Commercial photography is based on promoting companies, products and services. Commercial photographers are experts at capturing images of you, your company, your products and services, all in the right way to show your vision and your sales message in the right way. A commercial photographer takes photographs that effectively capture the needs and communicate the ideas of her clients. Commercial photographers often specialize in a field, such as portrait, fashion, wedding, wildlife, or editorial photography.
Commercial photographers may work for advertising or design companies; however, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than half of commercial photographers are self-employed. Commercial photographers create photographs for advertisements, product placements, sales pitches, brochures and promotional products, to name a few. They take pictures of everything from cars, clothes, food and shoes to weddings, real estate and portraits.
They also contribute to campaigns in illustrative or editorial contexts for a variety of fields and industries. Commercial photographers must have excellent communication skills and must be business savvy if they are self-employed. While the responsibilities of commercial photographers may utilize skills such as the company's website, use of the Internet, lifestyle, and successful completion, some photo assistants use skills such as scheduling appointments, managing the camera, organizing trips and digital files. Work with digital photography Commercial photographers work with digital image processing equipment, including uploading photographs to digital and online databases and publishing photographs on the Internet.
Similarly, a commercial photographer working in the real estate industry would take pictures of houses, apartments, and other homes for sale or rent. Both commercial photographers and photo assistants include similar skills such as photography, Photoshop and art direction in their resumes. There is an enormous diversity of styles, contents and approaches in the practice of commercial photography, since it covers a wide range of topics and media. We also study companies that hire commercial photographers from the top 100 educational institutions in the United States.
On the subject of education, photo assistants obtain levels of education similar to those of commercial photographers. Deputy directors and photographers usually study at similar levels to those of commercial photographers. Learning to operate a camera and other photographic equipment is just the first step; commercial photographers must also understand lighting, composition, and other basic concepts, and be able to work with clients, models, art directors and other professionals. Commercial architecture photographers provide images of buildings and other structures for use in marketing materials, such as print advertisements and brochures.
Employees in the positions of commercial photographers and studio associates are experts in photography, Photoshop and photo shoots. Commercial advertising photography also encompasses photographs of products that can be used to sell furniture, cars, or any number of expensive items.
