One image, many uses

Genres in photography tend to overlap greatly in most cases. Is the Image commercial, boudoir, glamour, fine art or something else? In many cases it really depends on the intent of the image. Are the images above trying to sell a romantic getaway for a couples weekend? Is it a personal boudoir image for a partner? Is it an image for a model for marketing? 

It often comes down to the intent of the image and how it is styled.  If the focus of the image is the model herself, one may caption it with the models name.  It the purpose of the image is that romantic getaway, it likely has associated images or at least descriptive text about a resort.  It it is intended to be fine art, it may actually focus around an emotion and styling of the image.

It you notice in the second image, it is essentially out of camera. It could easily be a portfolio image or a commercial image. Turning the image into black and white, certainly give the image a bit of a different feel, similar to an image you may see hanging in a gallery. Yet the first image has a different feel to it, a deep orange yellow cast much as though it was lit by candles throughout the room. If we look at a image to be considered fine art, it is often styled in a manner to way to evoke a certain feeling from the viewer, rather than focus on the person within the image.  Could the same shot be an abstract, of course! If we crop into just the back, the viewer may need a second to think about what he or she is actually viewing. This final image certainly brings forth a different feel from the first three in the set.

Captions can also guide the viewer into what the intent of the image. For example:

• Mary Model (model name)
• Come visit my website
• Beauty comes from within

Each of these caption will likely evoke a different response from the viewer. Sometimes a commercial attempt, sometimes a very personal message that could strike home for an individual.  It may be very possible to create several distinct series from a single image!