10 Types Of Photography We Bet You Didn’t Know!

Are you an aspiring photographer who doesn’t want to pursue the uber-competitive fields of fashion, wildlife, travel, or wedding photography? While these are the most popular types of photography, they’re also quite saturated and competitive and you’ll be going up against well-established photographers in each of these photography niches. 

But don’t worry. If you’re an aspiring photographer who wants to break the mold and do something unique, this article is for you.

We’ve put together a list of 10 types of photography that we bet you didn’t know about.

1. Landscape Photography

If you love travelling and want to get paid for it, start mastering the art of clicking landscape photos. Contrary to popular belief, this type of photography is not limited to horizontal photos. You can even shoot vertically to capture tall trees, mountains, and huge waterfalls.

Source: Soumitra Datta

This type of photography allows you to explore different creative possibilities. For instance, you can even capture aerial drone shots as opposed to just ground level. If you want to pursue landscape photography, you will have to invest in the right lenses and a drone. Click here to find the types of lenses you should own.

2. Documentary Photography

Documentary photography is a type of photography that portrays significant and historical events. While it is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. It’s a great niche if you’re a storyteller and are fascinated by stories.

Source: Soumya Sankar Bose

3. Food Photography

Yes, it’s an actual thing and it has great scope in India. A few years ago, this type of photography was relatively new and not many people dabbled in it. However, the boom of social media has influenced us to keep taking photos of our food, whether for fun or for marketing purposes. With today’s camera specs, you don’t even need a professional camera to capture mouth-watering food shots. You just need a decent camera phone with the right kind of lighting! Food photographers often work with food stylists.

Source: Mihir Hardikar

Some popular food photographers in India are Rekha Kakkar, Niharika Shukla, Anshika Verma, Arjun Kartha and Sujata Sadr. You can follow them on Instagram. To know more about food styling, click here.

4. Aerial Photography

Aerial photography is yet another type of photography niche that’s growing in popularity in India. It’s a form of photography where you take photographs from an aircraft or other flying object such as a drone, kite, helicopter, balloons, parachutes, etc.

Source: Dinesh Mehta

And if you were wondering who uses aerial photography, then stop rack your brains. From cartographers, archaeologists, and surveillance companies to commercial advertisers and artists, the demand for aerial photographs in on the rise, especially in India.

5. Underwater Photography

Love water sports and an avid scuba diving fan? Well, in that case, underwater photography might be just the right niche for you. The popularity of underwater photography is rising in India. Photo shoots of a bride and groom, women showing off their baby bumps under water, underwater portraits of models and animals – underwater photography is not just about shooting marine life.

Popular underwater photographers include Sumer Verma, Digant Desai, Ajit S N, Umeed Mistry, and Rammohan Paranjape – India’s first and only surf photographer.

Source: Rammohan Paranjape

If you’re worried about getting the right gear, then check out this article that details all the necessary gear for underwater photography.

6. Sports Photography

Sports photography is a more professional niche. It requires a lot of high-speed shooting. Sports photographers are normally armed with long and heavy lenses that are capable of zooming into where the action is and shooting at fast shutter speeds. Some popular sports photographers in India are Atul Sharma and Abhishek Mehta.

Source: Atul Sharma

All of this, without ending up with underexposed images! Want to try your hand at sports photography? Crank up your ISO so you can use a fast shutter speed and make sure to experiment with angles. While the scope for this type of photography is huge, competition for a slot at a sports arena is still pretty tough.

7. Macro Photography

Macro photography is a specific niche of photography that captures photographs at extreme close-ups, usually of extremely tiny subjects and living organisms like insects and flowers. These days, it also involves photographing still life such as jewelry and small household objects.

Source: Raviprakash SS

Compared to other types of photography, macro photography is quite difficult, because of the equipment, lighting, lens, and other techniques involved. If extreme precision is your thing, then maybe you should give macro photography a try.

8. Stock Photography

More and more professional photographers are leaning towards stock photography. Some popular Indian stock photographers are Mangal Dhwani and Joseph King. Stock photographers click and sell pictures that are licensed for specific uses. Did you know that stock photography has been around for centuries? But it’s only recently that the market for stock photos has grown due to the increasing demand for it in websites, blogs, and for digital marketing purposes.

Source: Pritesh Jaiswal

It is not a popular type of photography, but it can be a good source of income. ImagesBazaar, PhotoConcierge, and PhotosIndia are a few top stock photography sites in India.

9. Still Life Photography

This photography niche involves taking pictures of objects. You may need to click just one main product or several that follow a central theme for catalogs, magazines, and even billboards.

This type of photography guarantees a steady income as numerous brands are always looking to get their products and services photographed in the best way possible.

10. Architectural Photography

This is one niche that will help you land a constant stream of projects. Some popular architectural photographers in India are Rajesh Vora, Harshan Thomson, and Mitul Desai. Photos of the interiors and exteriors of buildings and other structures are of great use to architects, designers, leasing companies as well as potential investors. For this niche, you will need to have artistic and technical skills in addition to knowledge in the elements of art and proper composition. For instance, you will need to know how to use exposure bracketing for even tone.

Source: Bharath Ramamrutham

Don’t confuse this niche with real-estate photography. Real estate photography mainly involves clicking pictures of houses and apartments. To become an architectural photographer, you’ll need to invest in additional gear like a tilt-shift lens, a panorama head, and a high-quality tripod.

Before you decide on the niche, try different types of photography. This way you’ll know what you like doing and the things that you are not comfortable with.

Found this interesting? Then find out which colleges in India offer a course in photography here.