Unlike traditional arts, photography offers an inherently precise depiction of real life. When we trip the shutter on our camera, we are capturing reality in front of us and turning that moment into an image.
But if only it were so simple! It was very early on that photographers realized how they could style and influence the look of their images to convey a certain story. Small changes in composition, camera angles, and more could have huge effects on how the audience perceives a photograph.
Today, we’re facing even bigger problems. With the proliferation of free and powerful digital editing tools and large language models, what a photograph tries to say is often not even front and center. First, we need to figure out whether what we are looking at is even an authentic photograph!
In the past, making sure your photos are ‘authentic’ may not have been a huge topic. But today, against the onslaught of fake news, AI-generated slop, and rampant intellectual property theft and misuse, it’s more crucial than ever.
A study conducted by Getty Images, published in their VisualGPS report “Building Trust in the Age of AI,” found that 98% of global consumers consider authentic imagery essential for building trust. When asked to define authenticity, the top responses were: “Genuinely expresses true feelings and experiences,” “Not fake or counterfeit,” and “Sincere and honest.”
That’s why today, I wanted to set some time aside for us to talk about the principles of authentic photography, the concept of visual honesty, and how to respectfully engage with your audience through your images.
Contents
What Does Authenticity in Photography Really Mean?
First, let’s make sure we are all on the same page. What do we mean when we talk about photography that reflects reality?
In simple terms, visual authenticity refers to the degree to which a photograph captures reality and its genuine moments. This is an intersection between techniques, compositional knowledge, technology, and something more essential that boils down to an understanding of human experience and context.
Hence, it is not so much about our choice of what we photograph and much more about how we choose to photograph it. Whether or not to use AI (a question that I imagine most photographers will find very easy to answer) is only the tip of the iceberg!
In our current day and age, it also relates to the use of post-processing and editing tools, or lack thereof. Even a simple polish can accidentally or deliberately shift the viewer’s perceptions of the image.
So its all about learning how to better express your thoughts using your camera to remain truthful to both your creative ideas and reality itself.
The Three Levels of Visual Truth
It helps to think of a photo’s truthfulness as falling along a sliding scale with three concrete points.
I’ll call the first of these three the raw end of the scale. This is where we find photography that displays careful, minimal composition, a candid approach to the shoot, generous use of natural light, and very limited editing. Documentary photography is a great genre to peruse to find good examples of this.
The second point, midway down the scale, we will call retouched photography. These images differ in their much higher concentration of artificial aids. That can be flash photography, particularly short or long focal lengths, tricks of perspective, and post-processing for the sake of color correction, cropping, and fixing imperfections.
This kind of photography may still feel grounded in reality. However, it does contain a lot of elements which intend to extend the subject beyond pure realism.
Finally, at the other end of the scale, there is manipulated photography. This is the dicey part, where preserving pure reality gets thrown out the window entirely in favor of higher levels of experimentation. Digital manipulation includes aggressive editing techniques, filters, masks, and AI tools to create images that are often quite far removed from the raw out-of-camera (OOC) files.
This kind of photography can offer artists a unique and rewarding creation process. But unfortunately, it also comes with huge ethical concerns, especially when the use of these manipulation techniques is not properly disclosed to potential viewers.
Why Emotional Resonance Is Key to Authentic Photos
Beyond purely technical matters that concern how you use your camera and gear to faithfully capture genuine moments within your scene, there is another component that beckons examination.
I am referring to the realm of emotions, of course. Specifically, how emotional resonance and relatability can affect the sense of authenticity stemming from your work.
In order for a photograph to feel truly genuine, particularly if it’s a portrait, the human experience depicted within must also feel real.
Candid photographers know how to stay in the shadows whilst letting their subjects express themselves freely, as if the camera weren’t there.
But in the position of a studio portraitist, let’s say, things get a bit more complicated. In fact, it might be necessary to invest a lot more effort than you may have previously considered into the relationship between you and your subject.
