This article has a specific goal: To have photographer suffering from Photographer’s Block to get motivated and off their couch, away from their computer and Xbox and go out there collecting subjects. Usually, if you ‘collect’ subjects, you post them one by one and for sites, such as 500px and such, these do not serve you as your images are seen one by one and you after 24 hours, your work is history.

Now, if you collect images and organize them by subject in Photographic Typology images, all of your effort is show at once. There is no limitation in regards to your creativity. You can collect: Doors, Door Knobs, toy cars, succulents, cameras (!), butterflies, hubcaps, buttons, hats, bird houses / feeders, dogs, cats, fish…. you name it. The important thing is that you stick with a specific subject and collect subjects that are alike. You would not do a Photographic Typology with dogs, cats and birds on the same ‘collection’.

As defined in the Oxford Dictionary, typology is a classification according to general type, especially in archaeology, psychology, or the social sciences. This classification can also be used in photography where a photographer can display a collection of images of the same type and subject.

Great subjects for this kind of images can be buildings, cars, car details (hood ornaments), doors, windows, airplanes… let your imagination go wild and add your favorite subject to the list. In my opinion, if you concentrate on simple details and/or objects that you would not otherwise notice and put them into a collection can be very powerful. Just think about a butterfly collection in a box you may see in some schools or museums.

The ideal mini typology image should contain 9 images. Make sure it is the same subject, for example, all doors, windows, buildings, butterflies and so on. The objects should be contrasting within your selection. Best results are achieved if you use the same angle, lighting and same background. In my opinion, blank background work the best.

Once you are ready to create your Mini Photographic Typology image, select 9 to 15 images you intend to include into your artwork. I suggest selecting more than you originally want to include as it gives you the option to swap images out that may not deemed to be suitable. You can use Photoshop or any other photo editing software to create your artwork. For simplicity, I am using an online program, such as the Collage Maker option of Befunky as I have been using them for over 5 years.

Once you are happy with the results, you can save it and upload it to your favorite social sites and website.

Update:
In order to achieve larger spacing, select the ‘Settings’ icon which takes you to the the sliders where you can define the border width, rounded corners and color of the space.

Once you have finished your Photographic Typology, save it to your desktop:

Please use the contact form on this website to contact me if you want to show your photographic typology ‘creation’.