Professional Photographers Research Articles

Techniques for using backlighting to enhance the expressiveness of photographs

This article examines the historical and contemporary aspects of backlighting in photography, focusing on its visual and psychological impact and the technical and color features that enhance its effectiveness. Drawing on principles established during the Baroque era by artists like Caravaggio and Rembrandt, the study explores how modern photographers integrate these techniques with advanced lighting technologies and color theories, particularly those of Johannes Itten. Through a comprehensive analysis of backlighting applications in portrait and food photography, the research highlights how this technique enhances depth, texture, and emotional resonance in images. The findings demonstrate that mastery of backlighting, combined with technical proficiency and an understanding of color interactions, allows photographers to create compelling and emotionally impactful works. The novelty of this work lies in its synthesis of historical practices with modern technological advancements, offering new insights into the creative possibilities of backlighting in professional photography.

Exploration and practice of teaching mode of "one core and three combinations" in photography course

Photography is the art of expressing the instantaneous beauty. Photography teaching is hierarchical. With the rapid popularization of digital photography technology, Beijing Open University as a remote open, education university, in the photography professional photography teaching, on the basis of construction theory, adhering to the teaching design concept of quality education, explore with the characteristics of open education"One core and three combination" teaching mode, make full use of online education technology to cultivate students' innovation ability, improve artisticaccomplishment, and vigorously promote the deepening of teaching reform.

Photoanthropometric study: are non-professional photographs suitable for objective and reliable analysis of facial features?

The face has been widely investigated using professionally taken frontal and lateral photographs, however, there is a lack of studies of non-professional facial photographs. It is not known if they could be suitable for facial analysis. The analysis of non-professional photographs could allow the performance of cost- effective longitudinal studies. To determine if non-professional photographs could be used for a reliable analysis of facial features. The frontal profiles of 18-21-year-olds (35 males, 39 females) were measured by direct anthropometry, in addition, professional photographs were taken and non-professional photographs were obtained. Anthropometric landmarks were superimposed on those photographs. The indices calculated on the basis of the measurements of direct anthropometry and both types of photographs were compared. The comparison of the measurements of direct anthropometry and professional photographs showed no difference between 14 out of 25 male and 10 out of 25 female facial indices (p > 0.05) after comparing the results of direct anthropometry with those of non-professional photographs, no difference was found in 8 out of 25 male and 7 out of 25 female indices. These indices were mostly composed of vertical parameters and eye measurements. Vertical facial dimensions and eye measurements may not only be used interchangeably for both facial photographs and direct anthropometry, but may also be suitable for objective and reliable facial analyses.

What the Warhol Court Got Wrong: Use as an Artist Reference and the Derivative Work Doctrine

In Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, the Supreme Court conflated “use as an artist reference” with preparing a “derivative work.” It did so on the erroneous assumption that permission to use a copyrighted work as an artist reference is a license to prepare a derivative work. But copyright law does not necessarily deem all uses of references for making new art to be the preparation of a derivative work. In other words, not all adaptations of an original work are infringing. Some may be neither derivative works nor substantially similar copies, and some may be subject to the exceptions and limitations in the statute, such as fair use. Examining longstanding artistic practices, case law, and our recent study of professional photographers, this Article develops a more nuanced view of the relationship between the artist reference and the derivative work. Drawing on this evidence, we argue that courts should explicitly engage with the characteristics and context of the reference and the new work before arriving at a determination of infringement or noninfringement between the two works. This reasoning applies equally whether the use of an artist reference is initially licensed or unlicensed by a second artist. When expressly authorized, artist references are simply permissions to use—a ticket to entry, permission for access to the work in its tangible and intangible forms. And, importantly, they are just the beginning of an artistic process. What the new author produces based on the artist reference makes all the difference, and legal liability should depend on aesthetic evaluation of both the referenced work and the new work. Avoiding that aesthetic evaluation and misconstruing an agreement to “use as an artist reference” as a license to prepare a derivative work, which the Supreme Court did in its formalistic approach in Warhol, is a shortcut that distorts copyright law and harms creative practice.

The Concept of Ideal Lips of Caucasian Female: An Anthropometric Analysis of the Lower Third of the Face.

