Hello,

I was wondering if someone would help define the difference between the glamour, pin-ups, and realism categories.  I thought I had a handle on what made each type of artwork unique, but now I'm not so sure. 

Thanks!

Sonny

Glad to see I'm not the only one.  Waiting to see reply from the 'pros'

IMHO... Pin-up and Glamour are one and the same thing...there is no point in trying to differ the two. To be more specific-"Pin-up" is the wider spectrum that can encompass "Glamour".

The gallery titles are floored, not peoples interpretation ;)

Realism can encompass anything...as long as it looks realistic :P

Agreed.  I've been caught several times in the differing opinions of how to interpret the TOS.  I am often reminded of the federal court judges statement on pornography: I may not know what it is, but I know it when I see it.  This attitude has caused more damage to art, and restriction of art and artists, than almost any other.

I see pinups as a 50's kind of pictures, and glamour as a more contemporary thing, but perhaps I'm wrong :)

when i think Pin ups, I think the archytypical Farar Fawcett poster or the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders posters that were on every teen boys bedroom wall in the 70's.

Glamour I see as the Dior, Channel, airbrushed, filtered, more emphasis on make up and skin tones.

Realism (to me anyway) is what the other two categories don't cover, eg, the athlete catching breath after a 200m sprint, the mother shedding tears over her sons headstone.

That's just my take on it........

"Glamour" photography here in the UK has a certain tacky 1970s connotation to it, the sort of adverts in the back pages of Amateur Photographer that you hoped your mother wouldn't see.  "Pin-up" stirs thoughts (amongst other things) of something more classic, with relatively fewer tits on display.  Realism is a photographic rendering of a silver teapot on a chequered tablecloth.

I'll get my coat....!

I see glamour as without nudity while pin-up may or may not be nude.

George's experience suggests that in the US glamour is more fashion style photography than deliberately titillating. And that's how it's viewed where I come from.

Do a google image search on glamour and pin-ups and see if there's a general trend. Photography.com has a pretty good take on glamour:

When I think of pin-ups, I tend to think of the classic 40s-50s images like Bettie Page as pictured above. If there's any distinction, I'd say I think of pin-ups as being more 'cheeky', maybe with a bit of a funny story in the scene being acted out, often voyeuristic e.g. the model being caught with her skirt blown up by the wind etc. I think It's really rather arbitrary trying to separate the two though. While either one may incorporate nudity, I'd say it would be non-explicit, i.e. 'naughty bits' discretely covered. That would be like the so-called 'lad mags' of today like Maxim and FHM.

When I think of pin-ups I think of more centerfold style art. Things that teen boys would pull out of magazines and pin up on their walls. Glamor to me is like those "glamor shots" photo stalls you see at fairs and the like. Here the photographer has a bunch of cotumes you can put on to dress you up. Then they doctor the heck out of the shot to make you look flawless and like it was a movie star photo. Realism is where you do your darnedest to make it look like a real photo whether posed or candid. It can over lap the other 2 (though to me some glamor shots go so extream with the touch ups they are no longer realistic) and I would use it when the image didn't fall into one of the other catagories.

Mostly agree- I thought "realism" might also cover the best use of lighting and SSS to bring poser people closer to that "uncanny valley."

Quote - when i think Pin ups, I think the archytypical Farar Fawcett poster or the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders posters that were on every teen boys bedroom wall in the 70's.

Glamour I see as the Dior, Channel, airbrushed, filtered, more emphasis on make up and skin tones.

Realism (to me anyway) is what the other two categories don't cover, eg, the athlete catching breath after a 200m sprint, the mother shedding tears over her sons headstone.

That's just my take on it........

Wow, I just looked at the genre list. What a mess (IMO) - too many choices, some non-obvious, to me at least (step-by-step, character formula) too much potential overlap as in pin-up & glamour, fantasy & mythology etc. etc. It lloks like they went crazy trying to cover every possibility.  I'm sure it would be hell trying to get people to agree on a list but I think the existing one could be probably be cut in half.

The whole idea of trying to put categorize an image into a single genre is oftem probelematic even with well thought out genres. What's a sexy Christmas faerie with 'realistic' skin - seasonal/fantasy/pin-up/realism?  

Sometimes I think they need to have check boxes for bith programs used and genres. Kind of a I used Poser to set it up, Reality/lux to render it, and psp to postwork it. It falls under the genres of realism, mythology and steam punk. (ok I can't imagin a scene that wold fit those but hey why not?) Rather than just picking one of each.

Glamor is more fashion and prettiness, pinups are sexy and alluring, while realism can be ugly.  I think it's partily more intent than anything.

"Sometimes I think they need to have check boxes …"

Agreed. You'd have to depend on discretion for people not to get carried away and check e.g. PhotoShop, when they only used it to add a signature I suppose. I'd like to see a separate field for the actual rendering program used. I'd still reduce the number of genres, lest you have people checking 6 or 7 trying to cover every possibility - maybe that's not bad though - it just seems unorganized somehow.

I'm not sure that 'realism' is a genre as many people are using the term. I think they're referring to photo realism, which to me seems to be more of a art or rendering style, like cartoon. Realism as a genre seems more like depicting realistic subjects/situations.  

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Pin Up is curvy and Glamour is skinny?

Quote - Pin Up is curvy and Glamour is skinny?

...and realism is chubby.

I always thought glamour was about "high class" and tended to incorporate elements of wealth, such as designer clothing, palatial settings and expensive jewelry.  I assumed glamour photos were taken to please the women in them, and were more appreciated by female viewers.

By contrast, a pin-up is inherently more sexually objectifying.  It is the type of image that men once commonly placed in places where there weren't enough actual women, such as frat houses, auto garages and WWII bombers.

Both fall under the classification of subjects, whereas realism is a visual style that may (or may not) be used when creating either type of image.