What's the difference between news photography and artistic photography?

The difference between news photography and artistic photography

News photography is a very broad concept, which refers to the whole news photography business in a broad sense and news photography works or their directly related processes and applications in a narrow sense. The development of society and journalism endows news photography with an unparalleled historical mission. In a large number of news reports, news photography undoubtedly occupies a special position and plays a special role.

However, for a long time, people have always confused the authenticity of news photography with the artistry of photography, so that the creative techniques involved in photography, such as fiction, organization and processing, have been dismissed as deviant and violated the principle of documentary photography. This situation is not surprising. For a long time, we only have access to news photos. From the news point of view, it must be a true story and a real scene. Without these news elements, the value of news will be greatly reduced and even have the opposite effect. However, the purpose of an artistic photographic work is not limited to telling readers what is happening here, but to infect and inspire readers with its typical image, so that people can see it, and cause emotional resonance, association with life, emotional expression and comfort, and even unspeakable inner communication. In particular, the combination of subjective and objective factors in art has a strong connotation, which can not only make people turn around and express their feelings, but also make people feel passionate and inspire their fighting spirit. This is the characteristic of artistic photography and its social function. There is no need to drag news photography to the level of "aesthetics". On the contrary, if the theory of "aesthetics" is applied mechanically to the shooting and appreciation of news photography, the healthy development of news photography will be bound to be bound.

News photography and artistic photography are both visual media with photography as the means of expression, and the common basic way constitutes their commonness. But as far as their respective essential characteristics are concerned, there are essential differences. However, many people still have some vague understanding of its characteristics, which often confuses its fundamentally different social functions and value orientations, making it impossible to give full play to its unique functions and realize its due value, resulting in an embarrassing situation of art news photography and news art news photography.

News is the changing information of things, and it is a valuable thing or event that people need, just appeared or is emerging in social life. It is a kind of information with strong timeliness, which is determined by the sports attributes of the whole society.

News photography is a form of news reporting, and its purpose is to reveal the significance of news events in time and space as completely, accurately and timely as possible, so as to achieve the effect of influencing social life. Because news photography can better reflect the objectivity and image of news, it has been paid more and more attention by the whole society and become one of the main means of news reporting. In this respect, it is obviously superior to news reports such as written and oral communication, and people's understanding of images is faster than indirect understanding limited by written and oral communication. Photography created by modern scientific and technological means has the advantages of rapid and objective reproduction, so news photography can meet the requirements of news timeliness.

Authenticity is one of the basic requirements of news reporting, which is determined by the objective nature of news itself and is also an inevitable requirement of social life. News events are a part of the whole objective society, and reflecting this objective value is the basic task of news reporting. Photography is the most objective way of all news media. There may be some deviations due to the different temperament, physiological and psychological conditions of the interviewee and the different objective conditions of the interview. The scientific objectivity of photography minimizes this deviation, thus showing a more credible truth. From the attribute of news, all journalists should objectively reflect the reality, and cameras and films can completely guarantee this objectivity, which is why news photography is more authentic than other reporting forms.

Artistic photography is a new artistic expression, which is based on the subjective "deviation" in the process of shooting and making photos. Artists can create their own images and vent their subjective feelings through the choice of objects in shooting and the processing and creation of objects in production, so artistic photography has distinct subjectivity.

Art photography does not exclude the direct and objective reproduction of events and things in the objective life of society, but this objective reproduction is only the expression of an artist's personal attitude, which does not include the obligation to be responsible for a certain group or group, nor does it aim at publicity. Even if there is publicity, it only publicizes the author's personal subjective feelings and artistic opinions, so it is essentially "expressive". This is because only when the artist finds that the objective object can fit his inner feelings and desire to express, and can express his feelings when the object reappears-that is, the object forms a "meaningful form" at a certain moment due to its own movement, can he use photography to solidify the objective object into an image. In the eyes of artists, the object is just the same artistic material as any objective media, and it has lost its original social objectivity. Even if the viewer thinks it is objective in appearance, it is actually the emotional truth recreated by the artist that arouses the viewer's enjoyment. This emotional reality is not only a non-objective reality, but also transcends the absolute concept of time and space in the general physical sense and becomes the space-time field of people's inner universe.

