What is the photography style where the subject itself is unimportant?
Asked 10/12/2015
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I’m making images where I care more about light, color, shape, and form than about what the photographed object actually is. For example, an apple could just as easily be a red ball if it creates the same visual effect. What is this style of photography usually called: abstract, non-objective, or something else?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
3
It sounds to me that you are talking about an abstract photo. In an abstract image the various elements are not identifiable or at least not easily identifiable, but rather present as colors shapes, lines, etc.
A tangentially similar "style" might be "conceptual photography; a style in which the message, statement, i.e. the "concept" behind the image holds primacy over the photograph per se.
Originally by user38312. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user38312
10y ago
0
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The usual term is abstract photography. In this style, the image is appreciated mainly for visual elements like color, line, shape, texture, light, and form rather than for clearly depicting a subject.
A more precise term can be non-representational or non-objective photography if the image is not really meant to represent an identifiable subject at all. In practice, though, many people use abstract photography as the broad, common label for both partly recognizable and fully unrecognizable images.
So:
- Abstract photography: emphasizes visual qualities over literal subject matter.
- Non-representational / non-objective photography: a stricter subset where the subject may not be identifiable or is not intended to depict anything specific.
- Conceptual photography is different: there, the idea or message is primary, not just the visual form.
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