What is the "Italian look"?

E

emayoh

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In reading this article (Enhanced Reality: Exploring the Boundaries of Photo Editing) about photo processing in photojournalism, I came across a term with which I was unfamiliar.

In one of the examples in the slideshow, the caption reads:

"Here is the version sent out to clients by 10b. Critics refer to the asthetic as the 'Italian look,' which has become quite fashionable."

I did some searching on the the phrase "Italian look" as it pertains to photography but found nothing that could tell me more about it.

Does anyone here know what the "Italian look" refers to?
 
I don't think it's a common phrase. Upon reading the article, it appears as if it simply refers to the work done by (or inspired by) 10b (which is located in Italy). If you look at the photos, it becomes quite clear what this Italian look may be: high mid-contrast, slight desaturation, high definition/radius, HDR-like effects...
 
The Italian look ? . . . that was mom's way of getting me to stop
whatever it was I was doing. Ignore it and you would hear the
ring of a pot bouncing off your head - and she'd say "Now pick
up the pot and put it back on the shelf". That's the Italian look !
 
The Italian Look I'm most familiar with is me staring in the bathroom mirror in the morning getting ready to shave. It's a frightening look.

G
 
Bille said:
"Now the images pass through the hands of the people at 10b (...) SPIEGEL, too, has printed photos that were processed by 10b. Critics see an "Italian look" in the way 10b enhances images, something that is fashionable in the way bell-bottoms once were. "

http://www.10bphotography.com/
Click to expand...

Good catch! If you go having a look at the 10b website you can find several examples about the aesthetics of their work.
It's the kind of image signature you often find in current photojournalism images, often seen in the world press photo awards

Color images printed with desaturated colors and high contrast were popular in photojournalism, at least here in italy, in the film era, well before photoshop and digital sensors found their way in our homes.

By the way the correct name is Sophia Loren, glad to see people remembering her!
 
emmef2 said:
Color images printed with desaturated colors and high contrast...
Click to expand...

The problem with this asthetic is that our eyes automatically associate color saturation with high contrast. The dark areas accentuate the light areas where the color is.

Low color saturation high contrast images of this particular aesthetic is almost like a way to make color have the "dignity" of b&w, but it does not work and images look fake, in fact that fake factor was more responsible for the fiasco over world press winner photo than anything substantial... and incidentally the image was called "fake", even though it was obviously not a fake but it looked fake and with photos the look is everything.
 
I'm Italian but i have never listen to someone here, or in another country to describe a picture with this phrase...i don't think it exist a way to shoot a picture that can be identified with a whole country...i mean it should be exist a France Look, an American look and English look but it doesn't. However i really don't like the signature of the "10b" and the way they modify and postprocess all their pictures...so if this is the "Italian Look" i'm not shooting like an italian..
 
Having also "had a google" the critics allegedly saying that are obviously conspicuous by their absence on the internet. Perhaps you should ask the author for a reference to his source(s)?
 
You'll know once you get it - if you ignore it, next will be a horse's head on your doorstep. ;-)

Seriously, I have no idea - and I asked a Italian ex who was modelling and now does photography, and she hasn't ever heard that phrase either, whether as a model or as a PJ. Probably market talk by 10b, and nothing beyond that...
 
I immediately thought of William Russell Flint ... but I don't think that was the point they were making, I expect its commercial
 
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