The demand for lip-redefining procedures has been rising in recent years, thus creating the need for reliable and detailed reference sources on aesthetic female lips. This study investigates the morphology of the lower third of the face, including the lips and jawline, of attractive young Caucasian females. A semi-automatic photogrammetric analysis of the faces of professional female photograph models (n=400) of the Caucasian race aged 18-39 was performed. Angular, linear, and surface area parameters were evaluated. A graphical summarization of the average facial shape of all analyzed attractive females was generated as an average body contours (ABC) image. The height of the lower third of the face equaled 0.32 ± 0.02 of the total facial height. The average lip width was 48.06 ± 3.34mm. The upper vermilion height was found to be significantly lower than the lower vermilion height (6.47 ± 1.36 vs. 11.64 ± 1.46mm, p < 0.01). The lip obliquity angle was found to be 1.05° ± 0.79°. The area surface of the upper lip vermilion was considerably smaller than the vermilion of the lower lip (p < 0.01). This is one of the largest studies on attractive Caucasian females' lips and lower face morphology. The data it provides, including the graphical presentation of the aesthetic lower face as an ABC image, may provide physicians with valuable guidelines for lips rejuvenation and reconstruction procedures. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

The critical role of professional photography in digital marketing for SMEs: Strategies and best practices for success

The critical role of professional photography in digital marketing for SMEs: Strategies and best practices for success

A Trilogy of Food, Photography And Social Media: Gastroporn

Eating is a biologically fundamental human activity. However, the real importance of eating stems not from its biological necessity but from its symbolic character. Food and eating also have psychological, social, and political significance. Food is a means by which love and desire are expressed and communicated. In addition, food serves purposes beyond filling the stomach, such as self-construction, identity formation, social status, gaining prestige, showing others who you are, and differentiating from others. In this context, the concept of gastroporn is considered a form of food that has moved away from its true meaning and undergone a shift in meaning and is expressed as aesthetic images of unattainable pleasure that replace real food. The presentation and visualization of the food, the preparation of the food, and the kitchen materials used often become more important than the food itself. Changing the existing image of the food and serving it with presentations that can emphasize the feelings and emotions of the consumer is the main reason underlying gastroporn. Although the pairing of food with pornography in the classical sense may sound repulsive and irreconcilable at first, the fact that the artistic aspect rather than the food itself comes to the fore in the dishes made with artistic mastery by the chefs in the kitchen, the "irresistible" erotic connotations of some ingredients and the professional photography of all these reveal the similarities between food and pornography. The sexual connotations of foods such as a burst yolk, a runny chocolate bar, and the elongation of hot cheese, bananas, ice cream, etc., reinforce the connection between food and pornography. The main thing emphasized in this article is that the concept of gastroporn is a new form of transforming food and that social media and food photography contribute positively to this new form.

To Be or Not To Be (an Ad): Advertising Students’ Understanding of Instagram In-Feed Native Advertising

This study explores advertising students’ recognition and comprehension of in-feed native advertising on Instagram, a leading platform for social media native advertising. Data were collected from 303 U.S. college advertising students. It examines the impact of two key aspects of Instagram in-feed native advertising—an additional label (“Shop Now”) and ad-context congruency—through both quantitative and qualitative data. Findings reveal a significant deficit in native ad recognition among advertising students. Qualitative analysis identified four themes constituting Instagram in-feed advertising for advertising students: professional photo quality, branded products, persuasive elements, and excessive hashtags. Quantitative results indicate that high ad-context congruency led to higher perceptions of nativeness and more positive emotions, but did not significantly influence ad attitudes or negative emotions. The study underscores practical and theoretical implications for advertising educators and scholars, emphasizing the need for enhanced digital advertising literacy and discussing broader implications for advertising pedagogy and practices.

Beneath the lens: Exploring the impacts of underwater photographers in marine-based tourism

