DSLR Photography Forum

I have thought about this the last few weeks because I really don’t know how one can develop a personal style in photography, probably because I don’t know what personal style in photography means in the first place…

I have visited galleries of photographers where each picture seems to be part of a big puzzle, regardless the subject, landscape, flowers, portrait… They have something in common that makes the picture very particular…

I have seen photographers that only take pictures of one subject, landscapes or flowers, and the pictures are great, beautiful, these photographers develop their very own style when taking pictures of those subjects, but when it comes to take pictures of something else their pictures are not that beautiful… I follow very closely the pictures of a Japanese photographer, she takes pictures of flowers and her pictures are really a dream… wonderful, but when she takes pictures of a landscape or of her dog… you can’t believe that she took those pictures… So then I think… Is it personal style in photography to dedicate and master certain skills just to one subject? or to be skilful in taking pictures of one specific subject gives you your personal style?

I have seen photographers working with the same post processing over and over again in all his/her pictures, regardless of the subject, and if the treatment fits or not in the picture and people think he/she has develop his/her personal style… then I think, is my knowledge about PS the one that would give me my personal style?

I am asking this because I enjoy very much to take pictures… of everything, flowers, landscapes, birds, insects, staged pictures… and I couldn’t decide just to take pictures of one subject… Every subject has its own challenges … and I find this very interesting… and also because I would like to develop on my pictures this feeling of belonging together and belonging to me….

Irma.

Great subject - I wish I had more time to reflect and comment. Unfortunately, I just got back from South Carolina Thursday night and off to California tomorrow morning.

I think personal style is a combination of things.

1. Subject matter: some people become masters of a subject or related group of subjects - you need to take a lot of pictures of a subject before you instinctively know what works and what doesn't. Also - when you have a lot of photos of a certain subject, it is a lot easier to choose some great ones from your library.

2. Technical processing: photographers develop particular processing styles that become identified with them. These styles come from a LOT of experimentation. In film, you have the recognizable processing style of say Ansel Adams - there are many other examples.

3. Themes and moods - some photographers just learn how to capture a specific moods - and they do it so well that the mood itself becomes identified with them.

4. Philosophy: this is one that is not really technical in nature and that you need to develop yourself. What do you see? What do you want to show? There was a short exchange between Don and myself a while ago in another thread that speaks to this subject. I am always saying - go in close - look at the detail - sometimes a snippet of a larger thing conveys all the necessary information about that thing - it is not necessary to show the whole thing (example - tiny scrap of lettering on a tombstone). Don, on the other hand goes wide, - shows the thing in its environment - how the subject is placed in and how it relates to the world around it. This is just one example of how philosophy varies from one photographer to the other. This is something that you need to develop yourself - and is by no means restricted to the limited example I just gave as far as "distance" from the subject.

Again - I wish I had more time to discuss this in depth - I will try to log in and check the conversation before I leave.

Toad

Philosophy... I never thought about my pictures from this point of view... This is something really very interesting... this paragraph has opened a new window in photography to me... something to think about and analyse..... so then I might consider that one aspect to develop your personal style is expressing yourself through your pictures...

What encourages me more is that you say "I need to develop myself" and I take this as still it is not late to me to develop my personal style... that I can look for it... that it is not always something like a gift given by nature, but something to learn through a lot of experiment.

Thanks a lot for your comment, Toad... and have a wonderful journey

Irma.

Irma

When you take a lot of photos you will develop a personal style. I don't think it's anything you can will. I just wait. You're younger, you can wait longer.

lol

--Don

Sometimes I think my personal style of taking pictures is "badly."

I always feel like a trespassing child when someone asks me, "You're a photographer -- what kind of photographs do you take?" The question still stumps me. I usually mumble something along the line of 'Visual ones'. I photograph what I see and what appeals to me, from lobby-art sunrises to industrial abstracts to random street scenes. I don't have a typical subject, and using three different cameras, I don't have a technical signature or look.

When I submit photos for an anonymous monthly challenge on another forum, people always tell me that they can guess which one is mine.

I think Toad's on to something by including philosophy as a component. There seems to be an inherent aesthetic sense that I bring to whatever I look at. That, coupled with a technically limited (and therefore repetitive) set of skills, seems to define my style.

Hm... I think some people have specific techniques or perhaps traits in the way that they shoot and process their photos, that it becomes characteristic. For example, I love Kombisaurus' photos because they always seem so saturated in colour...

I like the philosophy point made by Toad - some people make a conscious decision to adapt a certain style/theme/mood/technique etc. and to use their photos to express creativity in a partiuclar fashion.


I suppose I would like to say too that a style may be seasonal - people can choose to do short "projects" in a certain style, or may choose to devote a life long career to it...


Personally, I'm with Rik... I have no style

With my participation in 3 different local photocompetitions each month I am exposed to many different styles of photographs, and photographers. After 8 months I have found I can guess the photographer a lot of teh time even before it is announced... and not just from the subject but also from the processign style and coloration. And these pictures are both Digital and from a wet darkroom.

I think your style will come from a combination of available equipment, environment, available subjects and your work process. But I also think the biggest influence is what you like to take.

Good subject Irma

Great topic Irma!

I pretty much completely agree with Toad's comment on philosophy, but I perhaps think of it in a slightly different way, and I consider this philosophy to be everything when it comes to what you mean by personal style. I also think it accounts for almost everything that seperates one photographer from another. We all have it, and without it photographers would simply be camera operators (or trained monkeys).

As you have said, a personal style can be described something that identifies your photos as coming from you, and it can be difficult to pin down as it might traverse subjects, genres and many other variables in photography. Its when a photograph becomes as personal as a voice or a person's handwriting. Most people's voices or handwriting are so individual that they can be instantly recognised no matter what they might be saying or writing - and I'm not just talking about the sound of their voice or look of their handwriting, but all the subtleties of their language.
In the case of language, I think a personal style is when the observer no longer just identifies the words being said but can understand what drives the speaker/writer that they begin to understand the personal style of that person. They can "read between the lines" and understand a second layer of meaning, a very personal language that is unique to the author.

Similarly in photography, I think that when the observer learns to see the world through the eyes of the photographer then they begin to really understand the personal style and what drives the photographs... if they learn the approach (or philosophy) of the photographer then they learn the unique "language" of their photographs.
I think that everything else (subject choice, composition, colour, processing, mood, etc etc) are just tools for implementing that approach or philosophy - they are the grammar and syntax of the language and provide the structure for communicating the photographer's ideas, but they aren't the personal style itself.

Put simply, I think a personal style is a way of seeing, not a way of working.

Cheers
Adrian

I have been thinking and writing down ideas and thought to answer your kind comments and advice. I believe that the influence of your background, your personal concept of beauty, the limitation of the environment you are living in are things that somehow define in some way your personal style... Indeed, a very interesting topic.

I have found some essays about personal style I would like to share with you... Too much of what it has been said in this thread is in these papers, however I think it is interesting to read what other photographers have to say about this topic.

http://www.digitalfilm.com/dp/tips_lesso...style.html

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/Art_Gallery/archive/Kezys/

http://www.naturephotographers.net/artic...605-1.html