Introduction

For this assignment I will be explaining and talking about advertising photography. I think this is a good topic to study about because in secondary school we did projects that included advertising such as making a perfume advertisement and a magazine front cover so I already have a slight knowledge about it. 

My 2010-2012 media studies pictures in secondary school:

Advertising Photography

 What is advertising photography?

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. 

What is the purpose of it and where is it used?

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. 

Types of advertising photography

When taking advertisement photographs you need to think about the product that you're taking pictures off. You need to think of the best way to appeal to the target audience and what the best way is to make the product seem more appealing.

In fashion photography a model will most likely be used to help promote the product so you need to find out her best angle and if necessary photo manipulate it to make it seem more appealing. 

In this fashion image the jewelry on the girl is heavily emphasized so that it is the main point of the image and what your eyes are mainly drawn to. The girl isn't wearing bright clothes so you're not drawn away from the main point of the advertisement. 

For a magazine the front cover is the main view that advertises the magazine. The front cover needs to have the important things included that will grab the readers attention. The main image on the magazine needs to be clear and simple so it doesn't distract readers from the other information but it stands out enough to make it seem appealing. 

In a car advertisement they need to make it as appealing as possible. They usually have a stylish, slick background that makes the car look incredible in front of it. They need to make sure the car is as clean and shiny as possible so it makes the viewer want to drive it. 

To the left is a very creative advert that advertises the home delivery service IKEA. They have set up the room to the best of their advantage to make the items appeal to the viewers but they have also added the delivery man so it looks like he's delivering the furniture. 

History of advertising photography

In the 1820's the first permanent photograph was taken and interest in photography first began to get more popular. However, all though this is one photgraphs were used it wasn't for advertising purposes. In the twentieth century people becme aware of advertising photography because of an improvement in technology which meant the photos could be done quicker at a higher quality.

During the First World War photographs were used to advertise and inform potential customers of the benefits of a certain product. Soon after starting that they found out that photographs could help make products seem more appealing. So after using illustrations to advertise products and services they began using photographs and found out it was more successful.

Using photography in marketing campaigns has continues and grown throughout the year and it has turned into a vital part of selling any product in the present day.

Old illustration advertising:

Old photographic advertising:

History of photography applications

Pinhole Camera

A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture - effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. The 'photographer' would then trace the image which would appeal life-like.

Camera Obscura

 This consists of a box or room with a hole in one side. Light from outside of it passes through the hole and hits the surface inside where it is reproduced, upside down, but with colour. The image can be projected onto paper, and can then be traced to produce a highly accurate representation.

Usig mirrors it is possible to project a right side up image. Another more portable type is a boz with an angled mirror projecting onto tracing paper placed on the glass top, the image being upright as viewed from the back. As a pinhole is made smaller, the image gets sharper but the projected image because dimmer. Some practical camera obscuras use a lens rather than a pinhole because it allows a larger aperture, giving a usable brightness while keeping focus.

Daguerroetype

 Louis Daguerre and Joseph Nicephore Niepce invented the first photographic method of taking photographs which was name the daguerroetype, in 1836. Louis Daguerre coated a copper plate with silver, then treated it with iodine vapor to make it sensitive to light. The image was developed by mercury vapor and fixed with a strong solution of ordinary salt. When taking a photograph the object/person would have to keep very still because the speed of the shutter was extremely slow.

Calotype

Calotype or Talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot. His method including using paper coated with silver idodide. Talbot made his first successful camera photographs in 1835 using paper sensitized with silver chloride, which darked in properotion to its exposure to light. The paper had to be exposed in the camera until the image was fully visible which -with a very long exposure- would typically take an hour or more to produce an acceptable picture.

Pros and Cons of adverting photography

PROS

It's a satisfying job and you can make a career out of something that could begin as a mild hobby. You can choose the best type of photography that chooses you so you can always be intrested in what you do. If you're a freelance photographer then you can choose when you want to work. You can also win great awards from the work you produce and have the potential to become quite famous one day if your work is great.


