Specialist Location Photography Types

Location photography is a very broad subject. It can be defined as anything photographed outside the studio. All specialist location photography comes under two main categories, it can be divided into interior and exterior locations. This means the photographer has to go to where the subject is instead of the subject coming to the studio. These typical locations can be; for example: workplaces, transport, landscape, rural, urban, marine, aerial, industrial, architectural, domestic etc. In these situations only a certain amount of control can be exerted over the lighting conditions with the exception of choosing the time of the day for taking the photograph. However, fashion photographs on location sometimes requires artificial lighting to produce the correct ambience for the shoot.

Specialist location photography genres:

Architectural eg buildings, interiors (indoor/outdoor)

application: - commercial (books,magazines), estate agents, holiday brochures, websites
equipment: - camera, tilt shift/wide angle lens, use of natural light, tripod, light meter, memory card
problems: - weather/lighting conditions, public/private land access
work opportunities: - photographer of an estate or travel agency, published pictures in books,magazine etc.

Commercial/advertising (indoor/outdoor)

Industrial eg public relations, corporate/technical reports (outdoor)

Social eg portraiture/Environmental portraiture, wedding, lifestyle, events - parties (indoor/outdoor)

application: - commercial (books,magazines), portraits for clients, websites
equipment: - camera, prime or zoom lens, tripod, fill light, reflector, soft boxes, flash lights/natural light
problems: - weather/lighting conditions, people movements, fussy clients
work opportunities: self employment

Press eg sport, events (indoor/outdoor)

application: commercial (books,magazines), newspaper, websites
equipment: camera, flash, fast telephoto lens for sport events (300-400mm), tripod
problems: weather/lighting conditions, movement of subjects, power of flash
work opportunities: self employment, press photographer

Documentary/Photojournalism eg issues (indoor/outdoor)

Editorial eg fashion, food, products, travel (indoor/outdoor)

application: advertisements, brochures, magazines, websites
equipment: camera, flash lights/natural light, fill light, light meter, memory card, tripod, soft boxes
problems: weather/lighting conditions, subject positioning
work opportunities: free-lance photographer