Good Pictures : A History of Popular Photography

**A picture-rich field guide to American photography, from daguerreotype to digital.** We are all photographers now, with camera phones in hand and social media accounts at the ready. And we know which pictures we like. But what makes a "good picture"? And how could anyone think those old styles were actually good? Soft-focus yearbook photos from the '80s are now hopelessly―and happily―outdated, as are the low-angle portraits fashionable in the 1940s or the blank stares of the 1840s. From portraits to products, landscapes to food pics, __Good Pictures__ proves that the history of photography is a history of changing styles. In a series of short, engaging essays, Kim Beil uncovers the origins of fifty photographic trends and investigates their original appeal, their decline, and sometimes their reuse by later generations of photographers. Drawing on a wealth of visual material, from vintage how-to manuals to magazine articles for working photographers, this full-color book illustrates the evolution of trends with hundreds of pictures made by amateurs, artists, and commercial photographers alike. Whether for selfies or sepia tones, the rules for good pictures are always shifting, reflecting new ways of thinking about ourselves and our place in the visual world. Cover Contents How To: An Introduction to Good Photography PART I: 1839–1860 1 The American Process 2 Portrait Props and Poses 3 Hand Painting 4 Crayons and Vignettes 5 Intensifying Negatives 6 Cloudy Skies 7 Solar Enlarging PART II: 1861–1900 8 Foreground Interest 9 Stereoscopic Depth 10 Tintype Types 11 The Rembrandt Effect 12 Retouching Cabinet Cards 13 Photomicrographs 14 Permanent Carbon Prints 15 Instantaneous Photographs 16 Magnesium Flash 17 The Kodak PART III: 1901–1929 18 Figures in the Landscape 19 Wildlife Photography 20 Painterly Photographs 21 Soft Focus 22 Straight Photography 23 Night Photography 24 Panchromatic 25 Candids PART IV: 1930–1965 26 New Angles 27 Modernistic Compositions 28 Hollywood Glamour 29 Distracting Color 30 Television Pictures 31 Motion Blur 32 Contact Sheets 33 Graininess PART V: 1966–1995 34 Lens Flare 35 Full-Frame Prints 36 Close-Cropped Portraits 37 Polaroid Manipulations 38 Sepia 39 Fish-Eye 40 Golden Hour 41 Cross-Processing 42 Boke PART VI: 1996–2019 43 On-Camera Flash 44 Squares 45 Food 46 Selfie 47 Desaturated 48 Ruin Porn 49 Drone Photography 50 Digital Filters Acknowledgments Notes Further Reading Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z "We are all photographers now, with camera phones in hand and social media accounts at the ready. And we know which pictures we like. But what makes a "good picture"? And how could anyone think those old styles were actually good? Soft-focus yearbook photos from the '80s are now hopelessly--and happily--outdated, as are the low-angle portraits fashionable in the 1940s or the blank stares of the 1840s. From portraits to products, landscapes to food pics, Good Pictures proves that the history of photography is a history of changing styles. In a series of short, engaging essays, Kim Beil uncovers the origins of fifty photographic trends and investigates their original appeal, their decline, and sometimes their reuse by later generations of photographers. Drawing on a wealth of visual material, from vintage how-to manuals to magazine articles for working photographers, this full-color book illustrates the evolution of trends with hundreds of pictures made by amateurs, artists, and commercial photographers alike. Whether for selfies or sepia tones, the rules for good pictures are always shifting, reflecting new ways of thinking about ourselves and our place in the visual world."--Publisher's website "This richly illustrated and highly readable book offers a history of changing trends in amateur and commercial photography from the medium's invention until the present day"-- Provided by publisher.