User:Frank Schulenburg/Beyond sharpness, or: guidance on the aesthetics of different photography genres

What's this page about? – Different genres of modern photography have developed their own visual language. While sharpness plays an important role in scientific photography (how would you otherwise be able to see all the defining features of a specific species of insect?), it plays a subordinated role in street photography or other genres. Which means that judging photos from different genres of photography requires a differentiated approach. Otherwise, we'd reject street photos based on the criteria for scientific photos, which would be unfair.

With that being said, the information on this page should not be taken as a dogma. The world of photography has always gained a lot from people who break the rules. Those, who bend the boundaries of what is understood as typical for a specific genre. So, this is not a checklist of rules that has to be followed blindly. It's rather an attempt at helping people understand different genres of photography better (and the distinct aesthetics that those genres developed over time). It's also an attempt at establishing a shared vocabulary that we can use when judging photos. Let's for example use the word "plating" when we rate a food photographer's ability to arrange food in an astehetically pleasing way.

And finally, this page is an attempt at increasing people's awareness of the fact that there's no simple and easy-to-follow rule for judging photos across the different genres of photography. The world of photography is more complex and judging photos from genres that have their own visual traditions requires an understanding of the diversity of visual languages.

Food photography

Food photography is here understood as a genre of photography that aims at creating aesthetically pleasing photos of dishes or drinks that have been prepared and arranged in an appetizing way. So, "food photography" doesn't always mean "photographing food". When I go to the supermarket and take an image of a canned soup, I'm actually photographing food. But that's not what we mean when we use the term "food photography" here.

Aesthetics of modern food photography (what to look out for)

• good "plating", i.e. aesthetic arrangement of the food
• attractive lighting that creates a mood fitting the dish or drink
• selective narrow focus highlighting the most appetizing features (as always, with exceptions, e.g. not in 90-degree angle shots from above)
• smooth and pleasing bokeh for the background
• tableware that brings out the strength of this specific dish or drink (e.g. rustic for burgers, fine china for high-end French cuisine)
• surfaces and props that fit the context of this specific dish or drink
• quality of the food itself is high (e.g. fresh ingredients, prepared in an appetizing way)

General criteria for judging a food photograph

• Does the food look appetizing / tempting / desirable? Does the photo make you hungry?
• From good to excellent: does the photo have features that make it stand out amongst other images of this type of food photography? (e.g. a unique angle or color palette)

What not to worry about

• Cropping a plate is absolutely fine and quite common in modern food photography.
• Focus stacking or extreme depth of field.
• Close inspection for flaws (either photographic or in the subject). The image is meant to be enjoyed as a whole, not zoomed in.

Further reading

• Helene Dujardin: Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography & Styling (2011) – goes beyond the technical aspects of food photography by including a long section about how to style different types of food

Street photography

Street photography is among the most dynamic genres of photography. It is commonly understood as taking candid images of people, colors, and shapes in an urban environment. Street photography is more than "going out on the street and shooting." It often explores the relationship and interaction between people and geometrical forms. It uses in-motion unsharpness to show that something or someone in the scene is moving. The genre can be funny when it comes to capturing those moments in life that cannot be planned. Often, street photography reveals a certain reality that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Grain or image noise are acceptable and can contribute to the artistic value of the work.

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