The Type of Photography Our Readers Do…. [POLL RESULTS]
Last month we asked DPS readers about the types of photography that they do. We chose 9 categories based upon a previous survey (we could have added a lot more but had to draw the line somewhere) and gave readers the opportunity to choose multiple categories for each type of photography that they do.
There have been 23,345 people respond so far and here are the results. The white number is the number of responses for each category and the %’s are the total percentage of people who’ve chosen the category.
20 Responses to “The Type of Photography Our Readers Do…. [POLL RESULTS]” - Add Yours
November 5th, 2009 at 7:31 am
I thought live music would have been higher. Very interesting results though, perhaps inspiration to try out the less popular photo areas ?
November 5th, 2009 at 8:11 am
what, no speed photography category? :)
November 5th, 2009 at 8:44 am
live music is always an issue because cameras are sometimes not allowed to be brought into venues
November 5th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Exactly, more often than not cameras of our caliber are outlawed at arenas and things.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:36 am
“live music is always an issue because cameras are sometimes not allowed to be brought into venues”
Very true. And if it isn’t specified beforehand they make you leave your $1500+ kit at the door, unattended. This is what largely put me off performance photography, especially since you expect a lot of *untrustworthy* types at most performances.
November 5th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I just want to have a crack at answering “Why you don’t know before hand” …as a music photographer, I’ve spent a lot of time around door / security / management / bands / band PR etc… A lot of the time, the reason you don’t hear about “can I take my camera in” is because the band manager decides on the day of the gig and the venue / promoters don’t have time to put it on a website anywhere… sad but true… (Hetfield, anyone?)
November 5th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Ummm.. Lightning and Underwater. I know, I’m weird
November 5th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Wow… I expected more Portrait fans than Landscapers… But the poll said differently…
November 5th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
landscape…. no suprises there.
also travel, we like to take photos of our surroundings since we like to “wander” more
potraits will include occasions ( birthdays etc) so thats more about documenting our social lives
November 6th, 2009 at 1:28 am
The Landscape option should have been “Landscape/Cityscape”. Their also should have been an option for “Street Photography”. I live in the city and take Cityscape and street photography photos so I think i choose Landscape.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:55 am
I’m surprised that many folks are into Macro! Personally, I’ve always been a close-focusing, tight-camera-cropping fool!
November 6th, 2009 at 2:27 am
Just from the few comments I’m surprised how many of you don’t seem to know about smaller music venues. Almost all smaller venues allow cameras of any type, and bands are generally THRILLED to use your photos if they can.
For arena shows, I’d rather have my point and shoot anyway if I’m not in the camera pit – they’re not room for all the gear, and you would have to use multiple lenses/have multiple lenses to get the shots you’d want with a dSLR.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:22 am
I would have liked to see a bit more differentiation – wedding separate from “portrait”, Real estate separate from “architecture”.
I would like to know more about what percentage of us are deriving income from their photography, and which fields are “ripe unto harvest”, so to speak. I like photographing landscapes, but Life and National Geographic aren’t buying much of it these days.
I understand that many who read and post here are amateurs, and intend to stay that way, but many of us are professionals, of one sort or another, and it’s interesting to see how others are doing things.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:02 am
its hard for me to focus on one type of photography, i shoot sports, all kinds, from kids to drag racing to stunt riding, drifting, tennis, what ever! i love portrait work, specially when you have a subject that co-operates, i enjoy macro, i haven’t shoot much but landscapes are cool. i can’t really categorize photography for me, i love it all!
November 6th, 2009 at 9:54 am
The chart omits some “bread and butter” categories for earning money as a photographer. They may note be sexy or exciting, but they help to pay the bills:
1) Corporate and small business shoots (events, parties, awards banquets, retreats, seminars, website photos). Just as an example, in the past two months I have arranged for two, day-long shoots for a local photographer who specializes in corporate and business photography. Our clients (I’m a web designer/developer as my primary occupation) almost never have decent photos of their staff, principals, buildings, etc., without which we can’t build a personable site – especially for service-oriented companies.
2) Small-circulation hobby magazines and trade journals. These days, small publications are increasingly reaching out to freelancers to get coverage of events such as trade shows, conventions, conferences, competitions, etc. If you can string a few sentences together into a comprehensible paragraph, you can often at least get your travel expenses and incidental expenditures covered, plus a few hundred dollars on top. While this won’t make you rich, it gives you invaluable experience as a photographer. Good photographers who are also good writers are a rare commodity.
3) Reunions (family, military units, fraternities, school). Same deal as 2) above. Get your expenses paid and cover the reunion. You’ll be shooting interior shots, exteriors (when people go on field trips), portrait shots, group shoots, artificially lit, flash lit, naturally lit, morning, afternoon and evening shots, etc. All good experience, better than anything you can dream up on your own, because you are shooting for someone else, and you have to get it right.
Anyway, just a few things I know about from experience.
November 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I am curious, not trying to be picky, but I guess I am, the percentages add up to more that 100%. I mean it is easy to sse that most people will shoot portraits and landscape, always seems to be very popular. what were the raw numbers in terms of thousands?
November 6th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Guess I’m surprised to not see a wedding category. It’s included in portraits?
I personally do about 5 of the listed categories on a regular basis.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Ed, at a guess I’d say it’s supposed to be interpreted as: 55% of everyone polled take Portrait Shots, 65% of everyone polled take landscape shots, 38% of those polled take macro shots, and so on. So it’s not “What percentage of photos taken by everyone fall into what catergory” but “What percentage of you take the following shots”. Do you see what I mean, hope I explained it properly.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:45 am
I would think that ’still life’ would also be a category.
November 13th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Yep, still life/product photography are missing. That would include a lot–from studio fine art, to commercial product photos, to food photography … Interesting poll–I’d like to see more!
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