As scuba diving proliferates in popularity as a nature-based recreational activity, the associated benefits and impacts are correspondingly emerging. Previous studies showed that underwater photographers are potentially the more impactful group of scuba divers. To further explore the impacts and behaviour of underwater photographers, this study attempted to predict their impacts through three photography-related variables, including species of interest, photography habit, and photography commitment through a case study in Hong Kong. A scuba diver survey was performed in summer 2021 to assess the impacts of divers, a follow-up questionnaire survey was delivered, and a total of 106 samples were collected. Findings showed that underwater photographers caused more negative impacts than ordinary scuba divers. Among underwater photographers, individuals more interested in conspicuous and actively moving species have more frequent contact with marine organisms. In contrast, those more interested in cryptic and sedentary species were more likely to cause intentional contact. Underwater photographers with greater commitment also showed more frequent and more intentional connections. Implications were drawn regarding underwater photographers' behaviors, and relevant suggestions were recommended to address the potential concerns. Management implicationThis study highlights the significant ecological impacts of underwater photographers who cause higher contact rates with the coral community, which causes more severe damage. The research suggested various policies for the protected areas managers to mitigate the advert ecological impacts from the recreational divers as follows:●Train underwater photographers on proper techniques to reduce ecological impact.●Regulate the use of professional photography devices in marine environments.●Implement comprehensive pre-dive briefings to promote eco-friendly diving practices.●Use supervised dives to ensure adherence to environmental guidelines.By adopting the above measurements, the marine ecosystem can be protected, which can promote sustainable tourism practices.

‘How I edit my Instagram images’: investigating skilled vision in the work of YouTube’s lifestyle-content creators

Woman social media content creators’ visual expertise is ill understood and arguably overlooked. Through the example of lifestyle-creators, this article explores the ways they plan, produce, and look at imagery on Instagram and YouTube, and shows that creators have specific ways to learn, communicate, and take part into social practices that are key in formulating their skilled vision and visual professionality. The study is part of a larger nethnographic project in which lifestyle-YouTube channels and related social media platforms have been studied for three years. In this article, online observation of 13 creators and content analysis of instructional ‘how I edit’ – videos show, that creators have trained sense of vision that involves everyday work practices common both for amateur and professional photography practitioners. The findings suggest that creators’ skilled vision is produced through four processes: (1) sharing expertise; (2) the use of specific technology and software; (3) routine; (4) creativity. Finally, it is argued that investigating creators’ skilled vision adds to our understanding of the mechanisms that have excluded a great deal of ‘feminine’ creativity from our historical and present accounts. I situate lifestyle creators within a longer tradition of women engaging with photography, photographic technologies, and product advice, and offer ways for understanding digitally networked ‘influencing’ and visual practices on social media today.

Fusion of Multimodal Imaging and 3D Digitization Using Photogrammetry.

Multimodal sensors capture and integrate diverse characteristics of a scene to maximize information gain. In optics, this may involve capturing intensity in specific spectra or polarization states to determine factors such as material properties or an individual's health conditions. Combining multimodal camera data with shape data from 3D sensors is a challenging issue. Multimodal cameras, e.g., hyperspectral cameras, or cameras outside the visible light spectrum, e.g., thermal cameras, lack strongly in terms of resolution and image quality compared with state-of-the-art photo cameras. In this article, a new method is demonstrated to superimpose multimodal image data onto a 3D model created by multi-view photogrammetry. While a high-resolution photo camera captures a set of images from varying view angles to reconstruct a detailed 3D model of the scene, low-resolution multimodal camera(s) simultaneously record the scene. All cameras are pre-calibrated and rigidly mounted on a rig, i.e., their imaging properties and relative positions are known. The method was realized in a laboratory setup consisting of a professional photo camera, a thermal camera, and a 12-channel multispectral camera. In our experiments, an accuracy better than one pixel was achieved for the data fusion using multimodal superimposition. Finally, application examples of multimodal 3D digitization are demonstrated, and further steps to system realization are discussed.

Instructing Hugs for the Photograph: The Local Achievement of Haptic Compositions and Their Public Visibility

ABSTRACT Hugs are a pervasive practice characterizing human sociality. They involve the persons engaged in hugging as well as other persons who might witness it for various purposes. This article examines the social organization of hugging in family photography sessions. This organization integrates instructions to hug, orchestrated by photographers and sometimes by third parties, and their responses; it also relies on constitutive details of local contexts as well as global projects of the photographing activity. By concentrating on the organization of hugs in photography sessions, this study highlights the movement trajectories of hugging parties and their projectability and visibility. Relying on their professional vision, photographers identify, arrange, and shoot photographable haptic compositions. The ways in which hugs are produced index different familial relationships among hugging parties, shedding light on issues such as agency, participation and entitlement.

