Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Pictorialism: Move the subject off center, gather the light in one area, sink the rest
- Type
- Set in Pictorialism's manner (Title and sign by hand in the print margin, never on the image), and let Tableau Photography's lettering (Make the text in the frame as a prop rather than borrowing a typeface) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Pictorialism's material (Soft focus, backlit mist, hand coated printing that keeps the paper texture); bring in exactly one thing from Tableau Photography (Built sets or models, cinematic lighting, large format shot and printed big).
- Colour
- Build on #d6c7aa, #897562, #3d342c and admit one accent from #e4ddd2, #92705e, #2c2623.
Where they fight
- Pictorialism and Tableau Photography both belong to Photography Movements, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Pictorialism and Tableau Photography stand roughly 170 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Pictorialism Applying blur uniformly afterwards leaves no trace of anyone following the light, and the result is simply a photograph out of focus.
- Tableau 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.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Pictorialism (style, late-1800s–c.1914) and their accent from Tableau Photography (style, 1970s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Pictorialism exists for: portraits meant to be atmospheric pictures rather than records, or landscapes sold as works, with the handmade print part of the value. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Pictorialism - Soft focus - Mist and backlight - Painterly composition - Handcrafted prints Composition: Move the subject off center, gather the light in one area, sink the rest. Type and lettering: Title and sign by hand in the print margin, never on the image. ## Accent comes from Tableau Photography, used sparingly - A single large print made to hang - Figures who never look back at you - Interiors and streets built to the last corner - Lighting borrowed from cinema Let one material quality come from it: Built sets or models, cinematic lighting, large format shot and printed big. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #d6c7aa, carry the structure in #897562 and #3d342c, and let a single accent come from #92705e. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: intimacy, luxury, calm, rebellion, play. ## Where they fight - Pictorialism and Tableau Photography both belong to Photography Movements, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. - Pictorialism and Tableau Photography stand roughly 170 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Pictorialism: Applying blur uniformly afterwards leaves no trace of anyone following the light, and the result is simply a photograph out of focus. - Tableau 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. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Pictorialism late-1800s–c.1914 / Style / Photography Movements
Presented photography as art equal to painting, through soft focus, staged scenes and handworked prints.
- Tableau Photography 1970s / Style / Photography Movements
Assembles the scene before the shutter and holds it in a single print made to hang like a painting, its figures acting as if no viewer were there.
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