How to Recognize Great Art Photography! Part 1

So, exactly how do you recognize value in a photograph? What makes a photograph so great, that you should hang it on your wall? It's taken me four years to come up with an answer! This is why I want to share with you what I've discovered.

I spent years researching exactly what was a perfect photograph and discovered the answer isn't a simple one. So, I have had to break the answer into five categories.

I hope by sharing my discovery, the information can help direct other photographers in their work. But, mostly I hope that everyone reading my blog will be able to gain an appreciation and the ability to distinguish good photography as a form of art. Only then will you be inspired to attend a photo exhibition, understand what you are looking at, see its value, and come away with a feeling of satisfaction from the experience.

Most of us have tried to draw or paint a picture and can appreciate the time and skill it takes an artist to produce an image that makes us stop, look and feel.

We recognize the artist has skill, has studied his craft, had a vision and has taken time to create that vision. We have an appreciation for the mastery of the art form and we are willing to pay the artist for his talent, time and materials.

But, what about photography, another visual art form? We all take pictures with some form of camera and instantaneously have a photograph. Perhaps with no more knowledge than knowing what button to push and that the subject seemed interesting. It took very little time and no skill to create that photograph. So where is the value, other than to yourself?

Why is an Ansel Adams landscape considered a master piece and not the picture your friend took on her trip to the Rockies?

The world is drowning in information, layers and layers of it. Unless you have pursued a particular career path, topic or passion, you may not even be aware of what you don't know! Or maybe you know that there are things that you don't know. In my following series of blogs, I want to help you become aware of how you can recognize if a photograph really is masterful photography.