4 Photographic Conventions that Originated in Paintings

Artists famous for painting and drawing portraits figured out a ton about composition, form, shape, shadow, and framing well before the camera made it big. The conventions they originated, back when spending months on a single portrait was the most efficient way to capture someone in the flesh, are conventions that still surface in photography today, many of which initially originated in paintings.

Photographic conventions refer to the commonly accepted practices, techniques, and styles photographers use to create images. These conventions can include aspects like composition (how elements are arranged in a photo), lighting (how light is used to illuminate subjects), framing (what’s contained within the edges of the photo), perspective (the angle from which the photo is taken), and subject matter (what the image is about).

Let’s have a look at some photographic conventions that originated in paintings.

1. Photographic Conventions – Aerial Landscapes In Portraiture

The Mona Lisa was one of the first portraits to depict a subject appearing before an imagined landscape using aerial perspective, a technique in which the artist creates depth in a piece. The technique typically involves making the subject appear clear and crisp with warm colors in contrast to a blurry background composed mostly of cooler colors. It’s a fairly common photography convention to have a subject appear clear and crisp in a photo surrounded by a blurred aerial landscape.

Photographic Convention Example: The Mona Lisa

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2. Photographic Conventions – Hyper-Realism Photography Conventions

Artistic realism was a movement that began in France in the 1850s, in which artists portrayed scenes from everyday life as realistically as possible. Oil paint, mixing, and application techniques allowed particularly skilled artists to achieve a level of photorealism similar to how a camera would depict an image, and modern artists like Chuck Close have continued to explore this convention.

Photographic Convention Example: Courbet

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3. Photography Conventions – Surrealism

The surrealist movement combined objects and life forms in the three-dimensional world with fantastical images to communicate unconscious thoughts and dreams. One of the best examples is Dali’s famous painting, The Persistence of Memory. Similarly, surrealism in photography combines realistic elements in strange, surprising, and beautiful ways, particularly with double-exposure photography.

Photographic Convention Example: Salvador Dali’s Persistence Of Time

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4. Photography Conventions – Landscape Framing

Capturing a few indicators of human life situated within vast expanses of natural scenery has long been a fascination of both landscape painting and photography. The appearance of even just one small human form, building, or sign of human life can immediately transform itself into a focal point.

Photography Convention Example: Landscape Painting

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Wrapping Up – Photography Conventions

Over the years, photography has borrowed a lot from painting. Think about those famous artists who painted portraits long before cameras were even a thing. They were experts in arranging things in their paintings, playing with light and shadow, and deciding how to frame their subjects. All those skills they developed over months of work on a single portrait? Well, they set the stage for how we take photos today.

So, when you see a well-lit and carefully framed photo, you see techniques that those old portrait painters first perfected. It’s pretty amazing how their ideas still shape how we capture images today. As photography keeps changing and growing, these photographic conventions remind us of the deep connections between different art forms and how they continue to inspire each other.

Author Bio:

This is a guest post provided by Jorie Jacobi, a writer and blogger for the St. Louis Curator and WhoopTee custom t-shirts.

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