What is Fine Art Photography?
The term "fine art photography" broken down describes art of high quality created using photography as the artistic medium. In this post, we'll dive a little deeper into what that means through a few different categories: History, Creative Expression, Composition, Finishing the Art, Printing Methods.
History of Fine Art Photography
There are a few photographers that brought photography into the world of being an artistic art medium in the early 20th century. Artists like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen were instrumental in making photography recognized as fine art. Additionally, Stieglitz wife, Georgia O'Keeffe was responsible for introducing it into museum collections. Ansel Adams, born in 1902, is widely recognized as the pioneer in landscape photography and spent his life advocating for environmental conservation. He developed the Zone System for photography and was instrumental in establishing the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art
Further into the 20th century, photographer Eliot Porter continued to push the art form towards color and set the stage for influential nature photographers Galen Rowell, Art Wolfe, Frans Lanting, Charlie Waite, Thomas Mangelsen and Sebastião Salgado towards the end of the century. Each of which are still working today with the exception of Rowell who tragically died with his wife in a plane crash in 2002. In addition to these photography legends, two names dominate the world of nature photography today: Peter Lik for his wildly successful fine art galleries full of luxurious artwork, and Paul Nicklen whose extraordinary wildlife images help drive conservation efforts through his foundation Sea Legacy.
Creative Expression
Fine art photography begins with the artist's vision where they choose a particular subject matter and feeling they want to evoke while people view the image. While other creative arts like sculpture, music, painting start with the same process and have a completely blank slate, the tool used to execute the vision in photography is the camera and often used to document what is already there.
However the practice of fine art photography is distinguished from photo journalism or documentary photography in that rather than capturing subject matter to record or archive it, a photographer searches for subjects and takes more creative liberties with their techniques to help make that artistic vision come to life. Whether it's beautiful tree images, mountain landscape photography, macro photography or abstracts, the creative process is constant and the photographic methods evolving as the photographer patiently makes intentional choices with how they want to portray the subject. Unlike the reactive nature of photojournalism, fine art photographers often have all the time in the world to make sure their image is perfect and meets their standards. The only real limitation for nature photographers being the fleeting light. In photography it's always about the light!
Composition
Composition is king as they say in photography. Determining what to include or exclude, the angle of the shot, using leading lines and shapes to draw a view to the focal point are all essential techniques that help the artist figure out what stays in that frame. It's the composition of the image that creates the interest, conveys the emotion and creates the connection with the image for the viewer. The first step is finding the desired subject matter. Proper depth, lighting, and foreground elements are essential. While this is an art form, there is a little science as to what appeals to the majority of viewers and a few general rules have been established to help those learning the craft. The rule of thirds, the aforementioned leading lines, and filling the frame are common compositional guidelines but the best photographers have an innate ability to see and capture these type of images without even thinking of rules or flat out breaking rules altogether.
Finishing the Art
Nearly every working photographer today shoots in RAW file format. RAW files contain uncompressed and unprocessed image data, the most data possible by the camera, but do require the files to be developed using software. So after the photograph is captured, the artist continues the creative process through careful editing of the images typically in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. As an aside, any photographer using a digital camera today and claiming that they do NOT use photoshop (often used as a dirty word for those referring to over-manipulation) is either lying or untrained on the best tools available for developing digital photographs. Now the number of tweaks required in post processing depends heavily on how the photographer wants that image to look and also what elements they could control and capture in the field. Landscape and nature photographers have many limitations; mountains don't move, light can be harsh, animals do what they want. Whereas portrait photographers are able to control lighting and backdrops and likely need less time post-capture to put the finishing touches on the images. Of course this all depends on the photographer and their own personal style.
With technological advancements of digital photography and editing software programs, post-processing today allows for a wide variety of stylization to an image through adjustments to color, light, contrast, and sharpness, Blending multiple exposures and even stretching or warping images and entirely removing objects or people are all tools in the skilled photographer's toolbox. In today's digital age, replacing a boring sky with a blazing sunset is all too commonplace for those without the time or patience to wait for ideal conditions. And with quickly developing advancements in AI (Artificial Intelligence), the creative doors have been kicked wide open with photography making it more difficult every day to even determine what is real.
Printing Fine Art Photography | Limited Edition Prints
The final piece in the entire process is the Print. It's the culmination of everything beginning with the photographer scouting a location, finding a compelling composition and waiting for the right moment, pressing the shutter, editing that image, and finally choosing the right paper or medium and fine tuning that photo through soft proofing and even a physical hard proof. To say it is a lengthy process is an understatement. But to have something tangible and physical in the end, something that you can hold and hang and view and share with others is the perfect finishing touch in the photographer's creative process.
Printing fine art photography can be done on a number of mediums from canvas, paper, metal, acrylic face-mounting and can be framed or unframed depending on the medium of choice.
Canvas and Paper Prints
Canvas can be framed or can be finished by wrapping the photographic image on the canvas around the frame edges. Paper prints can be done in smaller sizes like 12"x18" or can be done in much larger sizes like 40"x60". However, paper prints require a matte, frame, and glass which can add to the expense but creates a beautiful and worthy classic look.
Chromaluxe Metal Prints
Metal prints are a newer method for displaying fine art. They can be printed as large as 48"x96" and the dyes are infused directly into an aluminum metal sheet. These prints are clear, vibrant, durable and of long-lasting archival quality.
TruLife Acrylic Prints | Large Format Printing
Using Large Format Printing technology, TruLife Acrylic Prints can be printed as large as 60"x120" as a single piece or even larger if split into panels. They are the clearest, most vibrant image you can purchase with unsurpassed detail and ability to hold light. You can learn more about TruLife Acrylic and other print options on the Print Options and Sizes page.
Limited Edition Prints
Many fine art photographers offer Limited Edition Prints. This ensures there will not be an unlimited supply and the piece will hold it's value. For Chromaluxe Metal and TruLife Acrylic Prints I have chosen and Limited Edition size of 50 prints (combined for either medium). Once an image is sold out it will never be reproduced again in these elegant high end displays.
