Editorial Photography

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | Posted in: Commercial

Editorial Photography is a sub-category of commercial photography which focuses on creating images that depict its subjects in ways that appear natural. Images of people that don’t appear posed or modeled but instead seem to have been captured without the subject’s knowledge. These images are primarily used in media such as newspapers, magazines, and newsletters, however, they are frequently being used in brochures, flyers, and direct mail pieces as well.

Wikipedia describes editorial photography as photographs made to illustrate a story or idea within the context of a magazine. However, the use of this style of images is used in many other outlets. Capturing a story in a still photograph is truly an art that is not easily mastered. We, as photographers, have only a few seconds to capture the readers attention and then just few more seconds to explain what we want to communicate. The ultimate goal being to steer the viewer to read the intended material.

In today’s market, photographers are constantly competing for readers attention and the competition is growing every day. Everywhere you look there is an image trying to lour you in and grab your attention. Which is why creativity and uniqueness are so important to us photographers. If we have no creativity, if we are not unique in the way we present our work, if we do not “wow” our audience, we do not accomplish our goal and readers will never give us more than a mere glance and keep going. A perfect example of this is a magazine cover page. If the cover’s image does not entice readers to open the magazine and at least glance at the images and articles inside of it, the photographer who composed the cover’s image has failed.

As photographers, our value rises with our ability to produce images that consistently “wow” our audience. That includes the editors who choose to publish our images. So being a perfectionist, your own biggest critic, and recognizing your best work will get you noticed by the right people.