Photography genres... How do you define them?

[telles75]

To give some tangible examples here are two pics... Let me know what genre do you believe each one of these pertains to...

#1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafaeltell … otostream/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafaeltelles/4822837237/sizes/z/in/photostream/)


#2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafaeltell … otostream/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafaeltelles/4817613768/sizes/z/in/photostream/)

[deuce818]

i would have to say they're both portrait shots, first one seems a bit more Beauty/Glamour

very nice photos and model btw

[tcc]

Thank god I found this thread before posting up a new one :)

What I wanted to know is what defines beauty photography from portrait and vice versa?

[sigma pi]

I want to know whats the difference between fashion and glamor

[tcc]

Thank god I found this thread before posting up a new one :)

What I wanted to know is what defines beauty photography from portrait and vice versa?
Anyone??

I'm trying to make up some business cards and my website but don't know how to categorize some of my photos into these two genres.

To me portraiture are images of a person from about the shoulders up yet beauty can be that also and beauty should be an image of a beautiful person, of course, yet portraiture can be that too.

Uggghh, the dilemma.

[captainpenguin]

Maybe fashion is where the eye is drawn more to what the model is wearing glamour more to the model herself

[RDKirk]

I want to know whats the difference between fashion and glamor

If it's all about the apparel and the beauty and character of the model are incidental,it's fashion.

If it's all about the beauty of the model and the apparel and character of the model are incidental, it's glamour.

If it's about the character of the model and the beauty and apparel are incidental, it's a portrait.

[sigma pi]

Maybe fashion is where the eye is drawn more to what the model is wearing glamour more to the model herself

If it's all about the apparel and the beauty and character of the model are incidental,it's fashion.

If it's all about the beauty of the model and the apparel and character of the model are incidental, it's glamour.

If it's about the character of the model and the beauty and apparel are incidental, it's a portrait.
Thanks for the great definition :D

[telles75]

If it's all about the apparel and the beauty and character of the model are incidental,it's fashion.

If it's all about the beauty of the model and the apparel and character of the model are incidental, it's glamour.

If it's about the character of the model and the beauty and apparel are incidental, it's a portrait.

Great definition... Where do "Beauty Shots" fall under this? Portrait or Glamour? To me Beauty Shots are the head only shots normally with specialized/complex Makeup and accessories.

[RDKirk]

Great definition... Where do "Beauty Shots" fall under this? Portrait or Glamour? To me Beauty Shots are the head only shots normally with specialized/complex Makeup and accessories.

I'd call them glamour, although under certain circumstances they could be "fashion." Context would tell the tale there. Make-up can be fashion in itself, and often a beauty shot is used in a fashion context as an attention-grabbing lead-in to the clothing shots.

Some other gray areas can involve using celebrities for fashion--often the character of the celebrity is the reason for his or her selection, thus character is more than merely incidental in a fashion image.

[tcc]

Wow, great definitions. But why does it seem to be so complicated? Beauty seems to cover a lot of different genres/categories.

[RDKirk]

Wow, great definitions. But why does it seem to be so complicated? Beauty seems to cover a lot of different genres/categories.

In commercial practice, "beauty" is usually pretty specific. The people who specialize in it will point out that the super-high level of make-up and technical perfection far surpasses what's necessary with almost any genre besides perhaps food photography (which is a science unto itself). It's actually pretty clearly specialized--not many people really do "beauty" as it should be done. Mostly, it's glamour...which requires a far less level of technical perfection.

[tcc]

In commercial practice, "beauty" is usually pretty specific. The people who specialize in it will point out that the super-high level of make-up and technical perfection far surpasses what's necessary with almost any genre besides perhaps food photography (which is a science unto itself). It's actually pretty clearly specialized--not many people really do "beauty" as it should be done. Mostly, it's glamour...which requires a far less level of technical perfection.
So would you say that most shots today are more so glamour instead of beauty?

[RDKirk]

So would you say that most shots today are more so glamour instead of beauty?

Depends on whose shots you're talking about. I'm seeing the difference primarily in the level of technical perfection--commercial beauty images are not just pictures of beautiful women, but pictures in which the technical attainment beauty is the subject. If you do a Google image search for "beauty photography," you see that most of them aren't even "glamorous" in any conventional sense of that word. The makeup is more the subject of the image than the model is.

Now, do a Google image search for "glamour photography" and you'll see a clear difference in the genre.

[telles75]

In commercial practice, "beauty" is usually pretty specific. The people who specialize in it will point out that the super-high level of make-up and technical perfection far surpasses what's necessary with almost any genre besides perhaps food photography (which is a science unto itself). It's actually pretty clearly specialized--not many people really do "beauty" as it should be done. Mostly, it's glamour...which requires a far less level of technical perfection.

I totally agree with you RDKirk. Beauty shoots require PERFECTION in all the phases: before the shoot (Makeup, hair), during the shoot (Lighting, angle, expression), after the shoot (immaculate pixel level editing). Most of the time Beauty shots are post processed by dedicated Photoshop masters to achieve that perfect skin and hair. Yes Glamour is far less perfect, although it has it's own set of difficulties :)

[telles75]

So would you say that most shots today are more so glamour instead of beauty?


Glamour and Beauty are two different genres. But RDKirk pointed out something very important that could be a good indicator on how to categorize a shot that is close to both genres, and that is Perfection.