'Resolution' of paintings

[Sean Moran]

I was in the Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville last week when it occurred to me that many of the superb paintings on show did not rely on having what we might call a 'high resolution'. This term is of course usually associated with lenses (or combinations of lens+film or lens+sensor), but hopefully you know what I mean.

Even this enormous painting of the death of a bullfighter had less optical information than even my worst camera could produce. And the Leica M3 with Summicron I was carrying could out-perform it comfortably - on purely technical criteria.

http://www.photaki.com/picture-pain...master-of-fine-arts-museum-seville_333745.htm

But so far, I haven't managed to make an image with that sort of power. This set me thinking that whatever limits our photography, it isn't our equipment. The comparison with painting is not a fair one, I realise. But many of us have gear that is far better than the 'greats' of photography used.

If you stand close to the painting (the gallery equivalent of pixel-peeping), it's not impressive. But when you first see it from a few metres away, on emerging from a side-gallery, it is breathtaking.

Buying better cameras and lenses will probably not help us to produce masterpieces. Whatever equipment we already have is likely to be good enough. So what is needed? (Apart from learning to paint).

Sean in Tipperary

 

[daveleo]

"What is needed" depends on what it is you are trying to create (in your pictures).

IMO, all the tools are out there for you (and me) and the available cameras and lenses and computers
and darkroom equipment are not the limiting factors in making fabulous images.

 

[tomtofa]

I think you've got a good point, Sean. Wonder if the current popularity of photos processed through Instagram, etc., is a response to the same idea, that powerful images often suggest more than state.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Thanks for the post. This question about what does it take to create a powerful image is age old and, in my opinion, the answer exists only in that ephemeral space between art and the viewer. Its been proven over and over that there are no proven recipes for creating such art. That's why the pursuit of such a thing is so mesmerizing, addictive, frustrating, and in the end it seems, necessary for us humans. 🙂