What Is Impressionist Photography?

A suggestion of motion, absurd angles, blurry figures, and expression of light - impressionist photography is inclusive of all these rules, but the very first step would be to break them, break free from the “regular.” Photo impressionism can be summed up to many as unconventionally beautiful. Photographers all around are inspired to break free of the usual photography norms and capture the absurd projection of life.

History

Most of us have been introduced to impressionism or impressionist art through the brush strokes of the famous painters like Monet or Van Gogh. But what of impressionist photography? While photography itself was introduced in the 1800s, the rise of impressionism in 1874 pushed painters and other impressionists to impressionist photography. People then started capturing photographs of everyday life. The moving cars, the busy city life, walking or moving people and so on. Edgar Degas was one of the major faces of impressionism in the form of art, then cinema and photography for the latter part of his career. Off-positioned figures and out-of-focus imagery, and elements of movement for instance the muscles of a moving horse, were common elements in his creations. What has always mattered in photo impressionism is perception. What the eye of the photographer perceives and the photographic capture of that element.

A Few Techniques of Impressionist Photography

There have never been any hard and fast rules when it comes to photo-impressionism. Thus, there are numerous techniques one can use for photo-impressionism. Photo stacking, cropping, long exposure, and multiple exposures are a few of the popular choices for photographers to express and impress emotions.

In the Round

"In The Round" technique can be used to create an almost surreal painting-like photograph with soft, fuzzy tones. It uses the concept of Photo Stacking and plays with the perspectives of a photograph (i.e. it uses not one but all the angles). Instead of using a single perception, this involves going all around the subject of the photograph and stacking up the multiple shots like a montage, playing with the opacity to sculpt one photograph. This can be used to portray one solid object or bring out the point of focus or dramatize impressionistic landscape photography.

Multiple Exposures or Double Exposure

In this technique, you merge two and more photographs to create one. Traditionally multiple exposures have been used to capture the seconds of a complete and rapid movement. However, the possibilities are wide open. You can use two and more photographs that are opposites and blend them into abstract impressionism photography.

Intentional Camera Movement

This is a popular technique favored by many impressionists. It is nothing but the intentional movement of the camera while the shutter is still on, creating a blurred picture. Slow shutter speeds usually do the trick. You can pan the camera on a horizontal or vertical plane and create beautiful impressionist landscape photography of similar frames. However, zooming in and out, or rotating the camera, or just shaking it while the shutter is on, will also do the trick. Do you wish for the freedom to experiment with the lines of creativity? Test your limits of imagination. Either way, impressionist photography would be a great area for you to focus on.