Your role is akin to that of a film director here; to bring out the emotions and values that you want to see in your images, you need to teach your model to understand them. Forming a deeper connection as artists in turn fosters a deeper expression in front of the lens.
Introducing “Slow Photography”
If there is any one trend that has been touted for the past few years as a gateway to genuine, authentic photography, it’s the slow photography movement.
In short, slow photography is a holistic philosophy that aims to deliberately bring the photographic process back to its roots somewhat. It does so by embracing an elaborate creation process even at the cost of efficiency or speed.
The idea is that whilst being swift with the camera can be a great asset, being conscious of our creative choices far outweighs it in terms of getting the results we want.
So, on your next assignment, try freeing yourself from technical complexity. Set everything to manual, peer through the viewfinder for a while, and take your time. From exposure to composition, you will find yourself making conscious creative decisions that you perhaps hadn’t been paying attention to before.
That’s slow photography at work!
Techniques for Creating Authentic Photographs
Let’s now move on to something more concrete. Are there particular techniques that can help you photograph more authentically?
While there is definitely no magic bullet here, as in no special lens filter or autofocus mode that will somehow elevate your work, there are plenty of little tricks and detail adjustments that all photographers should know about.
Here are some of them!
Composition
If your aim is to create photography that evokes genuine emotions and that portrays its subject matter authentically, hardly any area of technique is more crucial than composition.
Ironically, of course, this is also the trickiest one to define and quantify. However, what I can say from my years of shooting is that originality often comes from the viewer’s impression that ‘nothing is hidden’.
What this means is to compose in a manner that makes the frame appear natural and organic, not artificially created by you choosing to place your camera in a certain way.
To do this, consider using compositional elements like leading lines and natural frames in your work more often. For outdoor portraits, hunt for suitable large trees, boulevards, buildings, and walls. In the studio, frame according to the interior architecture of the space and any available furniture.
The more you show the context of the physical space your subject inhabits without clearly communicating that there is something missing or hidden, the more authentic your images will appear.
Candid vs. Posed Moments: Which Feels More Real?
Naturally, photographers interested in preserving a natural, intimate feel are likely to gravitate towards candid shots as opposed to more conventional, posed scenes.
It may surprise you to know, then, that the choice between these two approaches isn’t nearly that clear-cut!
A candid shot can, of course, be a great way to depict a moment of genuine emotion or action. But sometimes, adopting the incognito approach is not the best idea.
When you are looking for a particular story to tell, you may not be able to find it ‘in the wild’ so easily. And when that happens, it’s best to resist the urge to artificially stage and alter candid scenes (which would violate the principles of authenticity).
Instead, I suggest you switch to a more coordinated, posed process from the get-go. Contrary to what your gut may tell you, a studio shot or a posed session outdoors is not necessarily any less truthful or sincere in intent than a street photograph ‘from the hip’!
As I mentioned before, adopting this approach will allow you to build a deeper connection with your subject, which will likely aid you in expressing your vision more accurately.
Using Natural Light
As photographers, some of us may have trouble seeing the line between an image that looks ‘good‘ as opposed to one that looks ‘realistic‘.
Natural light is often the determiner in these comparisons; where a professional studio lighting setup may make certain photos more detailed and better-exposed, natural light could make the same images appear truer to life.
It is up to you to find the right balance here, and I highly recommend leaving the flash gun at home next time and trying to pull off your vision in natural light instead!
Gear Minimalism
Many photographers find that shedding excess weight, in the form of all the various accessories, gadgets, and heavy zoom lenses we tend to carry, helps ground themselves in the moment. In the end, though mostly psychological rather than practical, this may help you take more true-to-life images.
Even your choice of camera can make a crucial difference. There’s a good reason most photographers striving for maximum realism these days use relatively bare-bones camera bodies. That includes older analog professional gear from decades past, or the likes of the Fujifilm X-Pro3, with its minimalist controls and hidden rear screen.
Simply put, accepting some limitations in your gear can help you be more present and genuine in the way you approach the shot!
How Editing Affects Perceived Authenticity
By far, the ethically most consequential aspect of the technique we need to consider is editing and post-processing. There are absolutists out there who maintain that no photography can be truly authentic to the essence of the moment it portrays if it undergoes any kind of editing at all.
Such OOC (out-of-camera) purists may have a point, but their working style may also not be very practical for many of us.
Instead of cutting out Photoshop from your process completely, consider how you can minimize its influence on the look of your images. Be more conscious in trying to preserve the real life context of your compositions, even if you do make some changes for the sake of polish.
Minimizing Post-Processing
To do this, consider in-camera alternatives to the popular technology-driven edits most of us use every day. For example, take lens filters in place of complex masks and software solutions.
Whereas Photoshop lets you play with color balance, contrast, white point settings, and such with little to no limitations, thus allowing you to accidentally or deliberately create images that are physically inaccurate, lens filters totally preclude this since they work optically.
You can make similar adjustments elsewhere, such as shooting with IBIS (in-body image stabilization), where necessary to avoid having to substantially alter your work later on to correct for blur.
Especially today, these kinds of concerns are front and center, so keep this in mind each time you have your finger on the shutter release!
Modern Photographers Upholding Realism
Because role models often provide the finest inspiration, let’s now take a look at a few favorite photographers of mine who have mastered the craft of authentic image-taking in their respective genres!
Alec Soth (Documentary / Portraiture)
A fine art photographer with the approach of a documentary journalist, Alec Soth creates incredibly raw images that scream with emotion and pure atmosphere.
Soth’s most famous work is a direct result of his idiosyncratic approach, which involves roaming the street with as little preparation as possible, intuitively approaching strangers and their authentic selves in the heat of the moment.
Zanele Muholi (Portrait Photography)
A photographic artist as much as a social activist, Zanele Muholi is committed to accurately depicting the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people from her native South Africa and from around the world.
While her photography is largely staged, she nonetheless strives to maintain a grip on everyday reality and does so by forging deep bonds with the subjects she captures, allowing them to express their true selves.
Matt Black (Documentary / Photojournalism)
For Matt Black, there was never a choice to realize his project of traveling across the entire continental United States and compile a gargantuan work examining rural life, poverty, and social inequality throughout the country; he would accept nothing short of raw reality.
Despite that, his images are anything but simply shot. In fact, Black uses a variety of advanced creative techniques and artistic touches that make some of his photos look downright surreal.
In this case of photojournalism, authenticity lies less in the appearance of his subjects than in the reality of the atmosphere he captures. And that atmosphere is downright palpable, let me tell you that much!
Final Thoughts: Staying Honest Behind the Lens
With the right tools, authenticity doesn’t have to remain a nebulous term for you as a photographer. Rather, it defines an ability to stay in the moment, to boil down a shot to its very essence, and to tell a story that resonates. These are skills that we all naturally value, regardless of the genre we work in.
That’s why practicing it can be a worthwhile exercise for photographers of every level and background!
I can only encourage you to experiment a little with some of the ideas we have discussed today. Take a stroll through some portfolios, note down your feelings and what inspires you most, and remember some of the handy techniques I shared to deepen your understanding.
Armed with that knowledge, you can try to reduce your story to its essence and capture it as faithfully as possible.
As with anything else in this realm, practice makes perfect. Don’t forget to have fun!
Take Away
Authenticity is far from a nebulous aesthetic concept reserved for the classroom. Rather, as one of the cornerstones of documentary photography and a pillar of realism, it’s a principle that should interest just about anyone working with a camera today. Especially in the age of large language models, deepfakes, and rampant over-editing, practicing visual integrity, including related notions such as slow photography and gear minimalism, can help you achieve higher trustworthiness, more faithfully capture reality, and improve your narrative and compositional skills.
