# Photorealism × Staged Photography — composed image prompt
# IndexStyle — https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=photorealism+staged-photography
# Photorealism carries the structure. Staged Photography appear as accents, each further back than the last.
# Style descriptors only. Never imitates a specific artist, studio, brand or work.

An original image that takes its structure from Photorealism (Style, 1968–1980s) and its accent from Staged Photography (Technique, 19th century– / 1970s revival). Structural cues: Reflections and highlights taken from the photograph; Depth of field painted exactly as the lens gave it; Commercial subjects drawn from the city; A smooth surface with every brushmark erased. Accent cues, used sparingly: Constructed scenes; Props; Cinematic lighting; Deliberate artificiality. Composition: Keep the photograph's own crop and do not recompose the frame. Type and lettering: Let lettering appear inside the frame as signage, never laid over the image from outside. Let one material quality come from the second style: Built sets or models, cinematic lighting, large format shot and printed big. Mood: Technology, Futurism, Trust, Rebellion, Luxury, Play. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e4ddd2, #92705e, #2c2623. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.

# Where the two fight
# - Photorealism and Staged Photography share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
# - Roughly 1949 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.

# Cautions carried from each entry
# - Photorealism: Cleaning up the lens artefacts: polish out the focus fall-off, the grain and the fringing and the picture stops reading as a photograph made by hand, leaving airless illustration.
# - Staged Photography: Staging that only imitates a natural record leaves the assumption that photographs record reality untouched, and the whole reason for constructing the scene disappears.

# Design specs: https://indexstyle.org/styles/photorealism/design.md · https://indexstyle.org/styles/staged-photography/design.md