History in Focus: Photography and Video Stories | ShotVoice

The Unique Photographic Instant in Modern Photography

The ShotVoice Team — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:23:50 +0000

Contrary to the posed photography which requires time or a preliminary setting, the photography which captures the moment “on the fly” is a process which is always expressed in the immediacy. It is the one that captures a situation in a fragment of time, a truth of the appearance. And its uniqueness and authenticity will always be intrinsically linked to it, despite the fact that it can later be retouched, reframed through the game of applications present in today’s digital publishing.

Catching Instants “On the Fly”

This is also a term that best expresses the capture of this singular time.

To seize that which will not be reproduced any more, a kind of testimony “out of time,” a furtive imprint, the “decisive moment” of Cartier Bresson.
The most important thing is to really “harpoon” this moment, and for the amateur, it doesn’t matter what the photographic quality is: sharpness, framing, exposure or quality of the vanishing point; only the capture of a key element counts and becomes the striking affirmation of a point of view—their own.

A Photo = A Point of View?

The appreciation of the uniqueness and originality of the photograph is reinforced by

the fact that it comes from a look, that of a single person. An intimate transposition of a portrait, a landscape or a scene, just like the art students with their easels lined up, sketching their own unique approach to the same model.
At the end of the posing session: as many different drawings as distinct perspectives. The idea of an original and non-replicable photo is thus making its way.

The Inherently Personal Intention of a Shot?

If professional photographers have precise imperatives and consider the camera as a working tool, one can ask the question for amateurs. What motivates the capture of images, to carry with us a sometimes very heavy piece of equipment to photograph a children’s tea party, the ascent of a summit between friends or our spouse sitting in a tea house at the other end of the world?

What do these pictures tell us about ourselves?

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), an experimental photographer, evoked his own look with a sense of humor when he said: “This is what the world looks like when photographed.”

Don’t we also have a desire to “freeze,” to inscribe ourselves at all costs in the society in which we work, and to display it in order to prove to others that we fully participate in the process?

Our photos suddenly become irrefutable testimonies—and may even become milestones that will allow us to tell and transmit our own personal story.

Photography: An Emotional Dimension of Our Lives?

Let’s notice that the photos taken in the friendly and family spheres are very often the guarantee of joyful moments, reunions or exploits.

The image offers us a real rereading of our past and present life, of our outstanding moments. It inevitably tints our vision, and even our memories themselves. A truly transitional object, the image also allows us to immediately reconnect with the emotion, then impregnated in the photographed moment.

A vector of feelings, photography carries these ingredients–invisible to the naked eye–in its DNA..

Photography: A True Ariadne's Thread

It is the sum of all these “points of view” that will, in the end, relate, trace and build the fabric of our life. The one we evoke, the one we transmit.

These images will constitute the thread between generations, between ancestors and descendants. Whether they are thrown loose in a shoebox, carefully labeled in albums or stored on our hard drives, photography holds a formidable and even essential place in each family for the understanding of an era and the destinies crossed.

Satellite Declinations

The image materializes happiness and provokes sharing. The tools of photographic editing today allow the photo to travel both in time and in quality: with the possibility of “refreshing” the original photo, of recoloring it, of reframing it, of offering it greater sharpness thanks to dedicated software.

This moment of grace captured on the fly at the origin, this unique photographic “matrix” can be altered at will and according to the dreams of each. And even if the image is manipulated, modified in its format, exported in another file or compressed, it will always come from this unique “essential and piercing glance” that Cartier Bresson evokes, the “source” in a way, of all these variations, to which it will always be possible to return at any time.

Symbolism of the Instant

Photography has this amazing power to freeze a fraction of a second for eternity. What the eye could not see, photography gives us the power to witness. Very intimate introspection of a scene. Out of time, which sometimes allows a fascinating deciphering of what is invisible to the naked eye. A mystery that does not always offer a resolution, like Antonin Artaud’s unfathomable, intense look that still bemuses us today. The image can enlighten or cause us to reflect.

"In my opinion, you cannot say that you have seen something if you have not taken a photograph."

Émile Zola

The "I Was There" Photo

“One can only do things well by oneself, one can only see things well when one photographs them oneself.”

Contrary to the reproductions proposed in the trade, your photograph has exactly the desired framing and is intended to underline a key moment of your life as you see it. It seems, therefore, that renouncing the purchase of a postcard in a tourist place and opting for your own interpretation, even though imperfect, is always more valuable in our eyes because it testifies of our presence.

One could evoke a strategy of adjusting oneself to the world and not the other way around: photographing the Leaning Tower of Pisa with one’s partner in the foreground or taking a family selfie at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids makes these exceptional monuments, known the world over, more “human,” less “external” and more accessible. They are present in the photograph, but not in a major way. Through our eyes, these mythical places invite themselves into our lives, and not the other way around.

The “I was there” testifies, once again, of its capital importance when this image will be shared, sent and then described to the following generations with all its cohort of feelings mentioned above.

To the aesthetics of a photograph, one sometimes prefers a clumsy photo over a perfect one.. the one that restores a personal, intimate time, and which shapes our future memories of that particular moment.

The Digital Photo: Instant Revelation of Our Memory

The tools offered by digital photography today serve our reflection. The exceptional amount of photo storage in an iPhone, tablet or computer allows us, in only a few clicks, to go back in time. Day…month…year… everything unfolds before our eyes and revives our memory with forgotten details. This time travel at your fingertips is simply breathtaking, because this super digital memory completes, rectifies and revives our own in an infallible way.

The photographic moments throughout our lives are like small white pebbles on the road. They constitute our virtual data bank of our life.

Photos Credits: Loli Galina, Joris Delacour, Laura Ockel, Cartier Bresson.

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The Culture of Sharing Images and Emotional Transmission

The ShotVoice Team — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 15:39:03 +0000

The very first desire to share an image is undoubtedly that of transmitting the feelings it arouses while looking at it.

If words are limited by our vocabulary, photography can take over because it allows us to break down these boundaries and go beyond our reason to touch our being and unfold sensations that our own words sometimes cannot reach. The emergence of social networks in recent years has provided us with extraordinary territories not only to circulate ideas and promote exchanges, but also to share photos: aesthetic or disturbing, intimate or news, iconic or symbolic. When we decide to post a photo on our “wall,” it is a very significant act because it says a lot about ourselves.

The Social Network: XXL Field of Expression for the Image

“The digital revolution,” explains André Gunthert, historian of the image, “will first of all make the image explode in terms of its production and mobility. The fact of seeing images, making images, discussing them, sending them, putting them up for debate, has produced in a very short time, since 2010-2011, a new visual skill that has come to replace a non-existent education in the image.”

At one time, the image specialists had expert skills – but not the general public, who remained on the outside and were ultimately just consumers of visual production. This is no longer the case today. Internet users have a sharp eye for photography, and have access to ultra-high performance software that eliminates the need for a laboratory, which was once accessible only to image professionals.

What Causes People to Share?

Today, photography enthusiasts collect images, often discovered on networks. A kind of personal library is established. And as in the library of any honest man, the choice of the readings reveals the intimate aspirations, tastes and universes which enchant its owner.

Key Values of Sharing

This cabinet of visual curiosities summons emotions and lists the territories that animate us: beauty, tenderness, poetry, the wow effect, memories, aspirations, the surges of the world or the bright side of life…. All this constitutes the foundation of this intimate catalogue, perhaps even an identity–a kind of modest and intellectual selfie, that of our inner being.

Examples of shared images

Game or Personal Challenge? The Playful Variations of Sharing

Another example is the photographic ritornello game on network walls. A digital acquaintance invites you to publish a photo every day for a week or every Sunday for a month. The selection, once again, reflects your state of mind, your culture, your interests and even your positions. The major ingredient of this game is certainly the will to transmit. To share with others what exactly animates us this particular day. The photo is an indicator of a moment T of oneself.

