goal of portraiture is to capture the personality of the subject or group of subjects on film. Portrait photography is the art of capturing images of individuals, couples, families and groups of people to preserve a visual memory.

 
                   Glamour                                       Portrait

Commercial Photography and Fashion (High-Fashion) Photography
Commercial photography predominantly sells a product. Hence, the emphasis of the whole shoot is on the product. That means that the lighting, the styling, and the background are usually very plain (not in a bad way). Think of catalog shoots where the models is standing in front of a white or an off-white background with maybe one light above camera and slightly to either side of the camera, and very natural looking make-up.

Contrary to commercial photography, the emphasis in fashion photography does not lie on the garments, but on the mood and styling of the image. The garments are merely an accessory to convey a certain lifestyle. Therefore, the whole image is much more complex. You usually won’t see plain white or off-white backgrounds in fashion photography and the models are usually styled very dramatically with thick eyeliners, dramatic eye shadows, etc. With the increased complexity in styling also comes an increased complexity in lighting to make the image look more dramatic. While many commercial photographers only stick with one light for the model, fashion photographers tend to use a wide array of lights and lighting accessories. When doing a fashion shoot, I have used up to seven lights to get the dramatic look that I wanted, but I know photographers who use ten or more lights for fashion. That is not to say that a dramatic look can not be achieved with only one light, such as a beauty dish or an octabank – it’s about the effect of the lighting and not about how many lights you use to get that effect.

 
                          Commercial                                                     Fashion

Boudoir Photography
Boudoir photography is very similar to Glamour photography that often times they are considered one and the same.  Like the latter, Boudoir Photography is a style of photography designed to create a set of sensual images of adult women of all ages, shapes and sizes. Boudoir literally means a woman’s dressing room or bedroom, and so the bedroom is typically the setting of boudoir photography. This style of photography has become popular recently as a form of a gift from a woman to her significant other. Specifically, a collection of boudoir photographs has become fashionable as a wedding gift from the bride to the groom.

Boudoir photography is designed to highlight a woman’s sensual side. The pictures are tasteful, fine-art portraits of the client. These photographs can be taken while the woman wears whatever she chooses, from a wedding dress to lingerie to sports jerseys. (Yes, some sites do recommend things such as jerseys or male work clothes to help bring a piece of a male recipient’s world into the pictures.) In many studios, nudity is allowed, but once again these are very tastefully done. In other studios nudity is off-limits, and the pictures focus more on the “suggestion” of nudity. This is to say that the woman is pictured in such a way that nudity is implied but never fully revealed.

 
                                                Boudoir

There are a lot more types of photography and a lot more niche/subtypes as well. The ones I have just presented above are the most common types I see being practiced by aspiring photographers and the most commonly misunderstood. Yes, photography is an art form and each photograph is subject to the artist own interpretation. But as a nude painting is different from a portrait painting, a photographer should know what kind of picture he wants even before the shoot starts. This is why there is such a thing as "conceptualization". Knowing what specific kind of photograph he wants and successfully takes it distinguishes a photographer from a guy who just happen to have an overpriced camera.

Photos by: Girome Medio Photography and Jay Tablante Photography
Sources:
http://www.photography.com/questions/landscape-and-nature/what-is-the-between-a-snapshot-and-a-photograph/ 
http://www.ehow.com/facts_4854323_what-portrait-photography.html 
http://www.photography.com/articles/types-of-photography/types-of-photography/ 
ttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/high-fashion-photography.html

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