What is the true definition of straight photography? Is it photos that are least manipulated? Or is it photos that emphasize contrast, sharp detail,...

Like many
things in this world, our understanding of what characterizes straight photography
has evolved.

Our first definition of straight
photography emerged as a result of George Eastman's invention of the Kodax box camera
in 1888 that made snapshot photography possible. As millions of snapshots became produced, it
became necessary to define how photography could be seen as art. In 1890, English photographer
Peter Henry Emerson first developed the concept of
straight photography in his book titled Naturalistic Photography for
Students of the Art. In his book, he proposed the idea that photography as art should
create sharp images of scenes exactly as they appear without
manipulation or staging. He termed what we call straight photography
naturalism and related naturalistic photography to naturalistic art. Using
a tree as an example, Emerson explained that the naturalistic painter "would endeavour to
render the impression of the tree as it appeared(it) to him" (p. 25). So, too, would
a...