From Viewfinder to Viewfinder? The Field of Exchange Is Not Only Epistolary

Another device existing on digital platforms, the image is a dialogue without words between photographers who exchange an image every day. A kind of diary with four hands and two smartphones. Here again, photography transcribes information beyond words. This daily relationship, not epistolary, draws the striking profile of a friendship, the very foundation of the sharing between two people, nourished by the same passion.

Sharing Without Signature: A Certain Idea of Reappropriation?

Most of the time the signature of the person who conceived the picture is not mentioned because, explains André Gunthert, “…the images, once understood, are the object of reappropriations, of detour.” These images are subject to a new conversation, the one we have chosen. Through the act of posting the image at this moment, one wishes to say something to others, and there, the copyright does not matter. It is not so much the photographic work that is appreciated but what it conveys as an idea or underlines as a personal statement.

Other Territories of Sharing

What motivates the sending of a more disturbing image, one that takes a step aside? Is it to invite us to a deeper reflection? Depending on the subject and the intensity, the image will provoke a reaction, shake us up, take us out of our comfort zone; it intends to make us react. One thinks of Joel Peter Witkin‘s plastic images, elaborated with real human bodies, Eugene Richards‘ documentary photography on drug addiction in the United States or Lee Jeffries‘ work on the homeless.

To widen one’s field of vision, to apprehend the world in its happy or sordid dimensions – such are the implicit commands of these shares. Here, photography bears witness or captures a reality unknown to us, but once viewed it becomes indelibly inscribed in our visual culture, just like reading the pages of Primo Levi.

But hurry up, because this Duck Face is about to be dethroned by the Sparrow Face, the latest little revolution from Japan, which consists of opening your eyes wide and your mouth like a chick waiting for a meal, all accompanied by a V for victory.

Sharing Outside the Comfort Zone: Possible or Sometimes Impossible?

Sometimes a disturbing photo even transcends information and becomes an icon of a drama. How can we not remember the photo of Nilufar Demir that has circulated so much on social networks and traditional media, that of the little Aylan Kurdi washed up on a European beach, a powerful image that people found difficult–yet were compelled–to share?

Image Symbol: The Photograph That Escapes Its Author?

The image can also escape from the photographer himself, come to strike the collective conscience and challenge anyone who looks at it. Going beyond the photo, it becomes a symbol. It underlines pain, empathy and a whole range of feelings. It will be shared and reshared, and digital platforms contribute greatly to the multiplication of these exceptional photos, creating a circulation that quickly becomes exponential.

These images distributed on social networks do not need any caption or comment. “The strength of these photographs alone symbolizes the failure that we are experiencing,” comments Virginie Spies, Le Nouvel Obs.

Become Your Own Editor

The sharing of such symbolic images circulates meaning, and on the part of users it is a way of appropriating media space, of reclaiming it, of even envisaging a kind of editorial work in real time, as André Gunthert points out. Social networks have clearly allowed this field of application. Today, faced with the mistrust of traditional media, internet users, with the skills they have acquired in terms of images, have learned that they could take over this space and make it their own.

Private or Public Library?

This visual circulation is only possible when it is applied from user to user, from friend to friend, but it cannot be extended to the public field because the question of copyright legitimately comes to the fore.

The Power of Emotion: A Major Vector of Sharing?

At the end of these different reflections about sharing – its territory of expression, the idea of building a meaningful visual library, the different modes of transmission, whether in the form of an invitation or a conversation – it would be interesting to ask the question, “Why?” Why this desire to connect to the other or to others through an image often proposed without words or sentences? Wouldn’t the common denominator simply be emotion? The photos that arouse this feeling are the most diffused, and if we look closely, we notice that this emotion must be more powerful and must always surpass us for the sharing to take place. This is probably the real reason for sharing.

What About You?

And you, what is your culture of sharing images and photos?

What do you want to tell or transmit when you decide to share an image?
Who do you want to share it with first?
Will your choices also be governed by emotion?

Photo Credits: Markus Winkler, DR , Eugène Richards , Lee Jeffries , Sergey Ponomarev and Corentin Fohlen.

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Smile in Photos: Why We Started Smiling for the Camera

The ShotVoice Team — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 13:15:37 +0000

How did the smile become essential in photography? Smiling, as we know, is a facial expression that highlights a happy state of mind, a benevolent opening to the world on our part. It is intended to create a bond, by attracting a real sympathy, to abolish distances and establish a climate of trust by naturally provoking empathy. But there are all kinds of smiles: silly ones, dazzling and bright ones, cornered ones, nervous ones, snide ones, mysterious ones, mystical ones, manipulative and deceitful ones, marketing ones, warm ones, implicit and ambiguous ones…any way, the smile is actually able to show a whole range of emotions, and rather contradictory ones at that.

So why is the smile the most used expression when we pose in front of a camera or a selfie? Until the 1920s, we didn’t smile in photographs. Why did we start to smile at the camera? Here’s a short story about a parade of expression that is much more complex than it seems.

The Art of Smiling

With the exception of the angel’s very sweet smile at the Cathedral of Reims, which dates from 1240, a smile in art was seldom seen during the previous centuries. Its presence in painting or sculpture was even considered scandalous because it transgressed social conventions. British historian Colin Jones explains that it was fashionable to control one’s body and emotions. Art is only a reflection of this. Of course, poor dental hygiene also encouraged portraits with tightly closed mouths because 30 years old was often synonymous with unsightly teeth!

We had to wait until the 16th century, when Antonello of Messina painted a sailor with a grimacing smile, and the renowned Leonardo da Vinci, a few years later, introduced Mona Lisa with her enigmatic smile. And these portraits were game-changing firsts. The museum of Cefalù in Sicily, where the work of Messina is presented, asserts that its “Portrait of an Unknown Sailor” is the second most famous representation in the world of a smile in a painted portrait (although it predates the Mona Lisa). By being displayed in this way at this time, the smile also testifies a change in social behavior.

This “mark of interior satisfaction,” as defined by Diderot and d’Alembert in their Encyclopedia, was still timidly displayed in the 17th and 18th centuries. Let us thank especially the dental prophylaxis born in the 19th century for ushering in the appearance of real smiles with white teeth!

Say Cheese!

With the appearance of cameras intended for amateurs, the smile would become the key to photo albums. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kodak held a monopoly on the photo industry and launched a campaign to make posing a joyful and festive moment…and thus increase its sales…. The smile has become necessary to show good health, prosperity and the joy of living. It is more than de rigueur in the world of images; it has even become a photographic injunction!

It was during this period, in the 20s and 30s, that the word “cheese” began to be uttered in front of a camera to produce a smile on command. The smile became the norm and was displayed everywhere: in advertising campaigns, corporate portraits, election posters, famous people in their daily lives: everyone smiles on glossy paper and in developer trays. In 1950, the Gibbs toothpaste brand advertised its product with the impeccable smiles of Pierrette and Pierre.

But in the end, what part of ourselves do we want to offer to the world when we smile for a photo? The joy of an aperitif with friends, the happy summertime get-togethers, the precious moments captured on the fly, or the reward for an effort?

It’s all this, of course, but isn’t it also a social posture that implies displaying our well-being, our exceptional life and the chance to enjoy it at any cost?

The arrival of smartphones has changed the space dedicated to photography. In a matter of a few years, the image has been invited into our lives: it accompanies our intimate spaces; it reveals every moment of our life and makes them known. With this tool so easy to handle, photography has become a daily act and accompanies us in practically every situation. And in tandem with smartphones, applications specifically developed for photography have also appeared. Easy to use and often very powerful, they have truly revolutionized the practice of photography and led to amazing creations…

The Smiles of Olly Gibbs...

