Skip to main content

Finding Your Photographic Style

Lesson 13 from: Photography Essentials: Getting Your Best Shots

Sean Dalton

Finding Your Photographic Style

Lesson 13 from: Photography Essentials: Getting Your Best Shots

Sean Dalton

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2000+ more >

Lesson Info

13. Finding Your Photographic Style

Lesson Info

Finding Your Photographic Style

So this is one of the subjects that I always hear people saying that you can't teach. And of course I'm talking about style. I often hear people say that you can't teach style, that um it's organic and that it needs to kind of grow and develop over time on its own and well, I think that is true to some extent. Um I think that there are some guidelines are kind of a process that photographers can follow, or any artist for that matter can follow to kind of better understand the direction that they want to go. Um and then how to kind of grow into their own unique style and have their own unique identity. So when it comes to a photographer with their style is dictated both when they're out shooting. So um the thought processes that are going through their mind when they're actually taking the photo. Um and then also how they're processing that photo, so how they're editing that photo um and kind of crafting their story and honing in their story in the editing phase. I actually have a reall...

y detailed course on how to find your own unique editing style. So if you want to learn how to kind of find your own unique editing style and you're not sure how to navigate that process, um you can check that out, but for this course, I want to talk about finding your own style in general. So, yes, both editing and also, you know, shooting the shooting process and how you can kind of create your own unique look through that way, and the way I like to explain this is a process, it's a process that you can follow to, you know, understand some of the things that you like, um implementing those things into your own work and then kind of growing and adapting into your own style. So the first step is to find your inspiration. So find other photographers, other artists that you absolutely love. Um and really combine all those photos into a single place, whether that's, you know, saving photos on instagram or having actual physical books wherever that might be. Find your forms of inspiration. Um and take note of those things and and look at them often after you find those forms of inspiration. Um the next phase is to mimic. Um I think a lot of people hear this and they think, no, I don't want to copy other photographers, I want to be my own unique artists. Um My response to that is I think mimicking other photographers or other artists is the best way to learn. I mean, it really helps us understand some of the things that they're doing, and it involves a lot of trial and failure trying to get that similar look. And it really pushes your boundaries in terms of not only your creativity, but on the technical side of photography as well. So you're gonna find your inspiration, you're gonna mimic their photos, whatever that might be if it's landscapes or portraits, you're gonna try to get similar lighting, you're gonna even try to edit the photo in a similar way. I mean after that after the mimic phase you're gonna go into the adapt phase where you're gonna take that style and you're gonna adapt it, you might add something a little bit different, your own style and this is where your own true um unique kind of style comes into play. Um And after you adapt that then you're gonna evolve and the evolving process is a little bit longer. You know, there's no kind of specific period of time, but over time your style will evolve into something that's very unique. So an example I like to give is when I first came to Thailand um I hooked up with a lot of really awesome tie photographers and they all kind of had a similar style. We're shooting coffee, the coffee culture, the coffee scene um as well as food and things like that when I first got here. Um I was so inspired by the work and I just wanted to shoot the same thing. So I did and a lot of my early work related to food and cafe photography was very similar to theirs, it was almost mimicking it, but over time my style kind of evolved a little bit and I can't tell you a specific time when it did, but it did and if you look at my work now from what it used to be, it's very different from their work. Um And it's much more unique as well. I think over time you you identify some of the stylistic things that you like in a photo, you kind of learn what type of story you wanna tell, um what kind of emotions you want to elicit. Um And that will will really change over time and really help you develop your own unique style. So this is the process that I always recommend following. Um Find your inspiration, mimic the inspiration, adapt the inspiration and then evolve that into your own style.

Ratings and Reviews

Neil Brumberger
 

This is an excellent, fast paced review of processes and techniques for someone who is not a raw newbie, but still in the beginner stage. The title is accurate. It covers the essentials, not deeply, but broadly. Being somewhat older I find the fast pace of the narrative a bit too much, but I am a dinosaur

Matt House
 

Good basics class, however one of the questions in the chapter 3 quiz is incorrect: When shooting in aperture mode, what settings does the camera adjust? Quiz answer (aperture) is incorrect. The photographer selects the aperture, however the camera adjusts the shutter speed (and ISO if in auto) in order to make a proper exposure.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES