One of the most fun and creative aspects of photography is being able using different styles—editorial and photojournalistic photography— in the same sessions to showcase many different looks. Even though editorial and photojournalistic photography may seem like the same thing to a lot of people, there are actually some big creative differences between the two and this is exactly why I love them both so much!
Editorial vs Photojournalistic Photography
EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
The best way to think about editorial photography is that it is set up in a style that is considered “magazine worthy” so it will fit nicely in either a print or online publication. In general, editorial photos are:
- Posed, creative, and dramatic;
- Cleaner overall, with less background clutter or excessive people;
- Suitable for a magazine spread and full of space that is ideal for adding text directly into images;
- An ideal style to focus on and showcase the fashion aspects of images.
PHOTOJOURNALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Photojournalistic photography gives the photographer and the clients more room to just be themselves with less direction and a more “fly on the wall” approach and it captures the personalities and pizzazz of the people in the images. Some of the main features of photojournalistic images are:
- They are completely unposed and undirected (aka, “You just be you!”);
- They are unobtrusive and informal, with no agenda or intention;
- They are full of candid moments and evoke a wide spectrum of feelings and raw emotions.
I use both editorial and photojournalistic photography styles during a wedding day (and often during an engagement session) so I always have a mixture of both styles to share with my clients. I tend to shoot editorial during the portraits with the bride and groom and I shoot photojournalistic during the majority of the rest of the day—getting ready, ceremony, dinner, reception. By mixing up the editorial and photojournalistic styles, I end up with a nice mixture of magazine-worthy and emotion-evoking images that perfectly complement each other. They also show my clients how model-worthy they are while also making them laugh, cry, and feel all the feels when they see the images of their wedding day.