Reconstruction of Photographic Images in the Novel Sixty Lights by Gail Jones

The article is devoted to the analysis of the neo­Victorian novel “Sixty Lights” (2004) by the modern Australian writer Gail Jones. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of photographic images presented in the form of photographic ekphrasis and further substantiate the genre status of the novel. The plot centers on the history of the formation and development of photography in the second half of the XIXth century, the history intertwined with the life of the main character, Lucy Strange, who became a professional photographer. With the help of photography, or “writing of light” (Jean Baudrillard), the world is learned and meaning is brought into it: by reconstructing images of reality through vision and photography (from royalty and family members to everyday objects), Lucy creates documents of the era, documents of memory, intended to be “read” by future generations. In Victorian Britain, photography became one of the brightest sociocultural symbols of the era, embodying such concepts as memory, death, identity, etc. The use of the methodology of historical, literary and intermedial analysis made it possible for the authors to identify the genre­forming potential of photographic ekphrasis and, on this basis, define the genre modification of the novel “Sixty Lights” by G. Jones as photo­ekphrastic, and its kind as a photo­reconstruction novel.

Ana Magalhães Rodrigues (1869-1937): A Descoberta de Uma Fotógrafa Portuguesa.

Gender studies are, in the historiography of art in Portugal, incipient and, as far as the History of Photography is concerned, still embrionary. However, several names of women who dedicated themselves to photography as amateurs are already known, many of them associated to their father, brothers or husband, following a similar tradition of female contribution to the artistic world, before the 19th century. Professional Portuguese photographer, self-designated the first, the name of Maria Reya Campos is known, operating in the south of Portugal. The circumstance of having identified, in 2019, a carte-de-visite with the label ANNA MAGALHÃES RODRIGUES, opened a new path for the study of the life and path of a woman-photographer working alone in the Portuguese countryside, in the early years of the 20th century. Based on written historical sources, photographs and a set of illustrated postcards, we developed some interpretations about her formation and trade.

«Камера – это глаз истории»: к вопросу о жанрообразующем потенциале фотографического экфрасиса в романе Г. Свифта “Out of This World”

The article deals with the role of photography in the novel Out of This World (1988) by the contemporary British writer G. Swift, which is not translated into Russian. The changed socio-cultural status of photography as an artefact is traced: from the ‘pencil of nature’ (G. F. Talbot) in the middle of the 19th century. to ‘simulacrum’ (L. Hatcheon) in the postmodern paradigm, implying ambiguity and variability in the ‘reading’ of a photographic image. Photography is presented in the novel at the main poetological levels: level of the plot, of the characters, spatiotemporal, narrative, motive-thematic levels. Photography allows one to ‘tell’ different types of stories: both family ones and those related to the tragic events of the 20th century. The protagonist of the novel, professional war photographer Harry Beach, creates photographs while in hot spots: Vietnam, Oran, Congo, etc. He does not only capture, but philosophically comprehends what is happening on the world stage. Photographs taken by Harry (in the form of photo-ekphrasis) are a historical photo chronicle, and he himself is a photo chronicler, presenting to the world the truthful documents that have an accusatory status. Harry realizes that it is a crime to ‘smooth out’ the cruel reality, especially in the age of modern media that abuse photo manipulation and are guided by the principle of replacing reality with simulacra. It seems possible to define the genre form of G. Swift's novel, based on a series of photographs (both personal and public), as a photo-ekphrastic novel and classify it as a so-called novel-photoreflection, which has been developed since the late 1970s.

Indigenous Visual History: Remembering “Us” in Indian Residential School Hockey Photographs

Photography was a potent settler colonial technology that was employed — and contested — in the residential school system. In one photographic campaign, the Canadian government marshalled images of Indigenous children on a once-in-a-lifetime hockey excursion to publicly convey it was successfully assimilating them into Euro-Canadian society. The 1951 Sioux Lookout Black Hawks, a residential school hockey team from the Pelican Lake Indian Residential School (Anglican) in northwestern Ontario, were taken on a whirlwind exhibition tour to Ottawa and Toronto. They were celebrated by high-ranking governmental and Anglican church officials who posed alongside them in a series of professional photographs taken by a National Film Board’s Still Photography Division photographer and commissioned by the Department of Indian Affairs. These photographs suggested that hockey fostered appropriate masculinity and citizenship values, in line with the government’s assimilationist agenda. The responses of three hockey players shown in these images some seventy years after they were taken, and our exploration of how the survivors interpellated the colonial knowledge embedded in the photographs to reconstitute their own subjectivities, extends the small-but-growing canon of visual repatriation, where archival photographs are “returned” to Indigenous communities who were the subjects of the colonizers’ lenses. Ultimately, we demonstrate how the survivors’ responses to the photographs (and their implied meanings) comprise technologies of Indigenous memory that re-centre themselves and their communities as authors of their own stories, and, thus, their epistemic futures.