London artist Olly Gibbs has created a photographic work where the smile becomes the main element of his creation. Thanks to the FaceApp application, he decided to give a smile to all the paintings and sculptures with depressive tendencies. The result is joyful and brings a sparkle of pearly whites to the most melancholic Flemish portraits!

...Or Those Of Beeny Vd

Photographer Beeny VD proposes a super-feel-good work by offering to put his talent as a professional photographer at the service of people on the street. “I thought it would be nice to go to the street and to make people smile.” Vincent, alias Beeny VD, camera slung over his shoulder, traverses the cities and calls out to people in parks, bus shelters and queues to offer them a shot of themselves with a smile. And it works–because everyone plays along with the game of happiness displayed and immortalized by a pro.

The "Selfie" Phenomenon

The arrival of social networks has brought an emphasis of our life and our activities in a phenomenal way. Naturally, the photo has become part of this XXL magnifying glass on our life. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat relay moods, habits and situations night and day, and the self-portrait has naturally imposed itself in this continuous overflow of information. The self-portrait, always flattering, inspiring, in group or in close-up, has been a real revolution in our society and in our relationship with each other. Influencers, politicians, artists–even Pope Francis–have taken selfies.

The self-portrait has therefore quickly become a marketing tool, with brands jostling for the smallest influencer. The selfie smile has even become a secure payment method for Amazon. Here, too, the apps that shape the “selfie” are plentiful and rather well done: animations, plastic surgery-style retouching, fun ways to personalize your selfies.

Is the “selfie” a narcissistic act? Certainly, but not only. It is of course to take a photo of oneself, that is to say to put oneself in the scene by turning the camera towards oneself, thus with one’s back not turned to the world. But it is also to share, to create, link, exchange, comment, “like” or testify of a community identity, as for example to show a membership with a party or a soccer club. According to Pauline Escande-Gauquié, lecturer at the University of Paris Sorbonne CELSA, there is a huge fascination with the selfie because it creates a completely new game of look: I look at myself, you look at me, and I look at you looking at me. It is therefore an act of sociability that underscores the fact that if someone looks at me, I exist. The selfie thus plays not only a very important part in the construction of identity, but also the collective–and the smile is part of the winning combo.

Are You Duck Face or Sparrow Face?

If the “selfie” smile was the inevitable pass to the “like,” other expressions come to heckle this good old expression of happiness. So, forget the smile (considered a bit old-fashioned), and make way for the Duck face, the mimicry that consists of tightening and advancing the lips while drawing the cheeks in.

But hurry up, because this Duck Face is about to be dethroned by the Sparrow Face, the latest little revolution from Japan, which consists of opening your eyes wide and your mouth like a chick waiting for a meal, all accompanied by a V for victory.

The Last Mood Made In XXI Century

It seems that the smile these days is in a sad state, and that it is even a bit old-fashioned and not only for the “selfie.” The latest trend is the closed and impassive face, as evidenced by the pout of the famous fashion journalist Ana Wintour, who has long since stopped smiling at the fashion week shows.

What interpretation should we draw from this radical change of facial expressions in front of the lens? Is it a backlash against the banality of the smile on the pictures? A distanced and studied version of the world around us? Testimony of a new social posture?

That’s the question we ask you.

The post Smile in Photos: Why We Started Smiling for the Camera appeared first on ShotVoice.

History of Photography: From Origins to Today

The ShotVoice Team — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 14:00:08 +0000

Today, we are immersed in a civilization where images are omnipresent.

It seems normal to us to see images appear, to create them ourselves with a single click, but do you have any idea of how photography was born?

How photos actually came to be? Who were the creators of this exalted invention? Do you have any ideas? Let’s retrace in a few broad lines this fabulous (and a bit crazy) epic of the image.

Darkroom's Mystery

First of all, we should note that it requires the sum of two parts, optics and chemistry, for the photo to exist: a darkroom, a camera obscura, and a developer.

Try it out in real life: imagine yourself in a room completely closed, where you only let the light in from the window through a tiny hole. You are in the dark.

A few moments later, you can see an image (of your street) appear on the wall in reverse. Explanation: the light rays that penetrate an optic (in this case, the small hole in your window) send the image backwards.

Our brains are used to turning what our eyes see right side up, which is more practical. But let’s continue the experiment: if you put a specific chemical medium, such as silver chloride, on the wall of your room, then the projected image will print itself; it will fix itself on this medium and become a photograph. Simple, isn’t it?

Historical Dive With Niepce, Daguerre, Fox And Lumière

Although, the first camera obscura is said to have been created in 1671, a more elaborate light machine was devised by Nicephore Niepce in 1816 to capture images. A few pioneers in turn added to the photographic tower and made the technique more sophisticated. However, these images had a flaw: they gradually faded in daylight.

Building on their work, Louis-Jacques Daguerre developed the principle that would become the basis of the camera.

In 1838, Daguerre developed the principle that would take his name: a direct positive on a copper plate coated with pure silver and exposed to light. The daguerreotype was born. It was a photograph, but it could not be reproduced. Another invention quickly followed the first: immersion in water saturated with salt finally made it possible to fix the image definitively. In 1839, we can say that photographic development was born.

Five years later, William Henry Fox developed the calotype, an intermediate negative that would finally allow the same image to be multiplied. The photo thus became reproducible! This negative-positive principle would be used until the arrival of the digital image.

The arrival of the shutter in 1880 further improved the exposure time and, therefore, the quality and intensity of photography. As for colour, after a few early attempts around the three primary colours–red, yellow and blue–it was the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière who, in 1906, proposed the autochrome.

With the advent of all these wonderful inventions, photo studios would soon appear in Paris. It was common to go and have your portrait taken by these photographers who handled the camera with dexterity. Nadar, who immortalised many celebrities such as the great tragedienne Sarah Bernard, and the poets Rimbaud and Baudelaire; Gustave Le Gray, who became the official photographer of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte; Eugène Disdéri, who created the visiting card holder (the ancestor of the photo booth, so to speak); and Emilien Sully, a hatter who became a photographer and distinguished himself at the International Exhibition of Photographic Art in Algiers in 1910. Wealthy industrial families were fond of photographic portraits of couples, children, and individuals. Photography was popular because it was less time-consuming and faster than painting.

In Pioneer's Wagon

The mid-19th century was characterised by a taste for discovery, particularly nations, peoples, sites and landscapes. Photography became an essential tool for explorers. Despite the technique’s cumbersome nature (camera, tripod and large film shots), some photographers became itinerant and did not hesitate to travel the world. Let us mention two of them.

Edward Sheriff Curtis is undoubtedly the most exceptional ethnologist photographer. He dedicated his life to taking pictures of the American Indian tribes with his camera and created the photographic heritage of these native people.

At that time, cameras were constantly evolving. The modernity of photography was underlined by an increasingly short response time, which, of course, modified its relationship to current events or an event taken on the spot. Smaller, more manageable cameras with shutter release allowed fast shooting: “You aim, you shoot.”

The Devices of Instantaneousness

Ernest Bourgarel, a French diplomat who travelled the world at the end of the 19th century (Asia, Middle East, Latin America) and French ambassador to Colombia from 1895 to 1900, quickly grasped the interest in photography. He was one of the first buyers of George Eastman’s (Kodak) invention in 1890, the first portable camera with flexible film (cellulose nitrate) that would replace fragile glass plates. The Kodak revolution had just begun.

“The Eastman Kodak brought instantaneousness,” explains Charles-Henri Dubail, editor and custodian of the Bourgarel Fund. Thanks to this small camera, which was certainly not very efficient in terms of image quality, everything became possible: taking a picture of someone walking towards you, of armed men passing by. The camera technique, which required a “mule train” to move and whose rendering was more static and less lively, would soon disappear and, with it, the “Ave de paso” (the bird of passage) as the itinerant photographer was called in Latin America at that time.

The principle of the Kodak system? Eastman sought to simplify operations. It reduced the separation between taking a photograph and the part left to the specialist, i.e., the development of the images: “Press the button, we’ll do the rest” emphasized the advertisements.

*Bourgarel, le Colombien” – French’s trip Diplomat in 19th Century Colombia, (ediSens, 2017).

The Tiny Vintage Shop Of Instantaneousness

Who Remembers “Clic Clac, Merci, Kodak” ?

The Kodak brand, created 140 years ago, was truly revolutionary because it was aimed at amateurs. The world of photography was becoming simpler.

The memory of every family would be nothing without Kodak. Remember the shared moments of your parents, immortalized by the yellow reels, the arrival of the Instamatic with its film inserted in a cartridge, and then the tiny yellow cardboard cameras created later, which made the happiness of neophytes and children?

What is less known is that the inventor of digital photography in 1975 was Kodak. They had designed a prototype called “filmless photography” that had a definition of 0.01 megapixels! But alas, the giant made the worst strategic choice: it decided not to market its innovation for fear of killing the film market, which was dominant at the time. Sony, Canon and Fuji would soon surpass Kodak. In 2012, it was time to liquidate.

Polaroid, The Freshly Baked Bun

Polaroid was also a product that truly shook up the world of photography. The Polaroid company developed an instant development process in…1948! Amazing!

This all-in-one camera was very popular with amateurs, who snatched it up despite the relatively expensive cost of the cartridges. It was also very popular with professionals, who used it as a test to control their light during their shooting. As for explorers, they didn’t hesitate to carry a Polaroid in their bag, ideal for offering instant portraits to certain distant ethnic groups. An almost magical object!

In 2009, Polaroid also switched to digital. The Polaroid Two was created, a 5-megapixel digital camera with a built-in printer that allowed you to select the photo you wanted to print. We salute this latest digital version’s frugal and economic dimension, but it did not meet with the success we might have expected.

Argentique? Did You Say Argentique?

Silver photography owes its name to the light-sensitive film that was exposed to light. This plastic film was covered with an emulsion, a kind of gelatin containing silver and iodine ions. That’s about as far as the chemistry goes!

But in fact, we have only really been talking about film since the year 2000. Do you know why? It was necessary to distinguish between traditional photography, known as silver, and the new, digital photography.

Leica, The Big Slam

Back in 1905, a German engineer invented the 24 x 36 mm negative. His brilliant idea? Borrowing from cinema, the 35mm film used a horizontal panorama to increase the width of the shot.

In 1924, the Leica company created a compact camera with a fixed lens of exceptional quality (the Leitz lens, still in use today) and its famous 24 x 36 film. A real Rolls Royce!

Leica introduced simple, light, robust models that would seduce (and still do today!) several generations of photographers. The Leica-M was the camera of choice for Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Capa, Robert Doisneau, Edouard Boubat and Marie-Laure de Decker…. Since 2005, Leica has been in digital mode. The M9 is the ultimate and most elaborate version.

From Grain To Pixel

The digital age has changed our perception of photography and our relationship to it. We no longer count the number of shots we take, thinking about our limit of 36 views and the price of the contact sheet. We rectify the frame or the luminosity immediately because we can instantly visualise our work. With AI, a blurred photo becomes clear again, and the applications dedicated to photography rectify, straighten, recolor, remove a character or propose a bright blue sky. It’s hard to miss an image, even if we know that more than 80% of a successful photograph is due to the eye and not to the tool. Its easy distribution and archiving are also significant advantages.

On the other hand, film offers better quality in large-scale prints. Digital still struggles with definition when enlarging.

“I look for the pixel to situate the photo in time,” explains Olivier Thomas, reportage photographer. “It’s a sort of dating of my work.

There was the period of the grain, more or less acceptable, and then the arrival of the pixel. Digital tools have their good qualities and their defects. You can’t make a photo today like you would with a film camera. And when you use digital to create images in the manner of film, you make a severe mistake, in my opinion.

Just like video in its early days, in the face of 35mm, with its images that lacked precision and offered a particular texture, digital has its assets–and it is precisely these that must be played with rather than attempting to imitate what has already been produced. And then there is a point that seems essential to me: digital invites a profusion of images, so one takes less care of one’s shots. Globally, if I analyse my work between film and digital, I notice that the number of good photos on a reportage are less numerous in digital than with my old film camera. This gives me food for thought.

As you can see, there is a lot of balance between the two. Digital has immensely popularised photography and has made the work of talented photographers known through social networks and the incredible apps that exist on the market.

For the nostalgic, modern digital apps offer photographic renderings of legendary cameras: Instamatic and Polaroid are now offered by the Hipstamatic app. Faded colours and frayed outlines tend towards overexposure, but let’s not fool ourselves; we are talking about vintage texture, not the concept of the instant photo.

When Digital Technology Helps To Delve Into The Past: 3D Printing

And if some photographers, weary of digital, want to go back to the roots of photography, digital also offers a way back in time. Traditional 3D printing, FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology, is used to reproduce many accessories, but the offer is less efficient on the camera side.

The most reproducible models are the pinhole camera (remember the camera and hole in the window exercise). The pixelvalley.com website offers you a digital pinhole camera you can make yourself!

As for real cameras, there are two innovations: the Open Reflex by Léo Marius, an open-source camera compatible with Nikon lenses but which only offers a single aperture at 1/60 s, and the SLO, created by Amos Dudley, a fixed-focus compact camera in which all the elements (even the lens) are printed in plastic.

In conclusion, from the camera obscura to the camera plastique, photography has come a long way over the years. Yet throughout all the innovations, changes and improvements covered in this dizzying overview, there is one common denominator that will never change and which constitutes the absolute talent of the photographer: your eye.

Whether you are a fan of the camera, still present today, a lover of film or a fan of the new technologies and digital, it is your eye, your vision, that will ultimately create your own memorable images!

We look forward to seeing what you can do!

Photos Credits: Mick Haupt, Kodak Brand

The post History of Photography: From Origins to Today appeared first on ShotVoice.

Identity Photo From Portrait to Self Expression

The ShotVoice Team — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 08:00:48 +0000

A simple small cardboard rectangle, 35 mm in height, 45 mm in width, that’s the designated frame to define our identity, to prove that it’s really us. This representation, which has persisted since the 19th century, may seem entirely antiquated, yet the front-facing photographic portrait still constitutes our official identity even in 2023. It is supposed to encapsulate the individual and enable recognition by others, by society as a whole.

This photographic key, captured at a particular moment, keeps distancing itself from us over the months or years, but it still validates our own identity. Through this photo, we also become responsible for our identity, and we must justify it at any moment with this piece of paper.

Today, with the advent of the digital world, this outdated portrait could have disappeared; surprisingly, it has instead multiplied. Accessible to everyone and at our fingertips, each person has embraced this mirrored image and presents multiple versions of themselves. This almost delirious growth of our reflection encourages new definitions of self-representation.

History: From Portrait to Identity Photo

About fifteen years after the official birth of photography in 1854, a man named Eugène Disdéri devised a multi-lens camera that allowed him to combine several shots on a single plate. This technique significantly reduced costs, making it possible to offer portrait cards to customers at an affordable price. It was a real success!

In 1864, more than 2,400 visiting cards were produced daily by Disdéri’s Parisian studios. Even Napoleon III succumbed to these photo visiting cards for his own propaganda. Thanks to this more economical process, photography became more accessible and was no longer the exclusive domain of the wealthy. These portrait cards truly revolutionized photography, and thousands of them were created until World War I.

Jean Poyet, a painter and studio photographer in Épernay, takes things further and adds sophistication to portraits by creating actual settings: painted hangings, drapery, foliage, armchairs, the photographic calling card becomes more elaborate, and in some cases, even repainted.

From The Photo Visiting Card To Anthropometric Photography

While the popularity of portrait visiting cards declined at the beginning of the 20th century, it was not due to a lack of popularity; quite the contrary. Amateur photography took over as families abandoned professional portrait photographers, whose prints offered less spontaneity in favor of photos taken within intimate circles.

However, the visiting card photo did inspire a young civil servant in the photography department of the Prefecture of Paris. Alphonse Bertillon discovered that an individual’s measurements (nose, ears, eye spacing, hairline, etc.) allowed for very precise identification. Thus, the legal identification portrait, showing the front and profile view, was born with strict guidelines: a uniform background, diffuse lighting from the left, framing at the shoulders, no retouching, and a straight, forward-facing gaze.

This was a far cry from Disdéri’s or Poyet’s photo cards, where photography intentionally conveyed belonging to a specific class of society through staging. With Bertillon, photography stripped itself down, became individual, and focused on the unique physical characteristics of each individual.

From Criminals To The Entire French Society

This “Bertillonian” identification technique would no longer be limited to criminals, nomads, or foreigners but would encompass the entire French civilian society. The law of October 27, 1940, stated that every citizen over the age of 16 was required to obtain a personal card from the authorities, including their portrait and fingerprints. This documentary precision, in a reduced format and two dimensions, now established a representation of ourselves. The modern form of the identity photo had just been born.

Eighty years later, it is still surprising that our identity is validated by this small format, and it remains valid for a decade. Whether it’s an ID card, passport, health insurance card, sports or university registration, driver’s license, CV, company directory photos, and more, the administrative documents that govern our lives in society still rely on this expressionless photo, captured at a specific moment in our lives.

The Wallet Photography

The 2023 “Rencontres d’Arles” showcased the photographic work of a photography studio in Marseille, which took place between 1966 and 1985. This work highlights the significance of identity photos as the first element of integration for a population seeking a new homeland. The Rex studio has an extensive archive of these wallet photos, some of which are cherished by their owners. They are described as “genuine talismanic images that accompany their bearers, (…) intimate witnesses to fragments of emotions that reveal the visual foam of sensitive memories, stranded in a port city at the crossroads of three continents.”

The portraits feature serious expressions, dignified postures, and European attire that reflect the significance of the stories behind these images.

The photography as a testament to success, one that documents the establishment of a foreign population and their good fortune, bears a resemblance to the work of Poyet in the 19th century with his settings that similarly aimed to showcase prosperity.

Administrative Photo In 2023: What Does The Law Say?

The 2009 law strengthens the specifications set in 1940: The background must be light in color, but white is prohibited. The head must be uncovered, and head coverings are not allowed. The subject must adopt a neutral expression and keep their mouth closed. The face must be unobstructed. The eyes must be perfectly visible and open. Thick eyeglass frames are prohibited, and tinted or reflective lenses are forbidden.

With all these requirements, this self-image is often considered a trial, even a genuine betrayal. Who looks beautiful or handsome in their passport or health insurance card photo? The identity photo is not the one we want to show. In reality, this immobile, emotionless face does not resemble us and does not truly represent who we are.

The Arrival of the Photomaton

The invention of the Photomaton in New York in 1926 revolutionized identity photography. A sense of freedom was expressed behind the accordion curtain and within the booth where one would sit, having chosen their background color and unraveled the stool.

Although originally created for administrative photos, whimsical antics, solo or with a partner, started to unfold in this more intimate mini studio. It became a true playground for photography, filled with fantasy, far from the serious nature of identity photos. What made this booth placed in public places so appealing? Simply insert a coin, a studio hidden from prying eyes, and receive 4 small photos within a few minutes after the exposure.

Artistic Diversions of Identity Photos

This fabulous machine that immortalizes our faces has generated a lot of enthusiasm, and artists didn’t take long to seize upon this multiple photography to give it a previously unknown dimension: André Breton, Magritte, Andy Warhol, and JR all enthusiastically embraced it. Andy Warhol set up a photo booth in his studio, The Factory, and created his first color silkscreen print with a collage of 36 portraits of Ethel Scull. This work of identity photos is now considered a major piece of Pop Art.

Another artistic project, “Inside Out,” involved the artist and photographer JR using his photo booth truck to capture portraits of anyone who wished to participate. Over 320,000 people in more than 140 countries took part in this creative adventure, reimagining their image and occupying public spaces to support a cause or an idea.

The Festive And Contemporary Identity Photo

Let’s also mention the creative work of Muriel Borovi, who joyfully “photomates” people from a region, a private party, or a fashion event. The spirit of the photo booth is certainly present, but there are also the modern-day portrait cards, a nod to the 21st century, paying homage to the work of Jean Poyet. You can learn more at laphotomobile.

21st Century: The Delirious Overproduction of Our Identity

Is The Photomaton The Ancestor Of The Selfie?

This joyful freedom in self-representation redefines our identity in a certain way. With the advent of smartphones equipped with cameras and the creation of social networks such as Facebook (literally the book of faces), Instagram, Twitter, professional platforms like LinkedIn, or dating sites like Tinder, the number of portraits visible on the web quickly multiplied.

Another element that radically changed our relationship with images is the ability to do without the presence of a photographer. No longer a need for someone else; just like the photomaton, we can now take self-portraits. The narcissistic wave known as the selfie takes root. Every “me” is immortalized, shared, thrown into the virtual world. Everyone can take their identity photo from wherever and whenever they need to.

The Facets Of Ourselves Constantly Staged

The profile photo is constantly modified, depending on mood, travels, and encounters. It showcases multiple “selves,” a genuine fragmentation of identity. This proliferation of images leads to new definitions of identity and self-representation, in relation to others, to oneself, and to the screen… We can see how the stakes surrounding digital identity and, more specifically, profile photos are constantly evolving.

Small Adjustments To The Reality Of Our Appearance

To this day, there are dedicated photography applications, specifically for identity photos, and their tricks to enhance them. Manipulating one’s facial shape, altering hair volume and color, enlarging the eyes, removing acne, providing a radiant complexion—everything is possible. Apps like YouCam Perfect, YouCam MakeUp, Pixtica, or Face App act as magic helpers that fulfill our wishes and then some. Our profile photos are transformed into model-like versions or, more simply, corrected for these minor aesthetic flaws. Hairstyle, makeup, expression, and decorative colors are adjusted for a good cause: to make us look more beautiful or attractive than we actually are.

Artificial Intelligence in Aesthetic Photography

The industry has become so prosperous that it’s not surprising that AI steps in and offers a tailored approach to photographic beauty. BeautyPlus AI is a software editor dedicated to selfies, photos, and videos of our making. We can instantly take pretty selfies and retouch them, remove imperfections, experiment with hair color changes, teeth whitening, refine our face and body, try trendy makeup looks while removing the background.

AI tools even allow us to create incredible images, such as sketching ourselves in seconds with the AI Anime camera or Anime filter, transforming our selfies into stunning and supernatural versions of ourselves with AI avatars, effortlessly removing unwanted people or objects to focus exclusively on ourselves. Finally, we can realize our dreams with the Body Editor: enhancing our stature, slimming our waist, arms, and face to create a stunning silhouette from scratch. We can unleash our creativity as the editor boasts, without forgetting, of course, to post our new “selves.”

And since excesses always provoke their opposites, the emergence of the BeReal app, “your real friends,” aims to counterbalance this virtual reality by inviting users to cultivate authenticity and remove all artifice. This new social network encourages users to share an unretouched and unaltered photo once a day. It’s an exchange on the scale of real life.

In a similar spirit, the Be Fake app, on the contrary, invites you to have fun but with complete transparency. “It’s time to be fake.” They’re upfront about it and encourage openly and in a rather playful spirit to tamper with all your selfies.

The Future of Facial Recognition

Photos and videos are domains in which AI has developed numerous applications, often playful ones. However, other applications of AI can raise questions, especially concerning individual identification.

Facial recognition technology developed by artificial intelligence is far removed from Bertillon’s method and our small identity photo. Facial recognition systems are increasingly used, primarily for law enforcement, surveillance, and public safety purposes. The benefits are as numerous as the risks. Concerns arise regarding individual freedoms, the right to move freely, to assemble or protest, to avoid discrimination, and to respect privacy. The risks of misuse and error rates should not be underestimated. This is a tool that should be exclusively entrusted to responsible hands, where social consciousness and ethics should be the sole driving forces behind its use.

Conclusion

Does self-image still hold as much value in representing our being today? Nowadays, it doesn’t really constitute valid proof of our true identity. Artificial intelligence takes over through much more sophisticated visual recognition. Is it to be feared, as philosopher Edgar Morin suggests, when he explains that with smartphones, the virtual world of the internet, and facial recognition, these three elements offer any power access to the keys of our life and our image?

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What Is Inspiration in Photography and How to Find It

The ShotVoice Team — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:55:10 +0000

The perception that we have of the world and that we convey in a photographic work is initiated by the inspiration that drives us. But what is our inspiration really made of?

The Story of a Creative Process

When we decide to trigger our camera, is this gesture, a priori anodyne, guided by our cultural heritage, by archetypes common to all of us? Is it a conscious or unconscious reference to something we have already seen, that has seduced us and that we want to reproduce? Like the pose of a Pina Bausch dancer or a Leonardo da Vinci character? A street scene by Edward Hopper, a light and shadow portrait by the painter, Zurbaran, or photographer Richard Avedon? A flower by Robert Mapplethorpe seen on the cover of an art magazine?

Is the reinterpretation of an original work a plagiarism? Is inspiration copying? Which elements of inspiration constitute counterfeiting? The borderline is often difficult to establish, more of a gray area than a sharply defined line. The history of photography and art shows how much artists’ imaginations feed off each other. “The idea of total originality must be rejected, no one is capable of creating something from nothing, even in the work least influenced by the outside,” maintains Chilean Juan Pablo Klenner, an expert in architectural copyright.

What is Plagiarism?

What does the law say? Plagiarism is a moral, civil and commercial violation, which can be penalized. It is often likened to immaterial theft, that is to say to the one who unduly or fraudulently appropriates all or part of a literary, technical or artistic work. Some even extend it to a style, to ideas or to facts.

In French law, the term used is counterfeiting.

Plagiarism has always existed. If we refer to the musical sector, we think of Pharell Williams’ “Happy” from a Marvin Gaye score, Prince’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” Kurt Cobain’s “Come as You Are” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

In literature, plagiarism is also legion; Montaigne plagiarized Plutarch and Molière, for his part, was strongly inspired by a Latin comic called Plautus (2nd century BC) for his play, The Miser!

Simple Inspiration, Tribute or Counterfeit?

Inspiration, we understand, is guided by our references, our meetings, our studies, our childhood and our daily life. Thus, culinary photographer Aimee Twigger is as much inspired by Vermeer as by nature. Or Noemia Prada, who excels in black and white photography, finds her inspiration in music and her inner world. What will distinguish plagiarism from an original work is its degree of inspiration. The importance of the borrowed elements will make it possible to determine if it is an inspiration that leans on the tendencies and the air of time, of a supported homage clearly explicit or a pure and simple copy without any mention of the original work.

A Work Influenced by the Work of Others But With a Real Added Value

Inspiration is based on an imagination that comes to us but that is mostly based on existing elements that we remember. We all have multiple influences. The quality of a photographic work is thus underlined by the references on which the creation is based, increased by an element that brings a new dimension to the work, which I will name added value.

The photographer proposes his vision, his own interpretation, which goes much further than the one from which he was inspired. The borrowing serves as a springboard to better rebound and present another thought, another artistic proposal. Photographer, painter, sculptor, dancer, author–all borrow to sublimate their own artistic language.

The painter, Djamel Tatah, for example, is sometimes inspired by a photograph, a movement, a look, to integrate it into his figurative universe. With regard to Tatah’s creation, the reference, while clearly explicit, is appreciated as a wink but does not call into question the contemporary creation considered as an artistic value distinct from the original work.

The posture of the reclining man in Djamel Tatah’s work is a replica of the one painted by Edouard Manet, and it is perfectly intentional. The resemblance is so disturbing that one immediately grasps the reference he is proposing, but his interpretation is so powerful that it is his universe, his artistic imprint, that of Djamel Tatah, that springs from the canvas, springs from the canvas, and not the essence of that from which he borrowed.

Let us take a second example where the loan is made, this time to a photographer. The series of movements captured by the photographer, Muybridge, highlighted by Djamel Tatah through a pictorial series, a long-line succession of the same head. Here again, the subject imported into the contemporary world of the painter is seen as a reminder of this work of decomposition, accompanied by a very particular vision of the visual artist and which, in the end, presents a work very different from that from which he was inspired.

A Derivative Work of a Pre-Existing Work

Sometimes the borrowing from the pre-existing work is voluntarily displayed and admitted. It even constitutes the starting point of the creative process, as a kind of permanent reference to the author of the original, or even a tribute to him.

The work of Richard Tuschman is a good example. In photography, he creates a perfect copy of Edward Hopper’s paintings. Tuschman only provides a technique but in no way the inspiration of the scene or the model. It is a photographic transposition of several paintings, studied in great detail, which he has entitled “Hopper Meditations.” The homage is, there, completely proven.

Exact Copy: a Reproduction

Lack of inspiration leads to plagiarism of others’ work. Court battles often ensue when agencies working for famous brands reappropriate the creation of an artist without mentioning the author. When plagiarism is revealed, legal action is a logical consequence, especially in France, where authors’ rights are particularly well defended.

This was the case for the lawsuit brought by the heirs of Jeanloup Sieff against the company Dolce & Gabbana, which used a photograph taken for a campaign by Yves Saint Laurent.

The existing resemblance between the two photos involved several aspects.

The nudity of a young and handsome man, the wearing of a pair of glasses, the sitting pose, the lighting and the expression of the model, were considered plagiarism.

In 2007, photographer William Klein also accused fashion designer John Galliano of plagiarizing his work for an advertising campaign, using the technique of annotated and enlarged contact sheets. The court determined that what defines the originality of the work, in this case the painted contact sheets, cannot be borrowed from the artist under penalty of infringement.

In a similar case, photographer Marc Lamey’s portrait of a woman was plagiarized by another photographer, who appropriated the idea of his composition without mentioning his source of inspiration. A well-known French case presented by the lawyer who defended the case, Joelle Verbrugge, in an online article.

Photographic Signature: Good Practice

The problem is solved when an author’s photographic work is remarkable in the true sense of the word. It is recognizable. A type of light, a recurrence of certain subjects, a particular development technique, a photographic texture…all these characteristic elements when they become repetitive, alone or assembled, truly constitute the photographic signature of an artist.