CONS

If you work as a freelance photographer, the pace may seem a bit slow until you build up your career to a certain level. You could have extremely difficult clients that are hard to manage. There could also be lots of travelling involved if you don't enjoy that then it could be a problem. Also with all the competition today the chance of success is very slim.

Difference between film and digital photography

Film

Film cameras can work without batteries so you don't have to worry about not being able to shoot something because you've run out of battery life. Film cameras are a lot cheaper to purchase than digital camera. Using a film camera is nice in all night exposures and much better and long exposures. You don't have to worry about dusty sensor issues. It's simple to use and you don't have to worry about which setting to put it on. You have much better exposure latitude.



Digital






















It's a lot easier to view pictures and burn them onto a CD or hard-drive which makes it simpler to email pictures to people. It's much easier to crop, zoom and edit photos. You can print the photos you want instead of having to print a whole roll if you only want something like three photos from it. It's cheaper than buying film and paying to get it developed. You can view a photo as soon as it's been taken so you know if you got a good shot or not. You also have the advantage of being able to take videos of things. You can take a lot more photos with digital cameras.

How does digital effect advertising photography?
Digital photography has made it much more easier when taking photographs for advertising. Digital photography means you can view the pictures as soon as you take them so you can see if it's blurry and you know when you have a perfect shot. This means it get's completed much moe fasted than digital. Also, if you're on a timescale then it's so much easier to upload them onto a computer and edit them than it is with film.

Applications and principles of photography

There are many different camera controls on the camera that are used in photography. They all do different things to make sure that the pictures come out the best they can be.

Focus
The focus button on a camera allows the photographer to make the picture focus on a specific part. This could make the main focus clearer and sharper whilst the background is out of focus.

Aperature
This is the adjustment of the lens opening which is measured as an f'-number. This controls the amount of light that passes through the lens. The higher the f-number, the smaller the opening, the less light, the greater depth of field and the more diffraction blur. On DSLR cameras they have specific settings that mean different things. This is picture of the settings you can get:









The dial A means Aperature Priority.

This is a setting that allows the person using the camera to choose a specific aperure value and then the camera selects a perfect shutter speed to match which creates the perfect exposure. The main purpose of using this is to be able to control the depth of field. This is mainly used in landscape and portait photography since using a wide aperature gives you the opportunity to make the background seem out of focus and have the closest object appear really sharp and clear.


Shutter speed
This is the adjustment of the speed of the shutter which controls how fast or slow you can press the shutter button. Shutter speed may be used to control the amount of light striking the image plane; 'faster' shutter speeds decrease both the amount of light and the amount of image blurring from motion of the subject and/or camera.

When setting the shutter speed on the DSLR, you choose the TV which means time value on the dial. The camera will then calculate the appropriate aperture for the correct exposure shown in the view finder.

There are 10 options for slow shutter speeds:

- 1/1000

- 1/500

- 1/250

- 1/125

- 1/60

- 1/30

- 1/15

- 1/8

- 1/4

- 1/2

All of them are in fractions of a second.

 

Long shutter speeds are done in whole seconds:

- 1

- 2

- 4

- 8

- 16

- 32

- 60

White balance
White balancing adjusts the camera for the type of light or lighting conditions in the scene so it will look normal to the human eye.

ISO speed
 A measure of a film’s sensitivity to light. A 400 speed film is more sensitive to light than a 100 speed film. The fastre the film is makes it better in low light conditions.  The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) give state of the art specifications for products, services and good practice. This helps the industry by making things more efficient and effective.
This is a picture of the founders of the ISO pictured in London in 1946:

This is a picture of a high ISO vs low ISO using a DLSR camera:

There is a major difference between these images, the low ISO of 100 is blurry and unclear, which doesn't really make it look like an appealing photography.

However, the high ISO of 800 uses depth of field to make the object closest to the camera stand out more.The background is supposed to be blurry on that picture as it makes the main theme stand out more.

 

ISO is the level of light your camera lets in.. The lower the ISO number the less sensitive your camera is to light, whereas the higher the ISO number it increases the sensitivity of your camera which creates a lot better of a photograph.

Autofocus point
This is a function on a camera that allows it to autofocus on the main subject of the photograph. The makes it so it doesn't look blurry in the wrong places.