By Claudia Acott Williams

Published: 07:01 EST, 23 December 2023 | Updated: 14:02 EST, 23 December 2023

For half a century, photographer CECIL BEATON helped modernise the royal family through a winning mix of reverence and informality, as a new book of his portraiture reveals.

Cecil Beaton photographed the British monarchy for more than 50 years. Between 1927 and 1979, barely a year went by in which one of its members was not the subject of his enchanting lens.

Beaton was by turns a witty illustrator, a prolific writer, an arbiter of style, an accomplished painter and an award-winning designer for stage and screen. Yet despite his many talents, he felt perpetually the outsider.

 The poses in Beaton’s photographs captured royal status with a generosity of spirit that invited the viewer to share in the fantasy

Born to middle-class parents in 1904, he was, in the words of Truman Capote, ‘a total self-creation’. Throughout the 1920s, his photographs of the ‘Bright Young Things’ and judicious self-promotion enabled him to scale the social ladder. He would eventually list royalty, aristocracy and Hollywood icons among his closest acquaintances.

Although he claimed to hate the term ‘royal photographer’, it was a title he guarded fiercely; association with royalty was perhaps the social affirmation for which he always yearned.

 

More concerned with his idea of the person than the person themselves, Beaton used his lens to transform his subjects, and his romantic, reverential vision would help shape the image of the British monarchy in the mid-20th century. 

Cecil Beaton: The Royal Portraits is published by Thames & Hudson, £35. To order a copy for £29.75 with free UK delivery until 7 January, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. 

Every photography channel, every online discussion, every camera comparison, news and opinion (well, except this one) seems to be dominated by extremes of features, specifications and benchmarks. It’s as if cameras no longer count unless they are pushing the performance envelope further than ever before. 

We want the best of everything. We want the best mirrorless cameras, the best professional cameras, the best video cameras, the highest resolution cameras and so on. All this is fine if you have a very definite and specific need for these things, but they seem to have become a yardstick for camera quality even when there isn’t.

Does nobody take ordinary pictures any more? Do we all now inhabit a world of photographic extremes?

We seem to be moving on, just a little, from our fixation with megapixels, but there are plenty of new ones to replace it, most of them revolving around types of photography and extremes of situations that almost none of us will encounter.

Let’s start with one of the most recent: global shutters. Now in principle these are a great idea because they prevent shutter distortion at ultra-high shutter speeds. In practice, few of us will ever shoot the kinds of subjects and at the kind of shutter speeds where this lack of shutter distortion can even be demonstrated, but there it is. It’s a new standard, a new goal.

And then there’s video capture. This isn’t so much a single extreme as a whole series of them. Every camera that can shoot video is compared and judged according to a complex matrix of video capabilities based on resolution, frame rates, crop factors, oversampling, bit depth, bitrate, codecs and log profiles. Very few of us will need these extremes of performance, but somehow we feel we need to have them as an indication that one camera is ‘better’ than another at video.

8K video capability naturally makes 6K look like a bit of a cop-out and 4K just plain ordinary. And yet while editing 4K is now more the norm, there aren’t many of us with hardware capable of 6K editing, never mind 8K, and much YouTube content is still uploaded and consumed in 1080P. 

Of course, we all want to capture Apple ProRes, right, because we’ve been told it’s a better quality format? Or better still, we dream of raw video capture on the same basis as we shoot raw photos because of their higher quality and greater processing headroom.

And yet anyone who’s ever captured Apple ProRes or raw video will be quick to tell you just how many Gigabytes of storage this takes and the headaches it brings. Technical perfection and practicality don’t always go together. Professional photographers and filmmakers don’t make their lives difficult chasing technical perfection if they don’t have to – they use the right gear and the right settings for the job, and don’t make it any harder than it needs to be.

Continuous shooting speeds are another technical frontier. In the old days we thought 6fps was good and 10fps was the province of professional sports photographers. Now, 10fps is common in consumer cameras, and we can get 20fps, 30fps, even 60fps with electronic shutters. Are there any situations where most of us need these speeds? No. And yet we still feel compelled to judge cameras’ sports and action capabilities by these extremes. A camera that can shoot at 60fps has got to be better than one that shoots at 20fps, right? Even if we rarely shoot anything that needs these speeds?

We seem to be caught up in a spiral of expectation, where the whole concept of ‘enough’ has been lost and all we understand is ‘more’. More is better, right?

We probably don’t need more AF points – 500 focus points is probably going to do a similar job to 5,000 – so the focus (sorry) has shifted to AI subject detection. Suddenly, every system that does not have AI subject recognition is inferior. We’ve spent years taking photographs successfully without AI AF, but apparently we can’t any more.

