Advertising Photography

Your challenge is to take a photograph suitable for advertising. It took nearly 100 years for photography to become mainstream in the advertising business. The ad industry itself became a professional effort in the 1920s, and advertising largely became photographic by the end of the decade. Not originally considered a fine art form, advertising photography nevertheless employed the highest-paid photographers who used the highest level of quality and technique for their final product. Because of its base origins, the influence of commercial photography on the general art is often neglected. Advertising photography was greatly influenced originally by Pictorialism; but then mainly used the techniques of Photographic Modernism. Many advertising photos incorporate conceptualism and abstraction. Famous advertising photographers include Lejaren à Hiller, Anton Bruehl, Edward Stetchen, Margaret Bourke-White, Paul Outerbridge, Ralph Steiner, Onofrio Paccione, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon.