Pictorialism (blurry pictures)

Question

Photography doesn't always need to be tack sharp. It can be blurry and still beautiful.

How can you tell the difference between someone who is taking a pictorialist approach and someone who is just really bad at focusing?

How can you make the blurriness convincing... as in it was done on purpose, not an accident?

Answer 1

Pictorialism was a reaction to the realism and sharpness of photographs. In order to be more artistic, the Pictorialists, a group of photographers working in the late 19th Century, turned to methods of photography to render their images more painterly. They drew their inspiration, in large part, from the soft brush strokes of Impressionism. Their goal was to have their images to be considered High Art.

Their methods included blur, negative manipulation and printing techniques like gum bichromate printing.

A modern day approach to soft focus photography is the use of low tech plastic or toy cameras.

Check out these photographs on Flickr made with plastic cameras:

Holga Yearly 2008

http://www.flickr.com/groups/holgayearly...

Fun with Plastic:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/funplastic/

Answer 2

some photographerss as well as publications make a good living on "soft focus" photos. Penthouse Magazine is an example. If the softness of the focus is obviously intentional then its ok but with modern lenses and auto focus cameras there is virtually no excuse for photographer error.

As with abstract art, I guess its all in the perspective of the viewer.

Answer 3

Blurry on purpose

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pook...

Tell me what you think about this one..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21325281@N0...

Answer 4

There is clearly something that distinguishes a blurry snap shot from a beautifully lit and composed soft image. I think that a lot of the time people end up with blurry photos because their auto focus is focusing on the wrong object. There is also a limit to how much soft focus there is and should be.