With the boom in media, advertising, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as one of the most lucrative and thrilling career options for the Indian youth. Until some years ago, the masses regarded photography as a hobby only, but now it has emerged as a big ocean of opportunities.
These days, photography is becoming prominent in the mainstream, as a popular career choice. Movies also created a spark for photography like – Farhan from 3 idiots and Sid from Wake-Up Sid and the film Photograph. And as you might know, a famous motivational speaker Sandeep Maheshwari has also tried his hand at photography.
A photographer must be able to create a good composition of any subject, be it the beauty of a model, the atrocity of war, or a smile of a child. It is rightly said that a picture can sometimes be much more expressive than a thousand words.
And for this reason, no matter how uncredited photography is, it always proves to hold a significant part in many dimensions of the working lot.
Scope of photography
A modern-day photographer can wear many hats, the notable among them are:
Press Photographers/photojournalists: They provide pictures to the press and media. This career demands the ability to photograph all kinds of newsworthy events, places, sports, politics, and people for newspapers, magazines, journals or television. A photojournalist must possess a journalistic perspective to shoot a good news picture.
- Featured Photographers: Feature photography principally involves describing an idea, issue, or story through pictures and hence requires a thorough knowledge of the topic. Many photographers specialize in the photography of travel, wildlife, sports, environment, etc.
- Industrial Photographers: A commercial photographer takes pictures of finished goods, exteriors and interiors of the manufacturing unit, and machinery used for company brochures and reports.
- Portrait and Wedding Photographers: These are photographers who take pictures of individuals, couples, and families, handling subjects like birthdays, farewells, ceremonies, weddings, pregnancy, etc.
- Advertising Photographers: They are related to the photography departments of advertising agencies and photographic studios. A large section of them is made by freelancers. Advertising photography happens to be the best-paid and most competitive branch of all.
- Fashion Photographers: This branch has developed in India only recently. Initially maximum of fashion photography was carried out in Mumbai but it is spreading to other parts of India too, like Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur. It requires highly sophisticated skills and well-equipped gears.
- Scientific Photographer: These photographers typically have additional knowledge in areas such as biology, engineering, medicine, or chemistry which serves them in photographing a wide range of scientific objects and phenomena. So whether it is a picture of a tiny microorganism or a new type of bird swarming, it is all work of a scientific photographer.
- Freelance Photographer: Freelancing is the most popular and common career choice among photographers. Photographers who want to be self-employed need to have good business management skills. They can do freelancing in any of the above categories.
- As a self-employed freelance photographers, you may license the use of your photographs through stock photo agencies like Shutterstock, pixel, pixabay etc.
The next step is enrolling for a course
Pursuing a career in photography is the first step in pursuing a photography course. With technology growing rapidly, the dynamics of a camera are also steadily improving.
Candidates need to understand how the camera works, and what are the theoretical and practical aspects of photography as the course trains candidates in the required skills.
You can apply for online courses available on various portals or you can take admitted to various colleges which offer a degree/diploma in photography.
Get your basics right
Once the candidate has enrolled in the course, as the candidate understands the working of a camera, the theoretical part becomes simpler for the aspirant to understand. However, if the individual is new to the camera, he/she has to understand the basics first:
- Rule of Thirds: The frame is dividable into nine equal rectangles that make up three rows and three columns across the frame. The general thought of the rule of third is to understand the framing of the object and surroundings that are being clicked. The grid can help the aspirant to differentiate between the important features in a frame and insignificant characters to nail a spectacular outcome.
- Shutter speed: The shutter speed is the amount of speed that determines how long the shutter of the camera remains open while the picture is being clicked. Shutter speed is the characteristic that goes hand in hand with the aperture of the camera. The shutter speed is all about motion.
- Aperture: The aperture is the amount of length that defines the opening of a lens to control the amount of light entering the digital sensor of a camera. The aperture is measured in F-stop.
Understanding the basics can be extremely helpful to assist the photographer in taking balanced and interesting shots.
Experience an internship
After understanding the basics of a camera, it is advisable to take up internships. This can allow the amateurs to explore the photography industry and gain essential knowledge from professionals in the field.
Other than internships, aspirants can also apply for competitions held around as it can be a platform for you to showcase your talent and skills and get exposure.
Eventually, the work is evaluated so it can give the candidate an insight on what to work on. And if you manage to win competitions, there are vast opportunities to work with the experts not to forget, certificate and lucrative prizes.
Develop a portfolio
As you go on to work for years the main backup is building a portfolio, a blog, or a website as it displays your skills over the years. The portfolio becomes your USP, a unique selling point that holds immense value in the market as the need for professional photographers is growing. The portfolio online provides to get noticed and thus build a healthy photography career.
