Photography Is the Art of Subtraction (and Why AI Images Aren’t Photography)
Brooks Jensen of LensWork has said on his podcast that photography is the art of subtraction. I think that’s a useful way to see what makes the medium unusual.
Most art forms are additive
Painters start with an empty canvas and add to it. They might paint the main subject first, then add minor elements if the picture needs them, or stop right there. Every addition is a choice. Writers and songwriters work the same way, starting from a blank page.
Photography starts with everything
A camera records whatever is in front of it. That includes the trash cans by the building, the stranger walking through the background, and the sun lighting the background instead of your subject. Often it’s hard to tell what a photo is even about.
Most photography technique is really about removing distractions:
Place the subject where it gets noticed first, and give it room to breathe.
Wait for people, cars, or animals to leave the frame.
Walk around until the distractions sit behind your subject.
Use fog, rain, or snow to hide what you can’t remove.
Why AI-generated images are different
This is why Brooks argues that generating photorealistic images with AI is fundamentally different from taking pictures. You tell the AI what the subjects are, and it creates them from scratch. That’s closer to painting than to photography. A photographer always starts with a complete scene and works to subtract from it.
Brooks doesn’t consider AI-generated images photography, and I agree.