Updated: Mar 8
You want photos captured, but what do you want your photos to look like? In the
digital age of photography there are currently three main categories: light and airy, true to
life and dark and moody. And then everything in between. Imagine a color line with dark and moody on the left (black), true to color in the middle (neutral) and light and airy on the right (white).
I am a true to life photographer. I do my very best to match what I saw on that
given day to color, warmth, contrast, brightness, etc. However, to help illustrate
the examples I am going to show a comparison of photography edits in four photos below: original, true to color, light and airy and dark and moody. Hopefully these examples will help give you a better idea of what style of editing you are drawn to. Again, bear with me, I am a true to color photographer and have never edited in dark and moody or light and airy. These are subtle examples.
Below is a photo straight out of camera, meaning no edits
Here is a side by side comparison of dark and moody, true to color and light and airy.
Generalizing from what I have seen, dark and moody photographers have are more muted tones with less highlights and darker blacks.
True to life photographers bring the photo back to what the naked eye sees.
Light and airy photographers have brighter photos with less contrast and in general less yellow tones (especially in their greens).
I hope this helps you understand the styles of photography a little better. There are many more I am sure as well as variations of each style. However, this is a great starting point!