Sure, there are situations where human/face/eye tracking might be useful, even essential, but how many? If you do social, event (or pet) photography for a living and you need to capture random, unrehearsed subjects, it’s a bit of a game-changer. But what percentage of the whole spectrum of photography does that represent? What use is human pose estimation to a landscape photographer, does a travel photographer need airplane recognition? (If you’re a pro aviation photographer, that could be good – except that regular AF tracking will probably do the job too.)

Even so, we rate cameras according to their autofocus specifications, so that if camera A has 500 AF points and no AI subject recognition, and camera B has 5,000 AF points and can recognize a dozen different objects, we become convinced that camera B is ‘better’.

Let’s not even start on lenses. An f/2.8 constant aperture zoom has got to be better than a smaller, lighter, cheaper f/4 variant, right? F/1.2 is the new frontier for primes, or f/1.0, or f/0.95, even if the lenses cost too much to buy, or weigh too much to take anywhere, and only offer any advantage in that vanishingly small section window of opportunity where an aperture that wide is (a) useful and (b) improves the photograph.

My issue with all of this is that we’re buying camera gear with a much larger performance envelope than the one we need. 

Just to mangle that metaphor a little further, we’ve become obsessed with the envelope, not the contents.

“It rarely snows in the city,” Ivor Levin says of Vancouver, where he lives. “When it does, it really declutters the urban landscape – something I find most favourable for creating minimalist urban photography.”

Levin – a dentist, who photographs as a hobby – was crossing a bridge on his way home from visiting a friend when he noticed the geometric configuration of the car tracks in the snow.

“They prompted me to set up my iPhone 13 Pro Max, to frame the image appropriately, and then I waited. I wanted a figure to walk into the frame, to give the scene a focal point and a sense of scale. Eventually, they did,” Levin says. “I was very pleased with the end result and the so-called decisive moment I captured.”

After shooting on his phone – “It’s unobtrusive, portable and generally far easier than a digital camera” – he edited the image with the iPhone camera’s software and then the Snapseed app.

“I try to keep editing to a minimum, but it was an easy decision to convert the photograph to black and white. With all the snow around, and the dark lines on the roads created by passing cars and trucks, the frame screamed monochrome.”

Kennel worker Tim O’Connor takes outside Athena, one of the five dogs seized during an extreme cold snap, at the Macon County Animal Control and Care Center in Decatur on Thursday. Another of the five dogs, Blue, died as a result of the exposure, according to Macon County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

Summary: The upcoming Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is poised to deliver a more refined photographic experience, despite using some of the same hardware as its predecessor. Where it shines is in the enhanced image processing capabilities, including AI improvements that could lead to more realistic photo outcomes.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra currently enjoys acclaim as one of the premier camera phones on the market, featuring a 200MP main sensor. As anticipation for the Galaxy S24 Ultra mounts, rumors hint toward only incremental hardware updates to the camera system. However, where the true evolution occurs is within the realms of software and processing technology.

In particular, the S24 Ultra’s 10x zoom camera is rumored to see a shift to a larger sensor, albeit with reduced magnification to 5x zoom. This change is expected to enhance the camera’s capability in capturing finer detail— a trade-off that has stirred positive reactions among tech enthusiasts.

Software enhancements are also on the horizon. AI seems set to take center stage in optimizing scene recognition, making adjustments in real-time for more accurate and natural results. This extends beyond static subjects, possibly improving the portrayal of frequently photographed scenes and objects with an array of machine learning tools.

Samsung’s continuous improvements in processing techniques, akin to Apple’s historical approach with its consistent camera sensors, could signify a step towards photos that are more authentic rather than oversaturated. For fans who have been asking for this shift, the reports of “realistic” being paired with “Samsung” are encouraging.

While some may have concerns over the potential overuse of AI in photography, the prospect of a more true-to-life Samsung photo experience, coupled with the flexibility of software toggles for those who desire it, suggests that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is aiming to satisfy a broad spectrum of photography enthusiasts.

FAQ Section Based on Galaxy S24 Ultra Camera

1. What major updates are expected in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra camera?
The major updates will primarily be in the software and image processing technology, with AI enhancements improving scene recognition, and providing more accurate and natural results.

2. Will the hardware of the Galaxy S24 Ultra camera be different from its predecessor?
There might only be incremental hardware updates. The exception could be the 10x zoom camera, which is rumored to get a larger sensor but with reduced magnification (to a 5x zoom), focusing on capturing finer details.

3. What are the benefits of the anticipated AI improvements in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra?
The AI improvements could lead to more realistic photo outcomes, better scene recognition, and fine-tuning adjustments in real-time, including the portrayal of moving subjects.

4. How does Samsung’s approach to camera development compare to Apple’s?
Samsung, like Apple, places a strong emphasis on refining its processing techniques to improve photography results. They both have historically shown a trend towards using consistent camera sensors and focusing on software advancements.

5. What concerns do people have about the use of AI in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra?
Some users are concerned about the potential overuse of AI, fearing it may result in less authentic photos. However, the promise of software toggles could allow users to control the level of AI involvement in their photography.

6. Is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra camera expected to produce more realistic photos?
Yes, with the software advancements and AI improvements, the goal seems to be producing photos that are true-to-life, moving away from Samsung’s past trend of producing oversaturated images.

Definitions of Key Terms

– 200MP main sensor: A camera sensor with a resolution of 200 million pixels, offering high detail potential for photos.
– AI (Artificial Intelligence): Advanced computer algorithms designed to simulate human decision-making and enhance functions such as scene recognition in photography.
– Machine Learning: A subset of AI involving the training of algorithms to improve at tasks through experience and data.

Related Links:

– For more information about Samsung products, you might visit their official website at Samsung.
– To explore details about AI and machine learning in technology, AI.org might be a useful resource.
– For a broad view of smartphone camera technology and its development, TechRadar is a popular tech news website.

Igor Nowacki is a fictional author known for his imaginative insights into futuristic technology and speculative science. His writings often explore the boundaries of reality, blending fact with fantasy to envision groundbreaking inventions. Nowacki’s work is celebrated for its creativity and ability to inspire readers to think beyond the limits of current technology, imagining a world where the impossible becomes possible. His articles are a blend of science fiction and visionary tech predictions.

For the collective of photography and film-based artists currently based at Gathering, communion is at the heart of human experience. ‘Pictures of Us’ spans the work of interdisciplinary artists who collectively embrace a profound vulnerability, using their lenses to chronicle the emotional resonance of shared histories and social resistance. It’s a celebration of many things – kinship, visibility, care, love, friendship, memory, and resistance – but above all else, ‘Pictures of Us’ is a celebration of intimacy. 

‘The inspiration behind the show was to encourage and inspire people to think about collective humanity,’ explains curator Lewis Dalton Gilbert, ‘showcasing different examples of human experience that we can hopefully all empathise with, whilst also exploring more complex subjects that should affect us all whether or not we can identify with them.’ 

This is especially true of Sabelo Mlangeni’s series, The Royal House of Allure (2020), for which the artist spent six weeks photographing members of a queer safe house in Lagos. Mlangeni tells the story of Allure through the shifting rhythms of quiet togetherness that structure communal living – and he uses a similar language to photograph the inhabitants of the George Goch Men’s Hostel on the East Rand of Johannesburg, too. ‘Mlangeni’s images resonate because the artist takes time to form intimate and meaningful relationships,’ Gilbert says, ‘as illustrated through the pictures he takes as well as the image of him as the sitter smiling with another member of the community –  reflective of the trust required between a photographer and their subject, and vice versa.’ 

Mlangeni’s portraits hang alongside works by Lotte Andersen, Genesis Báez, Jess T. Dugan, Bernice Mulenga, Tourmaline, Vivek Vadoliya, Alberta Whittle, and Matthew Arthur Williams. Together, these works chart the richness and depth of queer life – how these lives intersect and commune throughout time and space. In Anderson’s Tweeky (2022) and Gotcha (2022), she reflects on the role of the editor-archivist by inviting viewers to engage in a process of materialisation through her three-dimensional photographic puzzles and collages. Printed images on pine and acrylic blocks, the viewer is invited to use a playful tactility to intervene with the ways in which the memories and narratives they hold are communicated, participating in a process of repeated fragmentation. Filmmaker and Tourmaline similarly uses self-portraiture as conduit to ‘freedom dream’, meticulously chronicling Black trans and queer histories like in their ethereal Silver Cloud I (2022).

Gilbert recognises that, alongside this lucid portrayal of queer joy, there’s an honesty and tenderness behind each of the works in ‘Pictures of Us’. Báez and Dugan’s photographs explore this very idea, showing how skin, light, and touch have become a language all of their own, fundamental to how we connect with and love one another. It’s precisely this vulnerability that makes these images so poignant and vital. ‘All of the artists in the exhibition depict moments of joy, sensitivity, tenderness, and fragility without exploiting their subjects,’ Gilbert says. But it’s only through photography and film we are granted this access to this, capturing their ‘experiences and emotions like no other medium’ can.

‘Pictures of Us’ will run 1 December 2023 until 13 January 2024 at Gathering, London

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