Photography has come a long way in the past 50 years. In fact, not just the past 50 years, the evolution of photography into the diverse field it is today is truly amazing. With time photography has evolved into diverse fields like travel photography, food photography, photojournalism and much more. In fact, today still life photography alone has many diverse fields like food photography, jewellery photography etc. A common misconception that people have when it comes to photography is that a single photographer can take care of all kinds of photographic requirements.
The most interesting aspect of photography is the shift from film based photography to digital storage based photography. Today even ‘old school’ photographers have started using digital SLR cameras to capture the most vivid and vibrant images possible. Compared to the every day use digital cameras available in the market, professional photographers use SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras. A SLR camera can costs anything between $1000 and $5,000. The SLR camera rarely utilizes digital enhancement of the images (for example, unlike regular digital cameras the zoom feature in a digital SLR camera is purely optical) and a digital SLR camera has far superior optics when compared to the digital cameras available for everyday use.
The reason why most photographers prefer digital storage over film is that digital images are easier to manage and can be easily distributed. For example, if a photograph has been clicked using a traditional SLR camera, the negative has to be developed, the photo scanned and then digitally ‘fixed’ before it is ready for electronic distribution. However, with digital storage, there are no such problems, and a camera can be connected to a digital printer and within seconds it is possible to produce hard copies of the digital images. In fact this is the reason why digital SLR cameras have become so popular, the storage mechanism is the same as digital cameras, but the quality of images is as good as traditional SLR cameras. The only advantage that traditional film based cameras have over digital SLR cameras is that the images can be over and underexposed as per the photographers convenience, also since the capture field of digital cameras is static, they are more prone to problems like dust.
Some of the popular forms of photography today are:
Commercial Photography
Commercial photography is a broad term that is used to describe photography that is purely commercial in nature. Commercial photography includes advertising photography, fashion and glamour photography, food photography, fine art photography, portrait photography and other similar forms of photography designed for commercial use. Recently, photojournalism too has also been classified as a form of commercial photography, as the eventual purpose of photojournalism is to sell photographs to newspapers and news agencies. By and large, commercial photography is for professional photographers that can utilize their expertise to make money. Commercial photography is diverse, and ever day an ever increasing number of commercial photographers are joining one of the many disciplines of commercial photography that exist today. It is only a matter of time before newer disciplines are added to commercial photography.
Travel Photography
As the name suggests, travel photography involves capturing images from all over the world. Contrary to popular belief there is an element of good luck and timing involved in travel photography. Sometimes photographers have to wait for days before they can find ideal conditions for shooting.
Sports Photography
Sports photography has come a long way with the evolution of delayed exposure cameras, and with the advent of digital cameras that allow photographers to adjust exposure, shutter speed and other parameters. Some of the most interesting and expressive photographs have been captured in recent times using these new techniques. Sports photography is considered closer to journalism then it is to commercial photography. However, it is not uncommon for teams to hire commercial photographers to capture their players in action.

About the Author

Estelle Judah is the author of this article on Commerical Photographer.
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