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My photos rarely have people (faces) in them. Is there a term for such photography?

kBisla
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    Landscape? Wildlife? Architecture? Abstract? Depends almost entirely on what you are taking photos of. – Philip Kendall May 09 '14 at 11:46
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    I'm looking for a single word for "everything except portraits". – kBisla May 09 '14 at 12:14
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    There isn't a word for photographs that don't have rocks in them, or anything green, or fluffy kittens either. – Olin Lathrop May 09 '14 at 12:38
  • Peopleless photography. – codedude May 09 '14 at 13:03
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    non-Portraiture? – Mike May 09 '14 at 14:11
  • Without seeing your images, it's hard to tell, but "nobody" and "no recognizable people" are terms that come to mind. Another useful piece of information is who will be reading this term about your photographs. If it's for you when you search your images, then anything will do so long as you understand it. If it's for a particular buying group, they will have such terms and you need to find out what they use. – Steve Ross May 11 '14 at 19:03
  • "Still life" is a specific thing, and really not close – mattdm Mar 01 '19 at 04:40
  • I guess from godzilla perspective, urban landscape is still life. – rackandboneman Mar 01 '19 at 08:36

3 Answers3

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There is no term for photos that don't involve people. Photos are categorized based on what they are of, not what they are not of. A photo is not of an infinite number of things.

If I take a photo of my wife indoors, it is not of outside, it is not of cats, it is not of nighttime, it is not of waterfalls, it is not of ants, it is not of the future, it is not of a TV, it is not of stars...

Having a term for what photos are not of simply doesn't make sense.

mattdm
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AJ Henderson
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Portraits are usually posed photographs, however if you are taking photos of people that are not posed in a traditional portrait fashion then you would refer to them as 'candid'.

You would typically call other photography types that do not involve people, something more appropriate.

connersz
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  • I would never use "candid", even loosely, to refer to a photograph without people. photography : showing people acting in a natural way because they do not know that they are being photographed http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/candid – coneslayer May 09 '14 at 15:12
  • @coneslayer Did I say without people? I said 'could' and 'other', there was nothing specific about that and I also mentioned that you would likely use something more suitable. – connersz May 09 '14 at 15:17
  • Then state clearly what "other areas" of photography you would describe as "candid". Because right now it sounds like you mean areas other than portraiture or unposed photographs of people. – coneslayer May 09 '14 at 15:34
  • OK fine, I have updated the statement. – connersz May 09 '14 at 15:47
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From my knowledge, Portrait and Landscape are definitions of picture sizes. Usually portraits are "tall" photos" while Landscape are rotated 90º.

Its definately not about subject since you don't need people to take a portrait or a landscape photo.

wadge
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  • Words can have multiple meanings. While "portrait" and "landscape" can refer to the orientation of a photograph, they also refer to subject matter. (Not coincidentally, portraits are most often photographed in portrait orientation, and landscapes are most often photographed in landscape orientation.) – coneslayer May 10 '14 at 00:21
  • portrait: a painting, drawing, or photograph of a person that usually only includes the person's head and shoulders http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/portrait – coneslayer May 10 '14 at 00:22
  • landscape: a picture that shows a natural scene of land or the countryside http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/landscape – coneslayer May 10 '14 at 00:23
  • portrait and landscapes are definitions of paper orientations, not picture sizes. a portrait of a person, or crowd of people, can often be in landscape orientation. Likewise, a landscape scene looking out across the hills can be taller than it is wide. As a side, what happens if the image composition consists of only sea and is wider than tall? maybe it's a landscape seascape :) – laurencemadill May 10 '14 at 10:52