Identifying professional photographers through image quality and aesthetics in Flickr

AbstractIn our generation, there is an undoubted rise in the use of social media and specifically photo and video sharing platforms. These sites have proved their ability to yield rich data sets through the users’ interaction which can be used to perform a data‐driven evaluation of capabilities. Nevertheless, this study reveals the lack of suitable data sets in photo and video sharing platforms and evaluation processes across them. In this way, our first contribution is the creation of one of the largest labelled data sets in Flickr with the multimodal data which has been open sourced as part of this contribution. It incorporates multimodal data, combining information from various sources such as user profiles, photo metadata, and crowdsourced features. Predicated on these data, we explored machine learning models and concluded that it is feasible to properly predict whether a user is a professional photographer or not based on self‐reported occupation labels and several feature representations out of the user, photo and crowdsourced sets. We also examined the relationship between the aesthetics and technical quality of a picture and the social activity of that picture. Finally, we depicted which characteristics differentiate professional photographers from non‐professionals. As far as we know, the results presented in this work represent an important novelty for identifying expertise in the domain of photography, which researchers from various domains can utilise for related applications.

Quadri viventi e mascherate romane nelle fotografie di fine Ottocento Attilio Simonetti, Henri Le Lieure e i fratelli Primoli

This paper aims to investigate the intriguing phenomenon of costumed parties held in Rome between 1880 and 1900 through the study of photographic material. In particular, the essay focuses on two main iconographic aspects: the carnival masquerades, conceived in most cases by the painter and antiquarian Attilio Simonetti and interpreted by some members of the International Artistic Association; and the tableaux vivants, the so-called living pictures, which were figurative compositions usually set up in the patrician residences, including that of the counts Giuseppe and Luigi Primoli, who were an active part in their creation. A crucial role was also played by Henri Le Lieure, a professional photographer of French origin who was responsible for much of the visual documentation of the time.

Social media and optimization of the promotion of Lake Toba tourism destinations in Indonesia

Tourism is one of the largest contributors to Indonesia's foreign exchange earnings, surpassing taxation, energy, and gas. This study seeks to investigate the use of social media to optimize the promotion of Lake Toba as a tourist destination, which has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using interview techniques and live field observations, it was discovered that social media, particularly the Instagram platform, play a significant role in promoting Lake Toba tourism. The Department of Culture and Tourism of the North Sumatra Province uses landscape photography as its primary promotion method, which has proved to be more effective and interesting than conventional methods such as the distribution of brochures or the use of manuals. The capture procedure and techniques for landscape photography were carried out by professional photographers in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Tourism of the North Sumatra Province. In addition to providing information, tourism_sumut's Instagram account functions as a platform to raise public awareness about Lake Toba tourism and as a promotional medium for North Sumatra's tourist attractions on an international scale. Department of Culture and Tourism of the North Sumatra Province collaborates with travel agencies and local communities to disseminate Lake Toba tourism information.

Social media and optimization of the promotion of Lake Toba tourism destinations in Indonesia

Tourism is one of the largest contributors to Indonesia's foreign exchange earnings, surpassing taxation, energy, and gas. This study seeks to investigate the use of social media to optimize the promotion of Lake Toba as a tourist destination, which has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using interview techniques and live field observations, it was discovered that social media, particularly the Instagram platform, play a significant role in promoting Lake Toba tourism. The Department of Culture and Tourism of the North Sumatra Province uses landscape photography as its primary promotion method, which has proved to be more effective and interesting than conventional methods such as the distribution of brochures or the use of manuals. The capture procedure and techniques for landscape photography were carried out by professional photographers in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Tourism of the North Sumatra Province. In addition to providing information, tourism_sumut's Instagram account functions as a platform to raise public awareness about Lake Toba tourism and as a promotional medium for North Sumatra's tourist attractions on an international scale. Department of Culture and Tourism of the North Sumatra Province collaborates with travel agencies and local communities to disseminate Lake Toba tourism information.