As a photographer, it’s good to have your own style of shooting that you stick to. However, in order to expand your skills and deepen your personal style, it’s smart to try out different photography styles, each with its own technique and creative skills necessary for a good product. If you want to improve your photos, it’s necessary to branch out and learn valuable lessons on your craft across different styles. Below, you will find several different types of photography that you can try out and master, and build the most amazing portfolio for your career. 

Photojournalism

Photojournalists have a wonderful job of telling a story through their photos. The events and people they photograph are often newsworthy, sometimes even of historical significance. The aim of photojournalism is to be as objective and truthful as possible, capturing moments as they happen—it’s not always about perfection and beauty. In general, photojournalists attend events in order to capture unplanned, candid and unscripted moments and show them to the public through magazines, newspapers and online publications. 

Still life

With still life photography, it’s all in the name—it features inanimate (natural or manmade) objects. This type of photography can be both commercial and artistic, and it’s commonly used in product advertising and stock photography. Just as an example, imagine all the photos of products you can see in magazines and on billboards. Object selection, arrangement and lighting are key elements of still-life photography to master. 

Wedding photography

Weddings are usually people’s most important events, and they deserve to be immortalized through photography. This type of photography includes a lot of responsibility: wedding photographers need top-notch equipment and extensive knowledge of working with people and recognizing important moments and true emotions. Wedding photography is tough to practice, and you only have one shot at producing amazing photos, so it deserves all the popularity and respect. 

Portrait photography

This might be one of the most common photography styles, but also the hardest to master. Portrait photography needs to capture the mood and personality of one person or a group of people, regardless of whether the images are candid or posed. In most cases, the subject’s face, eyes and body movement are in focus with portraiture, using lighting and backdrop to convey different emotions and tones. Due to their emotional value for the subjects, family portraits are probably the most sought-after style of portraits. Notoriously hard to capture, especially when small kids are involved, these portraits require a masterful hand. 

Editorials

The role of editorial photography is to illustrate a story (most commonly in a magazine or newspaper). Editorial photography can shoot various subjects and it comes in many shapes, highly dependent on the topic it covers. The best shots are those that work with different layouts—both horizontal and vertical compositions. Editorial photographers work closely with art directors and writers, so good communication and teamwork skills might be necessary to master this type of art. 

Sports photography

Sports photography has one main goal: to capture the passion, drama and emotion in players, coaches and fans during a sporting event. The main skills of a good sports photographer are speed and determination because the action will keep happening around you, and you only have one shot to capture the right moment. In order to master this type of photography, most experts recommend practicing with a higher ISO so you can shoot at fast speed. Also, long, heavy lenses for zooming are crucial. In the competitive sense, interesting angles are the key to success. 

Architectural photography

The subjects of architectural photography are always the interiors and exteriors of buildings and structures. Architectural photographs shoot everything from bridges and barns to lux villas and skyscrapers, always including very diverse structures. In some cases, the photographer tries to showcase the most beautiful part of the structure (a specific arch or beam), but other times, artists try to highlight the brutal size or passage of time through these architectural shots. The most difficult skill to master in this type of photography is working with natural lighting and capturing successful panorama shots. 

Travel photography

Travel photography is a very broad type of photography. Its aim is to capture another area of the world through portraits, stills, candid images and nature photography. All the best travel photos manage to capture similarities and differences between people, architecture, culture and food, which is something that creates harmony and balance in the world. 

Aerial photography

Today, aerial photography is more popular than ever, thanks to quality consumer drones. No matter if you think of it as its own type of photography or just a branch of landscape photography, aerial experts are very sought-after today for shooting events, cities, large buildings and natural changes. 

Has any of these styles caught your eye? Give them a try and see what kind of valuable photography lessons you can learn from each of the styles above—you’ll definitely become a better photographer.