Discover your personal visual style
Your visual style is a reflection of who you are, your preferences, and the aesthetics that captivate you. Everyone has a unique visual style that continuously evolves.
When embarking on your visual journey, whether you're a photographer, lifestyle blogger, florist, or any other creative professional, finding your style can be challenging.
You might compare yourself to others and wonder why you haven't defined your personal style yet. It's common to imitate others at the beginning, but don't feel guilty about it. This is a natural part of the journey.
Influences and Inspirations
Take inspiration from others' work without copying it.
Seek out what fascinates you but stay true to yourself.
Your personal visual style will evolve throughout your life. It might begin bright and colorful and transition to dark and moody.
Don't be afraid to try new things and experiment with different styles.
Growing as an Artist
As you grow as an artist, your visual style will also develop.
You'll start to notice new elements in others' creative work that you can incorporate into your own.
Developing a personal style takes time, but it will eventually emerge. You may feel content with your style for a while, but then the cycle of questioning and evolving begins again. This is a natural part of every creative person's journey.
When your visual style is evolving, you make choices about what you like and dislike, what fascinates you, and what doesn't.
Your personal visual style is a combination of your taste, personality, and life story.
When you decide how to style a photo, bouquet, room, or table setting, you express yourself and your unique perspective.
Developing Your Photographic Style
Choosing your camera lenses is a significant decision in developing your photography style.
Experiment with different lenses, focal lengths, and f-stops.
It takes time to understand your equipment, especially if you're starting with just one or two lenses. Be patient and keep your end goal in mind: defining your personal style.
When you feel confident in your photography style, you'll know which lenses are your favorites and how to use them to achieve your desired look.
My photography style is often moody, a bit dark, and emotional, so I frequently use my Canon 85mm/1.2 lens. It provides a dreamy look when shooting wide open and allows for intimate close-ups.
However, your equipment is just one aspect of your style. Your subject choices, locations, compositions, and lighting all contribute to your unique photography style.
Your photography style is defined by several key elements:
Subject Choices: What you enjoy photographing, such as flowers, people, landscapes, food, and more.
Locations: The places where you prefer to shoot, whether it's a studio, by the sea, on a mountain, or elsewhere.
Compositions: How you frame your subjects, whether it's placing them in the center, using lots of negative space, or filling the entire scene with the main subjects.
Lighting Choices: The type of lighting you use, including natural light, strobes, flashes, and other options.
Each of these aspects contributes to the unique look and feel of your photography.
Exercises to Find Your Visual Style
1. STUDY OTHERS WORK THAT YOU ADMIRE
The more you observe others' work, the more you'll start to notice new elements.
Study the work of influencers, old masters, and creatives from different fields. Identify what makes their work unique.
Is it the composition, use of color, or the underlying message? Is there a story within that creative work? Understanding these elements can help you reflect on your own visual style.
Especially, when studying the old masters' work it is refreshing to also read their bios and try to find references to their life stories in their work.
How can you show your life experience in your own visual style?
2. STUDY IMAGES EVERY DAY
Continue studying the work of those you admire and expand your observation to other creative works.
Daily observation will cultivate your eye and help you understand your own visual style.
Ask yourself: What do I like or dislike about this work? Does it evoke any emotions? If yes, what kind of emotions?
👉🏻 Write down your answers and analyze how they reflect your style. Remember to be very specific. It's not enough that you say that you don't like the color of the work. Instead, say why you don't like the color of the work.
The more you cultivate your eye, the more you will also understand your own visual style. Observe, look at and study different creative styles.
The more you learn, see and look others' work, the easier it will be to form a basis to your own visual style and aesthetics.
You start to realize the variety of creativity around you and be able to pick things that you love and that make you feel something.
3. STUDY YOUR OWN WORK
Analyze your own creative work to find common elements. Are there specific colors, compositions, materials, or textures you frequently use?
Choose 5-10 pieces of your work and identify what stands out. Write down your observations to see if a coherent style emerges.
What do you especially like about them? Are they standing out among your other work?
4. START KEEPING A CREATIVITY JOURNAL
A creativity journal can be physical or digital, like a Pinterest board where you pin your creative ideas. Or try a mobile phone where you save your ideas and photos.
Use it to jot down ideas, sketch images, and store inspiration. It can include photos, quotes, poems, fabrics, textures, song lyrics, color swatches, flower branches. Anything that inspires you!
Refer to your journal when you feel creatively empty and create something personal based on your saved ideas. Pick one or two of those ideas and start creating something personal based on the ideas.
It's good to have one place where you can put your inspiration when creativity hits you!
5. BE DECISIVE WHILE STYLING
Every creative decision you make defines your style. When you're taking a photograph, arranging flowers, hand-dying your silk fabric, or styling a table vignette to your blog post 👉🏻 you make a style decision. Be conscious of these decisions and try to narrow down your visual style.
While experimentation is important, avoid experimenting with every piece of work to maintain a recognizable style.
Ask yourself questions about your work process, colors, visual style, and the emotions you want to evoke. This reflection will help you be more decisive and consistent in your creative efforts.
Is there a pattern regarding how you work? What colors are you using? Is your visual style modern or contemporary? Boho or eclectic? What emotions would you like to evoke? Happiness, sadness, loneliness, friendliness? What is your message?
There are many ways to cultivate your visual style, but the best advice is to experiment and be inspired by others while staying true to yourself.
I hope these tips help you in discovering and refining your unique visual style.
This blog post is updated with the help of AI (chatGPT) on 23.6.2024.
