[bimmer]

What exactly constitutes "Photo-art"?
When is an image "Photo-art" and not "just art"?
When is a photo "just a photo" and not "photo-art"?

If this seems like a stupid question, feel free to shoot me down :-) I'm just trying to get a feel of the subject as a new (and excited) member...

/Bimmer

[dcarr]

Hi Bimmer,
Take a look at the photo Art section and you should begin to get an idea. Photo Art is your view/interpretation of a photo. One man's art is another man's polaroid. It's your chance to express yourself.
Debbie

[jeaniesa]

Hi Bimmer,

First, let me say welcome to RetouchPro!

You ask a very interesting question. I don't think there is a "formal" definition of Photo-Art. I've been trying to write up my definition for the past 20 minutes and am having a difficult time putting my thoughts into words. So, I'll keep thinking about it and try to write something that makes sense later.

In general though, Photo-Art uses a photograph as a starting point and branches out to create a new "interpretation" of the photo. I view the "just a photo" as the starting point, though even that gets messy when you think about retouching a photo to improve the color balance/saturation and sharpness. I would still consider that "just a photo", but taken to extremes, I might consider it "Photo-Art". As far as "just art", I think that encompasses a whole range of mediums, so both "just photos" and "Photo-Art" fall under the category "art" to me.

If I try to say anything more, I'm going to confuse myself.

Jeanie

[Andrew B.]

I'll give it a shot.

Photo-art begins with a photograph, and then tries to move that photo to a place that duplicates or approches the look of a natural medium, or at least shares some of the nonphotographic characteristics of natural media. And it is not simply an interpretation of a photo, because I don't think anyone would consider a desaturation or a color correction to be photo art.

[collinf]

Chuck

I think you'll find that's an art-photo.

[bimmer]

Gee... Thanx for all the replys... That really cleared things up... umm... or not...

But really... It's great to see that I'm not the only one who finds the borders a little blurry ...

I guess in the end it doesn't really matter... What's important is that I have found this Excellent community in which to learn, share experiences and discuss all things photoish or artzy...

Happy New Year everyone!

[jaz]

What's the difference between retouching, image manipulation and photo-art? The moderator at one of the forums sent me an email where they were irritated that I had posted pictures of manipulated photos and had put them in the manipulation, restoration, retouching forum instead of here. To me, they were image manipulation so I didn't understand what the big deal was?