When you first start out in photography, you will probably be happy with the images that you take. Digital cameras these days are capable of creating beautiful images without the need to understand the technical elements that come together to produce that image.
As you learn more and more about photography both your technical ability and creativity will increase. One way to improve your abilities is to look at the work of professional photographers.
If you look through the portfolios of any of the world's most renowned photographers, one thing will strike you the most. All of them have a unique look, the images may be very different in appearance but through all of them you will see some form of identifying theme, a photographic style.
That photographic style can be seen from the gritty and bloody realism of a war photographer through to the surrealistic, dreamlike images of top fashion photographers.
Your Own Photographic Style Will Take Time
Developing your own photographic style is not going to happen overnight, nor is it going to happen if you try to force it, a style needs to grow organically over time. It may take several years and many thousands of images before you even start to notice a photographic style. So how can you recognize and build on that style?
Although when you first started in photography, you almost certainly did not have any particular style, there will be certain types of image that you were drawn to. Go back and have a look through your very earliest shots and see if there is some sort of theme running through them.
Maybe you like to shoot religious buildings, views through windows and doors, or maybe a lot of your images have a similar object in them, for example a bicycle. Very often this all happens subconsciously, it’s just something that you are attracted to. If you can identify this, you are on the way to developing your own style.
Look At The Photographic Style Of Your Peers
Another element in developing a style is to look at the work of your peers. There will be images that inspire you, that convey a sense of emotion to you. Be inspired by your peers but don’t mimic them. In trying to replicate another photographer’s style you are not developing your own. However, what you can do is look at the elements of your peer’s images and try to understand what it is that makes you admire them. If you can isolate this and understand the techniques involved to create a certain look then you can develop a style from that. Analyze what lenses are being used, look at the aperture and the lighting. How is the image composed?
If you look at all these elements and try to incorporate them into the themes that you have identified in your own early work you will notice that you are getting a certain style to your shots.
Start To Develop Your Photographic Style
Start by taking images in your favourite genre. Don’t be afraid to experiment, use different angles, lenses, exposures or lighting but stay within the limits of that genre. For example if you enjoy travel photography, concentrate on all areas within this. By all means try studio portraits, or architecture but concentrate most of your efforts on travel.
As you start to build a collection of images, take the time to sit down and look at all the images you have taken from the start of your photographic journey to the present. Your very first images will probably show some naivety in skills but you may be able, even at that stage, to see some sort of uniformity and consistency through the images. Look further through to your more recent images and see if that theme has carried on and improved. If so, you have subconsciously started to develop your own style. Now you have identified it, you need to hone in on what makes it unique, and improve on it.
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
One way of identifying and developing your photographic style is to stray outside your photographic comfort zone. All of us as photographers have a particular genre that we are most at home with, this might be portraiture, architectural photography or macro work. We tend to stay within this genre as it is what we enjoy the most.
It can however be highly advantageous to step outside that comfort zone and try new genres. For example as a portrait photographer you might want to try some travel or urban photography. The reason for this is simple, it further helps you identify your unique style. If you have been shooting portraits for a long time you might find yourself shooting an urban scene using a shallow aperture, with the subject close to the camera. Stepping outside the comfort zone allows us to identify the technical and compositional elements of our photographic style and enhance them.
Having More Than One Style
As you develop as a photographer, you will find that you are not constricted by a single style but in fact may have developed several. In my own case, the first style that I noticed and developed was a liking for bright colors in travel shots. I also noticed that the images I liked the most had a simplicity combined with bright color.
As a secondary style I found myself shooting a lot of images with black and white in mind. Most of these shots used soft light to accentuate the monochrome feel. This style has subconsciously found its way into my more recent urban photography.
Don’t Push Your Style Too Hard
One thing you should not do however, is push yourself too hard, the moment you start to concentrate too much on a style will be the time it starts to fall apart. Your style should be something that comes naturally, something that you are entirely at ease with. When you are looking through the viewfinder, your conscious thought should be about the composition, and the technical aspects of the shot, your style should be entirely sub-conscious.
Developing a photographic style is not easy, nor can it be taught or forced. It is something that grows with you as you grow as a photographer. However, if we can identify what it is within us that makes us photograph certain things in a certain way, we can help identify and improve that style.