Is Photography An Art Or A Science?

Throughout the past few years, I have grown to appreciate and love the art of photography more and more. I have had endless debates with my friends over the question ‘is photography an art or a science?’ So I decided to do my research, and write about it.

The process of learning how photography works has been a scientific, historical rollercoaster ride full of observations, hypothesis, experiments and assumptions, as well as failed and successful ideas which has opened new doors and concepts for many individuals. We can therefore not be entirely certain of who invented what, as there is no exact record of who did what, and when precisely – we can simply assume, make accusations and create assumptions. Despite this, we do have a brief idea and record of how it all came about. Photography derived from the Latin words “light” and “writing”. It has been ever evolving over the last 200 years, following many different ideas and inventions that have resulted in many successful – and ‘dead end’ – products. The term ‘photography’ has been used for centuries for many different purposes; from family portraits, to recording a historical moment in time, documenting a memory, portraying beauty, proving something, or even just for your own pleasure.

The first permanent photograph ever made in the history of photography was by Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. The photograph was produced with a camera and the image needed an eight hour exposure time in bright sunshine. The image was produced on a polished pewter plate concealed with an imitative petroleum substance named ‘bitumen of Judea’. However this invention was not successful as it didn’t have any way of evolving into something better.

Photography is a scientific process. It requires the right amount of exposure, lighting and the right frame – amongst other things. In the 1600s, the term ‘Camera Obscura’ was born. This refers to a dark box with a hole in one end and was invented by Johannes Zahn. This invention is scientifically based due to the light refraction process and optical glass needed. Leonardo da Vinci used to refer to Camera Obscura as “oculus artificialis”, aka “the artificial eye”, which could suggest that photography has been seen as something that’s captured in the same way as one sees it with the human eye from the day it was discovered. All of the basic factors that were invented in from the 1600s and later were based on scientific experiments – from light, to colour, to heat and so forth.

Photography is an art in the sense of gaining the right angles, shapes and silhouettes, as well as the way in which it creates emotions, gives ideas and portrays points in history. Saying this, there have been debates in the past of whether photography is ‘worthy’ as an art form. In 1862, a group of French artists protested that photography was a ‘soulless, mechanical process’ and refused to accept photography as a form of art. Many also claimed that painting was ‘dead’. A lot of artists converted to photography, as well as some who simply used photography as an artistic aid – this is something that is still common with artists today.

Since the movement of ‘Photography as Art’ in the 1900s, the current view on photography definitely leans towards the artistic side, as well as many other factors that have been made mainly since the start of digital photography.

At the start of the 20th century, Hungarian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy found new ways of seeing things and experimented with pictorialist photography and modern life to create a new twist. He used techniques such as photomontage, unusual angles, optical distortions, multiple exposures and the Sabattier effect (solarization). Another photographer that was keen on using modern photography was Man Ray, an American artist who lived in Paris, and was inspired by the city and its people.

Following these analogue photographers, digital photography was about to be born. Starting in the mid 1970s, companies like Kodak began researching the opportunities, and by 1986 they had successfully created a sensor that was able to document 1.4 million picture elements/megapixels. Five years later they were sold for commercial use. The biggest change within digital cameras is that they use an image sensor. This has opened up many doors for the masses as they can take pictures much easier and see the result immediately, which has its advantages and disadvantages – depending on what situation an individual is taking the image. Due to the fact people can simply take a photograph and are face to face with an immediate result, it makes it very easy to re-take the photo with a different setting – fantastic if you are in a rush, but a continuous debate re-occurs; does it take some of the artistic credits away if you are a digital photographer?

In my opinion, photography is a scientific process made mainly for artistic purposes. I agree with the fact that originally photography was seen as a scientific observation and process, and it clearly is something more complex as a painting in itself. Mixing the colours for a painting is not easy, but the procedure from analogue photography through to digital is a work of art, made by science.

The different types of photography discovered over the years are beyond belief and the techniques are endless – from well-known methods such as photomontage, straight photography, documentary photography and nature photography. Then there’s the lesser-known and more advanced approaches such as Stereoscopic/3D photography (to create an illusion of depth), Infrared photography – which isn’t normally visible by the human eye, Panoramic photography (using a wider lens), Astrophotography – used for both artistic and scientific purposes and Pinhole photography/lensless photography. All of these have been discovered through science and are used for art. Though opinions may vary, as I see it, it is both an art and a science.

- Nina Hoogstraate