It happens that great photographers have an inspiration tinged by a reference, as painters or sculptors like to work on the same subject, but the work, in the end, turns out to be so distinct and the interpretation so personal that it cannot be considered as plagiarism.

Each artist has his or her own artistic signature: texture and color for Sarah Moon‘s feminine silhouettes, extreme density of black and white with a wide-angle lens for Jeanloup Sieff, the pure poetry of a glass placed on a table by Josef Sudek with this sfumato print. All of them are easily recognizable, whatever the subject of their work. Each one has elaborated a very personal pictorial world, a perfectly identifiable imprint.

This was the case for the lawsuit brought by the heirs of Jeanloup Sieff against the company Dolce & Gabbana, which used a photograph taken for a campaign by Yves Saint Laurent.

The existing resemblance between the two photos involved several aspects.

The nudity of a young and handsome man, the wearing of a pair of glasses, the sitting pose, the lighting and the expression of the model, were considered plagiarism.

In The Manner Of Magritte, Hieronymus Bosch Or Dali? Long Live AI

Today, applications dedicated to the world of photography are amazing and incredibly diverse. Photoleap and Aiby AI Art & Photo Avatar, for example, draw your portrait in the manner of famous artists, painters, street art or manga artists… Their graphic signatures are copied very faithfully, which is enough to confuse the issue and to get tangled up in legal matters! The intervention of artificial intelligence in the world of photography will reshuffle the cards and considerably shake up the perception we have of photography, especially in terms of veracity or validity, but that’s another story that deserves several articles unto itself.

How to Protect Yourself From Counterfeiting

There is a rather powerful social network watch that tracks down the slightest duplicate illustration, and it is an excellent place to start. A valuable ally for photographers who regularly expose their photos on Facebook, Instagram, and other applications, Tineye.com does an amazing job of finding images that have been duplicated, edited, cropped, or even modified.

And You, What Do You Think?

When confronted by them, some counterfeiters might mention their source of information, or even apologize for the borrowing if it is obvious. Only one rule must dominate this questioning: it is the part of our imagination, its combination, which is constantly enriched as we reflect, our reflection–which must prevail in all points. It is not a question of copying but of telling, translating, exposing a feeling or an emotion which animates us, being challenged by a subject which, even if it has already been evoked a thousand and one times, will be revealed by our glance quite new.

Photos Credits: Lucas Huoang, Kritopher Roller, Djamel Tatah, Muybridge, Richard Tuschman, Jeanloup Sieff, William Klein, Marc Lamey, Arslan, Sarah Moon, Josef Sudek.

The post What Is Inspiration in Photography and How to Find It appeared first on ShotVoice.

Why Photo Retouching Is the Grail for Photographers

The ShotVoice Team — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0000

Crop, colorize, overexpose, sharpen or blur, change the mood of a detail or a sky, convert to black & white, filter, densify, delete or add…have the applications intended for photo editing decided to transform us into real demiurges?

Star Apps: Real Magic Wands

Whether they are for Android or Apple, free or paid, applications dedicated to editing have multiplied. Ideal to boost our communication, even our persona; lightning fast once we know how to use them, they have a lot of assets and even let us think that we have become excellent photographers. They are there to optimize our photos, pro or family, and whether we are equipped with digital cameras or simple owners of cell phones, we all have access to these miracle-working software programs.

Facetune, Visage Lab for selfies, Snapseed, Lightroom, Photofox, iPiccy, Pixelmator Pro, Capture One for professionals, PickMonkey, ON1, Mextures for those who are in a hurry, Photoshop Express, PhotoFiltre, Darktable, Sumopaint, Pixlr, Photos Pos Pro for those who want to start with free, TouchRetouch, Airbrush for erasing, deleting…. That’s it for the top of the list!!

We can see that the range of applications for all kinds of corrections is constantly expanding. Artificial intelligence has even been invited to the table to offer a crazy added value with Skylum Luminar, DxO and Avalanche, exclusive tools with unlimited possibilities that facilitate, among other things, the denoising of images, their conversions and their transfers. Huge selection of features!!!

From the Requirements of Film-Based Photography to the Debauchery of Digital?

The days of the contact sheet, where we lamented overexposure or underexposure, or of the thread counter whose verdict was without appeal for the lack of sharpness or the weakness of a framing, are long gone. One had to make do with it, and it was only the number of years of practice that offered a certain technical regularity. Retouching existed, but it was handmade and charged by the hour, a solution out of reach for amateurs…

We can consider that the enlarger with its different lenses, filters, layers and marginers was the ancestor of its applications that lighten, densify, and modify the atmosphere and the texture of the image itself. Each photographer had his own way of developing an image. The exercise of hiding by the play of hands, in connection with the exposure time, was sometimes an artist’s work. An exercise, let’s admit it, very limited.

Today, a subscription and a file export allow you to perform spectacular retouching work with a return to the original at any time, saving time, money and photo paper, not to mention the end of the use of harmful products.

Does the arrival of these digital tools make us forget the artisanal dimension of the work on the image?

Does Too Much Retouching Kill the Authenticity of the Photograph?

Rectifying the glowing iris, refining the contours of a face, accentuating the stormy light of a sky, correcting contrasts, harmonizing colors, creating depth of field…does the accumulation of copious retouching in the pursuit of perfection offer a real benefit to photography? By abusing the retouching, do we not come closer to a fake picture? In our desire to magnify a reality, we perhaps withdraw its power to generate emotion, and unless we take it as a real bias, excessive retouching can even border on bad taste.

There are fields where photo applications for retouching are indispensable. Let’s take the example of architectural photography, where it is imperative to rectify the perspective in order to give a building its true proportions, as well as to rework the play of light on the facades, by intervening in particular on overexposure or underexposure.

In this successive transformation, we notice that the authenticity can still be quite heckled, the purpose distorted and the sincerity of the original gone for good. The ultra “botoxed” photography becomes ugly, loses its soul and its raison d’être; it becomes tasteless, without any message to transmit. So beware of abuse.

“Following your path and your aspirations are important, especially when it comes to passionate jobs like photography.”

Today Anyone Can Become a Photographer?

Without photography, social networks would not have the popularity they enjoy. Some of them are platforms dedicated only to photography, like Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr… perfect to build an online community and share an image at any time. Today we express ourselves through and for the image.

A new generation of photographers was born with the emergence of social networks and smartphones and really got into the game of image making. Whether it’s vacation photos, landscapes, reproductions of works of art exhibited in a museum, portraits, or rather surprising places, photography expresses much more than a text to evoke our current activity or our encounters. And when digital photo retouching arrived, enlightened amateurs, professionals and beginners plunged into the world of retouching.

We stylize the image, we give it a more vibrant tone, we “texturize” it to best reveal it on our networks. Just as music has seen the emergence of young artists consecrated by the public thanks to their online publication, the artistic work of some photographers has been celebrated thanks to their online portfolio.

Facebook and Twitter participate in the beautiful adventure of recognition. How can we not evoke the images of Charlotte Abramov, who realized a poetic-photographic work on the disease of her father. She regularly posted her images, always staged by herself, with one goal: to accompany the journey of a loved one through illness with infinite tenderness. For this she achieved total and unexpected success punctuated by the publication of her book: “Maurice, Tristesse et rigolade.”

A Tool for the Excessive or for the Tailor-Made?

A retouching software must be at the service of the eye and not the opposite. Do not let yourself be taken in by digital solicitation. Distinguish the simple “improvements” that you wish to consider on your photographic work, without falling into pure and simple staging as André Gunthert (historian of photography) underlines it.

Major rules: use these softwares wisely, and especially those that resonate with you.

A work of selection is necessary in front of the multitude. When you discover an application, first look at the tutorials to study its assets and its defects. If necessary, download it for a few days to test it (many offer a trial period of a few days before buying). Take your time to ensure it doesn’t duplicate the ones you already have in your personal catalog. Frugality is part of the panoply of an eco-responsible photographer!

