Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Is photography about capturing reality?
#1

This posting is about a degree to which photography needs to reflect reality. Some photographers are quite willing to alter reality quite a bit, others see reality as a golden standard. The posting has been triggered by a response to a comment I got on one of my postings. This is not however a response to that postings, but rather I hope that I will trigger a bit of a debate on the subject. Some obvious responses are:
1. Some photos must be left "unprocessed" (e.g. passport photos) or they are designed to document reality (journalism, some holiday snaps), art photos could run wild. Answer: yes.
2. It is a matter of personal taste and everybody is free to do what they wish. Answer: Of course. This posting is not intended to define what is right or wrong.
3. It depends on the photo. Some look better in their unprocessed format, while others look better when reality is altered. Answer: yes, may be, sometimes, sort of, but not quite.

Point 3 is the closest to what I wish to discuss here. There are few issues I want to raise here:

1. There is no magic in what comes out of a camera. It is not reality. The "reality" that comes out of a camera in the form of a slide or JPEG or RAW is what the chemists or engineers concocted to map the reality of a huge number of colours and contrast our eyes can discern into a much smaller colour space that our cameras, monitors or prints can represent. It is an engineering mapping for an average situation and this map may not be appropriate for a specific conditions of when and where the photo was taken. Further issues include mapping 3-D reality into 2-D photoand other factors. Different camera manufacturers map colours differently and they map JPEGs differently from RAW in the same cameras. Which is the "reality" here?
2. Our perception plays a role. Should we aim to represent the reality as we perceive it or as it is? This posting was triggered by a photo of a bird which on the photo appeared to be leaning backward. The photographer explained that this is because the photo was taken on a sloping ground. However because of a crop, the sloping of the ground was not visually apparent and the bird gave a visual impression of falling backwards. It thus came to a creative decission: Do you best represent a reality by not rotating the photo and leaving the bird leaning backward or is it more realistic to manipulate the photo and to rotate the image slightly to represent reality the way the eye perceives it on the photo and have the bird standing upright? (I want to stress that this is not a polemic about a specific photo. It just that I think that this case illustrates the dilema photographer faces really well)
3. Many photographers like the photographs to be "natural", yet their taste in music and paintings may be quite tolerant of images and sounds not found in nature. is it reasonable to see photography as yet another art medium not bound to reflect reality?
4. Many photographers swear by staying "natural", yet they think nothing of taking long shutter speed photos of water (whoever saw cotton candy falls?) or B&W, IR or HDR photos. Ansel Adams would be favourite of many naturalists, but was not his Zone System an attempt to manipulate reality by varrying contrast?
5. I have seen photos which by the very act of "altering reality" captured or highlighted "reality" which would escape in a realistic photo.

I wrote this as much for me as for you. I find that many of my photos are over the top and I am not hapy with them. On the othe hand, I am often not happy with "realistic" photos either, because I often find them uninteresting. I keep on going back and forth on this and I do not know where I stand. I certainly do not like most of the drastic "in your face" alterations or distortions, but I also do not like many of the "realistically" flat photos. I find it difficult to understand where the sweet spot is and how to recognize it. I would be interested in your views.
Pavel

Please see my photos at http://mullerpavel.smugmug.com (fewer, better image quality, not updated lately)
or at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pavel_photophile2008/ (all photos)
Reply


Messages In This Thread
Is photography about capturing reality? - by Pavel - Aug 14, 2008, 04:59

Possibly Related Threads…
Thread / Author Replies Views Last Post
Last Post by EnglishBob
May 21, 2017, 10:52

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)