| No art form has been more impacted by the digital | | | | reports, public displays in government agencies, and |
| revolution than photography. Digital cameras changed | | | | for project publicity. Many photographers in this field |
| the method of taking pictures and also the method | | | | work for an agency that specializes in preparing such |
| of recording them. Photos essentially become a | | | | presentations. |
| computer file that displays on command. Gone are | | | | Scientific photographers record examples that are |
| the darkrooms, chemical tanks and strings of drying | | | | used in scientific research presentations, in illustrating |
| prints hanging across a room. Unless, of course, you | | | | medical data, or for inclusion in scientific journals. |
| still choose to work with classical equipment. There | | | | Photographers in this small specialty usually have |
| are a lot of approaches to a career that depends on | | | | additional training in the field of science that is being |
| photographic skills; here are some checkpoints for | | | | illustrated. |
| you to go through as you consider a photography | | | | You can be a news photographer, forever ingrained |
| career. | | | | in our consciousness by the old movies with the guys |
| Sort through the obvious options. A number of | | | | sporting fedoras and big flash cameras. |
| professional photographers become portrait artists, | | | | Photojournalists today use considerably more |
| working out of studios and occasionally taking | | | | sophisticated equipment to cover news stories on |
| outdoor shots. Professionals in this sector also handle | | | | site, government events, sports, and public |
| wedding photography and other family or festive | | | | gatherings that are written up as feature pieces. |
| events that call for a contracted photographer. This | | | | These jobs are becoming scarcer as the newspaper |
| is one of many options that call for self-employment | | | | industry is in a state of decline. |
| and the business skills that go with it. Over half the | | | | Fine arts photographers work in the rarified world of |
| 122,000 professional photographers in this country | | | | art galleries and fine, framed images. Many |
| are self employed. | | | | photographers working in the arts today use |
| You can consider commercial photography. People in | | | | Photoshop and other sophisticated image manipulation |
| this field take those incredibly clear and attractive | | | | software to create art that is a morphed version of |
| images seen in printed advertisements and also | | | | the original picture or pictures. |
| folded into many television commercials as well. The | | | | Select a degree program. If you are inclined toward |
| slick photography in Vanity Fair and magazines of | | | | the arts, a degree in photography from an art |
| that type is done by commercial photographers. This | | | | institute is probably in order. For the rest of this |
| work can be in your studio, in your employer's studio | | | | range of options you'll need a degree in photography |
| if you work for an agency, or outdoors if you are | | | | and a respectable portfolio. When applying for a |
| shooting for an automobile ad, for instance. | | | | photography job, any employer is going to want to |
| Another option along this line that you may consider | | | | see your work. An associate's degree will give you a |
| is industrial photography. These professionals take | | | | solid foundation in the technical aspects of the |
| pictures of factory installations, equipment, | | | | profession, while a bachelor's degree will give you a |
| construction projects, buildings, and company officials. | | | | much broader perspective on the sources and uses |
| You'll find these photos in analyses of engineering | | | | of photographic images. |
| projects, real estate developments, corporate | | | | |