Your selection must always be at the service of your photographic universe. These digital aids must only be there to accompany your vision or your creation, in no case to distort it.

At the Service of a Signature?

Interview with Michel Redon, art director by training, who practices plastic photography exclusively on iPhone or iPad. He has a portfolio of over thirty applications such as Snapseed, Focos, Light Express, Photoshop, Shift, Union-Combine, Fragment-Prismatic, Photoleap, Pixlr, Apollo, Gemini, Photoroom Studio,Photoshop Fix, On1, Photo, Waterlogue, Camera Plus, Tintype…top level photo applications….

On Average, How Many Applications Do You Use per Photo?

“I can use up to four apps per photo. I will search for a specific tool in the first app and then export my photo and exploit another existing device in a second app and so on. This post-production work requires knowing each app and its capabilities inside and out. Without this keen understanding, you lose track of your work.”

How Do You Choose Your Photo Applications?

“It is imperative to spend many hours, testing, understanding, using all the potential that each application offers to finally build your own palette of photo applications that will serve a visual purpose. On average, I spend nearly an hour a day to familiarize myself with all the possibilities presented. Some of them often have the same functionalities, but I sometimes invest in another one, quite similar, because the access to the specific tool I am interested in will be more efficient for my work.”

What Are Your Favorite Apps?

“I regularly use Snapseed, Photoshop, Carbon, Filmo and On1; these are for me the best photo software apps. They’re my work base. They allow me to enhance my photos and go in the direction of the purpose I put in an image. It is also necessary to distinguish between the software dedicated to shooting and those used in post-prod. If I want to make a shot in vintage B&W, I use Tintype. But if I want to work on my depth of field, I use Focos.”

What kind of budget do you need for these photo apps?

“Generally speaking, powerful applications that add real value are not free. Annual subscriptions usually range from $20 to over $100. My personal budget dedicated to photography amounts to more than $300 per year.”

Can We Speak of a Photographic Signature?

“Some photographers really have a very identifiable style. For my part, it is difficult to answer this question. It may seem pretentious, but it is true that, over time, a spirit, a choice of subjects, texture and color harmony end up constituting your graphic and visual identity”.

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it,” Ansel Adams declared. Today, it seems that manipulating the substance of a photo is a required convention. Who doesn’t apply a filter or crop their photo before posting it on a social network?

These new tools at hand are an integral part of the DNA of digital photography. It is true that we are moving away from what André Rouillé (historian of photography) calls the “truth regime of silver photography”. We have seen it: everything must be a question of dosage, personal ethics and purpose.

Your Point of View on Photo Editing

What about you?

How does this reflection inspire you? Can retouching transport us to a place that does not truly reflect who we are? Or, on the contrary, can it be a great tool for creation?

Concretely, in the past year, have you ever published photos without retouching them?

Photo Credits: Charlotte Abramow, Michel Redon, Dan-Cristian Paduret.

The post Why Photo Retouching Is the Grail for Photographers appeared first on ShotVoice.

Post-Processing in Photography: An Endless Debate

The ShotVoice Team — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:09:11 +0000

Photo retouching has always been and still is seen as a modification of reality: Soviet propaganda in the 1940s lied about the people in the picture, the retouched skin of magazine models gives the illusion of perfection and the sumptuous landscapes on Instagram accounts seem to have come straight from another planet.

But these glaring examples make you forget the daily life of professional photographers and the need for retouching: adjusting the brightness and contrast of a photo, applying your signature, managing colours.

A brief overview of photo retouching and the parties involved in the debate.

The Thorny Issue of Photo Retouching

We often tend to associate post-processing with the digital photography revolution.

And yet, far from Photoshop and Lightroom, photo retouching has a history as long as photography itself.

The debate has been going on for more than a century now, and the camps are well defined: on the one hand, pragmatists consider that a photograph is above all an image of reality, and that as an image it deserves to be improved; on the other hand, photo purists defend the hard line of freeze-framing reality, its “authentic” effect, and discredit retouching, which is perceived as an unjustifiable alteration.

As early as 1872, Henry Hunt Snelling asserted in The Philadelphia Reporter: “Whoever cannot produce a negative as good as a retouched picture does not deserve to be called a photographer.”

Negative Development: A Subjective Matter?

One of the few things everyone agrees on, however, is that negative development is always a matter of choice in contrast and luminosity, or in the selection of a specific paper.

Didn’t Ansel Adams say that the negative is “like a musical score: you can play the same notes in completely different ways”?

But beyond the necessary manipulation of the negative, real modifications have always been found, and this has been the case since the creation of the silver photograph: armed with pencils, tips, blades, paper and a good lens, one can make entire characters or their physical characteristics appear or disappear, highlight a precise portion of a photo or modify the angle of a shot.

The Photographer’s Posture: A Question Of Style

One might ask what the purpose of retouching is: are we trying to sell a product (in a commercial or philosophical sense), in which case the viewer would feel cheated by a process that aims to lower his or her guard; or are we trying to be more faithful, to convey a vision, a feeling, in a more accurate way?

Aren’t most photographers simply trying to make their photos look better by removing dust and correcting brightness?

When asked for their opinion, they want, above all, to convey a message:

An artistic vision of the world that, in order to accurately convey their emotions, is achieved through photography and what undoubtedly accompanies it: photo retouching.

Julien Hugo, a professional wedding photographer, defines post-processing on his blog as a way to put his own stamp on the image, to create his own style that underlines his know-how and his personality as a professional photographer. In short: retouching allows him to define his brand image

The Ethics of Retouching

But for the viewer, it is a different matter. If the need to retouch certain photos to refocus the eye on the main subject is understood, some see it as an ideological debate; they idolise professionals who are reluctant to retouch, and in whom they find a refusal of uniformity and ease – a small tribute to Peter Lindbergh or Jade Beall. What does the viewer see when he looks at a photograph, if he knows deep down that the “original image” could have been quite different?

Let’s rephrase the question: what makes a photograph (and thus the photographer behind it) exceptional, if it has been edited for hours on a state-of-the-art computer? In the background of these questions, we can see the very essence of the philosophy of photography: what is a photo; what is a good photo; what is a good photographer?

Finally, What Does Photography Provide?

An objective posture, without affect, would say that the image is by definition a distortion of reality: it is the expression of a person who, through a gesture that is essentially artistic, wishes to freeze a moment in time with the help of a medium (whether it is silver or digital).

If we then consider that the development of this photo (or its projection on a screen) is an integral part of this action, then there is no longer any debate: the image can reflect reality but it cannot become reality.

Reality is therefore captured, frozen and then retouched and post-developed. And photo retouching naturally finds its place within the activity of the photographer, whether he is an amateur or a professional.

From Retouching to Creation: The Birth of a New Discipline

Beyond the “necessary” retouching (modification of colours, tones, cropping, etc.), how can we consider post-development when one or more photos are used as raw material for the creation of a superior work, where aestheticism takes precedence over reality?

The birth of new graphic arts – concomitant with the development of ever more competent software – seems to have pushed back the frontiers of photography.

But, on the contrary, isn’t it the opportunity to fix precisely the limits, in the day when photos are only pretexts for unlimited modifications?

Are they still really photographs?
On what criteria should they be distinguished?
Rate of denaturation, unreal aspect, fantasized expression?

A new debate that could see many spectators rallying to the reluctant of the retouching… but that should only leave room for dreamers and poets.

Photo Credits: Chris Lawton, Brigitta Schneiter, Laura Vinck, Dereck Thomson, Nirav Photography and Michel Redon.

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