Maybe you are already photographing in a certain style without knowing it. Then certain lighting situations, perspectives or colors keep catching your eye, without you consciously looking for them. This is exactly where this guide comes in. You will learn a method for analyzing your favorite pictures, filtering out the common patterns and deriving a style from them that you can deliberately repeat.
The video is only loaded from YouTube when you play it – data (including your IP address) is then transmitted to YouTube/Google. More in the privacy policy
An image style is more than a filter in image editing. It shows in light, perspective, pose, emotion and composition. If you consciously recognize these elements, you can deliberately use them at your next shoot.
Key Takeaways
Your own image style emerges from recurring decisions. Favorite pictures show you which decisions those are. Anyone who can name these decisions can reproduce their style and thus achieve a high recognition value.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Select Ten Favorite Pictures
The starting point is as simple as it gets. Pick out ten pictures that you personally like especially well. Don't worry about whether they are technically perfect or whether a client booked them. What matters is your personal gut feeling. If you like a picture spontaneously, it is a good candidate, because your style usually shows exactly where you are instinctively satisfied.
Step 2: Mark Pictures with Post-its
Get some Post-its or small slips of paper and place them next to your pictures. On each slip, write down an observation. It doesn't have to be perfect right away. What matters is that you capture impressions before you start sorting them. You will be surprised how many details you notice once you look closely.
Step 3: Check the Technical Data
Look at which camera settings the pictures were taken with. Did you use a short or a long exposure time? How wide open was the aperture? Not every setting is equally important for your style. Sometimes the exposure time hardly matters, while the aperture strongly shapes the picture.
If terms like aperture or exposure time are still unfamiliar to you, don't let that put you off. This step is intended for advanced users. Take a look at the later lessons in which camera operation is explained, and then come back to this exercise afterwards.
Step 4: Analyze an Example
You learn the method best with a concrete example. Take three wedding pictures that were shot with the aperture wide open. The focus is on the people, while the background blurs softly. That is a first recurring point.
The time of day is also striking. The pictures were mostly taken in the evening, so in a similar lighting situation. The faces of the bridal couple are often in shadow, while the background shows impressive light reflections through leaves or other elements. This too is part of a pattern that you can repeat later.
Step 5: Observe Emotions and Expression
Ask yourself what feelings the pictures convey. Happy or loving people are an obvious choice at weddings, but you should go deeper. The more information you can read out of a picture, the more precise the description of your style will be later. So don't just note "happy", but also how this mood comes about: through closeness, through laughter, through a particular moment.
Step 6: Examine Composition and Perspective
Pay attention to where the people are located in the picture. Are they in the center or rather to the right or left? Are they in the upper or lower area of the image? Then there is the perspective. Did you shoot from below, from above or at eye level? Many photographers repeatedly choose an unusual perspective, and exactly such habits are part of your style.
Step 7: Examine Poses and Situations
The pose is an often underestimated factor. You will notice that people in your images don't always stand the same way, but that you prefer certain body postures. In one of the example images, the people were sitting or kneeling on the ground. This is not necessarily a rule, but it shows a preference for relaxed moments that fit well with the mood of the image.
Step 8: Reduce the Notes to Key Points
Now comes the most important step. Sort your Post-its and group similar observations together. You will notice that many notes overlap. In the end, you should arrive at about five to eight central points, depending on how many images you analyzed and how many details you were able to pick out.
Ask yourself for each point: What emotion should the image evoke? What perspective did I choose? What light was at play? At what time of day was the image taken? With these questions, you distill your style down to the essentials.
Step 9: Include Light, Color, and Image Editing
Also analyze the color palette and the editing. In the example analysis, a desire for dynamism emerged. The contrast between light and dark areas is deliberately balanced. There are several ways to do this: a late time of day with shadows, shooting in RAW format, using a polarizing filter, or consistent editing in which you move the sliders in similar directions.
What matters is this: editing is only one part of style. Much can already be determined before you press the shutter, for example through the choice of location and time of day.
Step 10: Translate the Style into Rules
Now you formulate your style as repeatable rules. The key points become concrete guidelines for future shoots. An example could look like this: Couple shoots take place toward evening because you like the light. You deliberately steer the color design in one direction. In couple shoots in the park, green often dominates, and backlighting creates warm orange or red tones, depending on the time of day.
Such rules are practical because you can apply them directly at your next appointment. The location and time of day can be planned, and that is exactly what makes your style reproducible.
Step 11: Deliberately Reproduce the Style
A reproducible style gives your images a signature of their own. You can recognize many experienced photographers by their images before you read the name. Exactly this effect arises when you apply your principle again and again. Most photographers do this unconsciously at first. With this method, you make it conscious and can control it deliberately.
A clear style also brings you advantages in everyday work. Clients find you faster, you are recognized more easily, and nobody has to search long to find out who took a particular image. It's important that you don't have to be afraid of restricting your style. A recognizable style still leaves room for variety, for example in black-and-white or color, in different focal lengths or subjects.
Summary ??? Finding Your Image Style and Making It Recognizable
You find your own image style by analyzing ten favorite images. Note the light, perspective, pose, emotion, composition, and color palette. Reduce these observations to a few key points and formulate repeatable rules from them. Apply these rules again and again in future shoots. This way, your style becomes conscious, reproducible, and unmistakable.
FAQ
Do I need to know the camera settings to find my image style?No, the technical settings are helpful but not strictly necessary. You can start with light, perspective, pose, and emotion and turn to the camera functions later.
How many favorite images should I choose?Ten images is a good rule of thumb. The more images you analyze, the clearer recurring patterns become.
Do I need a specific editing program?No, the method works independently of the software. The analysis is what matters, not the tool.
What do I do if I can't find a common denominator?Choose other images or look at your favorite images again from a different angle. Often the pattern only shows up when you examine details such as time of day, pose, or light source more closely.
How do I remember my image style for future shoots?Formulate your insights as short rules or a checklist. Take them with you to every appointment, and then you can implement them right away.
Is an image style permanently fixed?No, your style can evolve over time. The analysis is therefore worthwhile to repeat regularly, for example after a few months or after a larger number of new images.