News photography is usually done through interviews. The so-called interview is to find, discover and record news-worthy events and events in sports social life, including political, economic and cultural activities. In addition to the quality of extensive knowledge in the above fields, the interviewer should also have a calm, objective and sensitive journalist consciousness. Journalists must find news information that is valuable to the whole social life through their own subjective efforts. When shooting news objects, we must capture the most valuable typical moment of the object, which refers to the essence of things and events themselves, rather than the general external appearance of things and events. The capture of typical moments can only strictly respect the natural process and natural characteristics of things and events in time and space. Any subjective interference and manipulation will change the authenticity of the object and distort and change the original specific social significance of the object itself. Journalists can't use artistic thinking to capture and examine news objects. Journalists should keep their responsibilities in mind when interviewing, and don't try to become artists, because any such idea will interfere with journalists' news sensitivity. It can even be said that when a reporter interviews the reflected object, there is no need to think too much about the perfection of the photo in the completion effect. His mission is to reflect the authenticity of the object image and the irreproducibility in time. This is because readers' requirements for news are not the perfect harmony of composition and tone, but the complete and correct communication of things and events. Therefore, when shooting, the reporter should pay attention not to the plane structure of the photo, but to the structural relationship between the essence of the object and the whole social movement. As long as the latter is caught, the reporter has basically completed his mission.

Because the purpose and function of artistic photography are very different from news photography, its requirements for photographers have just gone to the other extreme, and photographers must get rid of machinery. In creation, the more subjective the photographer is, the more distinctive the personality of the work is and the higher the artistic value of the work is. In creation, the psychological preparation of photographers and journalists is completely different. The reporter examines the meaning of the object with a rational eye and judges the value of the object with a logical method. In the creation of artistic photography, the author, as a perceptual person in real life, works with perceptual personality in the face of a rational and secular society to vent his life impulse (that is, desire) and reaffirm his perceptual self lost in the rational world. Artistic creation is a transcendence of reality, and the purpose of this transcendence is to pursue the free and perfect existence of individual self-life. The artist's creation can not only satisfy his own subjective feelings, but also provide the society with the pleasure of creative inspiration. This pleasure must be based on a breakthrough in all inherent traditions. No breakthrough, no creation. Therefore, if a photographer simply, indiscriminately and mechanically reproduces objective nature, it is bound to have no or little aesthetic value to him and society. Even if there is a sense of satisfaction, it is limited by a low level of education. Objectivity is the enemy of artists. If he wants to express himself, he must break through nature. He has no choice. In order to achieve the purpose of creation, the photographer must embody his subjectivity in the whole process of photography. The choice and discovery of objects is the first possibility of creation. After the artist's choice, the objective object will be marked with obvious subjective imprint, and the reproduction and exhibition in special occasions will highlight this subjective color.

An excellent news photo can truthfully record the atrocities of the enemy, which is outrageous; I still saw the real scene of Dr. Bethune treating the wounded under extremely simple conditions, which made readers respect Bethune. So that these photos are always new, and they have a different feeling every time they are read. Although these photos can bring us back to the memories of the war years, they are only of great record value and should never be attributed to "it is also a work of art". Some news photos have become priceless because they record the most prominent events of that different era, but they must not be said to have artistic characteristics because they are loved by the people. It must be clear here that people like the documentary value of those photos because they truly reproduce the people and environment at that time, which is irrefutable and convincing. If artistic factors are added, these documentary photos will undoubtedly be greatly discounted, even self-defeating and worthless. Artistic quality should never be added at will like seasoning. Never take anything that the masses like or have aesthetic factors as art. Artistic beauty should have its regularity and special requirements.

With the continuous development of science and technology, great changes will take place in social life, and photography has become an indispensable necessity in people's spiritual life. The evolution of the times will give it more social functions. News photography and artistic photography will also accomplish the mission entrusted by history and society in their own fields, and will not confuse their readers or audiences. This is the need of the times and the people.