Advertising photography has been an effective method of communication since the capability to mass produce images. It aims to attract viewers and convey information. While it started in the 1850s using prints handed to customers, it grew in the 1920s as color reproduction improved and more magazines used photographs in ads. Influential photographer Edward Steichen helped advance the field in the 1920s. The rise of digital technology in the 1980s transformed advertising photography by allowing for instant review and digital editing of images. Successful advertising photos clearly present products through proper lighting, composition, and style to attract viewers.

2. Intro
 Advertising photography covers many photographic genres
such still life and fashion.
 It has been an effective method ever since there was the
capability to produce large numbers of reproduction.
 This type of photography has a purpose of attracting the viewer
and communicating information effectively.

3. History
 Advertising and commercial photography started during the 1850s but was
restricted due to the technology at the time. Prints of the products were handed
out to customers as a means of advertising.
 In the 1920s photographers used black and white photographs until the 1950s
when colour reproduction became dominant.
 In 1920 fewer than 15 per cent of illustrated advertisements in mass-circulated
magazines employed photographs; by 1930, almost 80 per cent did. Sobieszek,
R. A., The Art of Persuasion: A History of Advertising Photography (1988).
 After the Second World War, there was a huge growth in the amount of money
allocated for advertising which resulted in a higher quality of photographs.

4. Edward Steichen
(1879-1973)
• Very influential in the progression on advertising
photography
• One of the first photographers to land commercial
contracts within advertising photography
• Was the most dominant photographer in New York
during the 1920’s

5. Steichens Work
Edward Steichen, Camel
cigarettes, 1927
Edward steichen, Kendall Lee,
Cartier earrings, 1925

6. How advertising
photography changed?
 Digital Technology in '85 has changed photography completely. Now
advertising is mainly a Digital image, stored onto a computer, and manipulated,
used, and created into advertising bumf. Its made advertising much more
ambiguous and offers the designer more options for creating different methods
of advertising
 Since the photos were produce digitally, the photographer and his
team could instantly review the photos without the wait for them to get
developed.

7.  As a consequence to this evolution, image manipulation software
packages were created, and this resulted in the more extensive use of
the “green screen”. This was to facilitate an easier isolation of
products digitally, and create complex compositing.

8.  Another fact is the popularity of portable lighting equipment, which gave
the artist the possibility of shooting outside of the confinements of his
studio.

9. What makes a successful
advertising photograph?
 The product has to be well lit, and made to stand out – a good knowledge of
light modifiers is needed
 The photo has to look sharp and clean
 Make the products look appealing
 Using proper composition leaving space for copy text
 Use a persuasive straight photography style

10. December, 2009