Next Year’s Big Photo Trends You Should Keep Your Eye On

Photography trends are constantly changing, from adapting new ideas, incorporating new from the old, and even revisiting old styles. There are so many ideas that have sprung and photographers should always be in-the-know of what trends are going to be big in the coming year. This year was filled with bright, dreamy, and minimalistic themes. Will it still be the on that side of the trend in the coming year?

The evolution of photography has many facets such as capturing depth, play of light, and how the subject is viewed. In this post, we will be discussing the next year’s big photo trends that you should keep your eye on.

1. Color Filters

There has been a comeback for the warm tones in the coming year. Resembling the sunset, these warm tones imbibes a feeling of nostalgia and intimacy. If you have human subjects for photography, you may want to take shots against the afternoon sun. Add a little warm filter in your photo editor and this will be one of the trendiest shots you can have for the coming year. It speaks a story, it gives of a sentimental mood and it brings back warm memories of people being together.

2. Black and White Lighting

Black and white is a classic, and it will never grow old. However, there is a new trend for these monochrome style. More photographers would want to present the black and white in more contrasted tones. After taking a photo of the subject, you may want to add a little more contrast, or in what other tools call is the “threshold” or “white balance”. This gives a sharper different between the two tones and can make your photos more dramatic. You can also add accessory lights when taking shots in an indoor backdrop to make the play of light more interesting. This gives a mysterious and artistic mood to your photographs.

3. Genuine Poses

A trend that’s staying for a while, having your subjects pose like how they would in natural situations are more ideal than other staged poses. Although this is good for family portraits, and other media portraits, there may be an exception for fashion photography. Nevertheless, the subject’s authenticity must shine through every photograph, capturing the real emotions that should be there in the first place. In order to achieve this, you may want to engage your subjects in stimulated interactions, where they simply laugh because they found something funny, and not because you asked them to laugh. Learning how to engage your subjects to capture genuine shots is a must.

4. Travel Photography

Although landscape shots are not new in the industry of travel photography, it helps to know that this is a trend that will always be in touch. Additionally, it has also been a growing trend to visit countries that people don’t usually get to travel into. People want genuine shots of these places, and not just the “bright and beautiful” areas of the metropolitan. More trends of showing the real people, real places, the not-so-glorified streets may be something that you want to look into if you’re a travel photographer.

5. Capturing Film Aesthetics

There’s something captivating about taking a picture in film. There’s a certain quality that seems to be lacking in some of its digital counterparts. That is why more artists and photographers are revisiting the wonders of capturing photos on film. Or if not, maybe adding editing techniques that will make their photos resemble as if it was shot through film. If you are interested in experimenting on this trend, you may want to look into investing in a classic SLR camera, or a photo editing tool that can make this possible. This comeback will be very big when it comes to capturing area landscapes and nature.

6. Storytelling

Although storytelling might just be more of “journalism” forte, this may not be the case for next year. The trend is growing for photographers not just to capture a mood or a feeling, but also to capture a story. They said that a picture paints a thousand words, but in essence, those words should have a story to tell. You can capture photos in a way that tells the subject’s story through the use of eye gazes, poses, or the things that they may be holding, or even the background where they are at.

7. A Resting Mood

With the ever-so-quickly pace of our lives, there seems to be something in a photograph that makes us still. A simple picture that depicts tranquility, stillness and peace may be something that will be in the trend for the coming year. It doesn’t have to be something that involves nature. It can be as simple as a person slowing down amidst the roughness of his or her busy schedule. Just capturing that moment can convey different thoughts and emotions for your viewers.

It is important to understand that although photography has trends, you can still make your photos your own in order to stand out. What should mainly speak to your photos is your artistic creativity, and if you have better ideas to portray your subjects. That is the essence of photography, to express yourself through the power of the lens.

Author Info

D Scott Carruthers is one of the known photographers based in Anaheim, California. Working his way up, he was able to establish himself as his work was featured in several publications and nationwide events.