picture quality and longevity

jamiebonline

jamiebonline

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Jamie
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Hi guys,

I am curious about something. Let's say, by sheer luck or talent or a mix, one of us takes a picture tomorrow that is a masterpiece and ends up being shown widely. An iconic image from our time. Is the quality of the image so important? I don't have an iphone but many people use one to capture a moment on the go. It would surely be an issue to print one of these large and put it in a gallery, wouldn't it? The IQ would really not hold up well.

This is not a passive aggressive way of saying IQ is over-emphasized. High IQ is a necessity in most professional paid work. I am just interested in its place relative to the creation of some work of art for the generations. Perhaps photojournalism is an area that lends itself to this when I talk about an iconic image. I also wonder if as tech improves, it might be able to improve an existing digital image in terms of resolution by somehow 'filling in the gaps'

Anyway your thoughts please :)
 
It's a question putting things in historical context.

If 'Heartbreak Hotel' or even 'I want yo hold your hand' were released tomorrow, they'd be insignificant. Their significance comes from a contemporary comparison. Likewise, the work of many 'great' photographers.

iPhone images can capture a news story, but I'm unsure we'll see one reach iconic status, given that 'iconic' generally requires something out of the ordinary, it's not likely that the iPhone photographer would create it.

As for image quality being able to be improved in software later, my only response is that it shows a complete misunderstanding of digital images.
 
If you google the most expensive photograph then you will see image quality has nothing to do with it ;)
 
jamiebonline said:
Hi guys,

I am curious about something. Let's say, by sheer luck or talent or a mix, one of us takes a picture tomorrow that is a masterpiece and ends up being shown widely. An iconic image from our time. Is the quality of the image so important? I don't have an iphone but many people use one to capture a moment on the go. It would surely be an issue to print one of these large and put it in a gallery, wouldn't it? The IQ would really not hold up well.

This is not a passive aggressive way of saying IQ is over-emphasized. High IQ is a necessity in most professional paid work. I am just interested in its place relative to the creation of some work of art for the generations. Perhaps photojournalism is an area that lends itself to this when I talk about an iconic image. I also wonder if as tech improves, it might be able to improve an existing digital image in terms of resolution by somehow 'filling in the gaps'

Anyway your thoughts please :)
Click to expand...

Interesting point. My thoughts are:

1) exhibited images don't have to be large. Michael Kenna prints mostly 8x8 and exhibits that size also.

2) images we regard as iconic are often (but not exclusively I'll admit) news or documentary images. As such we accept or overlook technical deficiencies like image quality based on the emotion, impact or subject matter depicted. Witness to that would be Robert Capa's D-Day photographs, the negatives for which got damaged during processing http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=29YL535ZXX00

I'm sure there are countless contemporary images as well but it's too early on Saturday morning for my brain!

3) of course if you take one in controlled conditions like a studio that somehow ends up as being iconic such as David Baileys Kray twin photos then you've no excuse (unless you're scared witless of the subjects.....)
 
a second but important consideration is the longevity of prints. I recently noticed that a print I gave my Daughter of her wedding some 30 years ago had bleached considerably ( they had been made on Fuji colour paper supposedly good for 100 years) However it had been out on display in a silver frame all that time.
I had another print also in a silver frame that had been boxed for almost all that time. and It was still perfect with no sign of bleaching. As I sometimes do, I had enclosed the negative all all the shots I had taken in the back of the frame and they too were pristine.
Few shots we take and display will survive as well as these have, nor will the original negatives or data file be findable or remain uncorrupted.

Historic and Iconic photographs become lucky survivors, as they are treasured, but few ever remain in pristine condition, or with the original negatives.

(Note... My daughter had a highly recommended photographer cover her wedding The resulting photographs were poor in every respect.
I took just over a dozen shots, all of which she had the photographer mount into her album to make up the numbers with a few of his shots that were acceptable. All the prints were made by the same professional laboratory. The Original photographer has retired and his original negatives no longer in existence... this is the fate of a vast majority of Photographs however important.)

It would be nice to think that the original work (if only the best of it) from the more important photographers will be preserved for posterity. However few will be. the photographic archives of the world are indeed full to bursting, but the task of curating it all in a meaningful way is mind-blowing.

I met Dr Larry Schaaf ( he had the flat above mine) when he started work on the Fox Talbot's archive in the Photographic museum in Bradford, some 25 years ago ... That task seems no closer completion today... Most other collections never get the resources necessary to more than semi preserve them.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
I met Dr Larry Schaaf ( he had the flat above mine) when he started work on the Fox Talbot's archive in the Photographic museum in Bradford, some 25 years ago ... That task seems no closer completion today... Most other collections never get the resources necessary to more than semi preserve them.
Click to expand...

In these digital internet times our own images could live longer. Internet images may be at relatively small files sizes and the negatives may not survive but even a download or a screen shot is better than nothing.
 
Nope, I wouldn't say the image quality is important. What makes an image iconic? Usually its the composition and the subject. If you look at some famous photographs (as some have been mentioned already) none are high quality, I don't know if they were considered so at the time but they're still iconic for the subject matter. I don't really understand the point about filling in the gaps, it's impossible to improve an image beyond its original quality without remaking it.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
a second but important consideration is the longevity of prints. I recently noticed that a print I gave my Daughter of her wedding some 30 years ago had bleached considerably ( they had been made on Fuji colour paper supposedly good for 100 years) However it had been out on display in a silver frame all that time.
I had another print also in a silver frame that had been boxed for almost all that time. and It was still perfect with no sign of bleaching. As I sometimes do, I had enclosed the negative all all the shots I had taken in the back of the frame and they too were pristine.
Click to expand...
Exposure to UV light's the key there (ignoring chemical attrition in storage), & I think the 100yrs quoted would've been qualified by that. I recall 40 yrs as Fuji's max figure for displayed Crystal Archive paper out of direct sunlight?

Generally, though - wanting everything to survive, or wanting even just what might be imagined to be important to survive, is an anal distraction. Remember the dinosaurs? - some things do, & some things don't.

We humans are mortal (obviously) - but so in its own way is the planet we live on.

In the long run all is cosmic crap, isn't it?
 
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droj said:
We humans are mortal (obviously) - but so in its own way is the planet we live on.

In the long run all is cosmic crap, isn't it?
Click to expand...

I feel strangely depressed. Is it worth getting up in the morning?
 
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