Candid photography is snapshot photography that focuses on spontaneity rather than technique, on perfecting the immersion of a camera within events rather than focusing on setting up a staged situation, focusing on lengthy camera setup, or focusing on particularly strong lenses.

Documentary photography usually refers to a type of professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur or student pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people.

Usually such photographs are meant for publication, but are sometimes only for exhibition in an art gallery or other public forum. Sometimes an organization or company will commission documentary photography of its activities, but the pictures will only be for its private archives.

Glamour photography is the photographing of a model to emphasize the subject, instead of the fashions or products endorsed.

Standards of glamour photography have changed over time, reflecting changes in social morals. For example, in the early 1920s, USA photographers like Ruth Harriet Louise photographed celebrities to glamourise their stature. During World War II pin-up pictures of scantily clad movie stars were extremely popular among US servicemen. However, until the 1950s, the use of glamour photography in advertising or men’s magazines was highly controversial or even illegal. Magazines featuring glamour photography were usually marketed as "art magazines” or “health magazines”.

Fashion photography is a genre of photography devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items. Fashion photography is most often conducted for advertisements or fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, or Allure. Over time, fashion photography has developed its own aesthetic in which the clothes and fashions are enhanced by exotic locations and story lines.

Forensic photography (sometimes referred to as forensic imaging or crime scene photography) is the art of producing an accurate reproduction of a crime scene for the benefit of a court. It is part of the process of evidence collecting. It provides investigators with photos of bodies, places, items involved in the crime. Photography of this kind is highly technical in nature, though not in an aesthetic sense. It involves choosing corrected lighting, accurate angling of lenses, and a collection of many angles of view. Measurement of elements of crime scenes often takes place in cooperation with crime scene photography.

Crime scene photographers capture images in both colour and black and white. Various forces and different countries have different policies in regards to 35 mm film or digital photography. There are advantages & disadvantages to both.

Fine art photography, sometimes simply called art photography, refers to high-quality archival photographic prints of pictures that are created to fulfill the creative vision of an individual professional. Such prints are reproduced, usually in limited editions, in order to be sold to dealers, collectors or curators, rather than mass reproduced in advertising or magazines. Prints will sometimes, but not always, be exhibited in an art gallery.

Sports photography refers to the genre of photography that covers all types of sports. The equipment used by a professional photographer usually includes a fast telephoto lens, and a camera that has an extremely fast shutter speed, and can take several pictures in rapid succession.

Portrait photography has been around since the invention and popularization of the camera, and is a cheaper and often more accessible method than portrait painting, which had been used by distinguished figures before the use of the camera. The popularity of the daguerreotype in the middle of the 19th century was due in large part to the demand for inexpensive portraiture. Studios sprang up in cities around the world, some cranking out more than 500 plates a day. The style of these early works reflected the technical challenges associated with 30-second exposure times and the painterly aesthetic of the time. Subjects were generally seated against plain backgrounds and lit with the soft light of an overhead window and whatever else could be reflected with mirrors.

Stock photography consists of existing photographs that can be licensed for specific uses. Book publishers, specialty publishers, magazines, advertising agencies, filmmakers, web designers, graphic artists, interior decor firms, corporate creative groups, and other entities utilize stock photography to fulfill the needs of their creative assignments. By using stock photography instead of hiring a photographer to perform on location shooting, customers can save valuable time and stay on budget. With a wealth of images, stock photography databases that may be searched online save photo researchers valuable time when they are looking for just the right image. With today's digital delivery methods, images may be purchased online and delivered via email or downloaded right away.