photorealism

noun

pho·​to·​re·​al·​ism ˌfō-tō-ˈrē-ə-ˌli-zəm 

variants or less commonly photo-realism

1

: the quality in art (such as animation or painting) of depicting or seeming to depict real people, objects, etc. with the exactness of a photograph

Luca is largely a departure from the sort of animation style we're used to seeing in Pixar movies, swapping photorealism for something more stylised …

—Patrick Cremona

Photorealism in gaming means the characters and scenery are supposed to mirror real life in visuals as closely as possible.

—Elizabeth Gipe

[Robyn] Penn works from found images … and in the process of painting brings a ghostly, ephemeral quality to the photorealism of the documented ice-scapes.

—Alexandra Dodd

2

: a movement in painting characterized by photographic exactness of detail

A couple of years later his friend and fellow tennis pro Vitas Gerulaitis introduced him to photorealism. Now that's really art, McEnroe thought. It looks just like photographs.

—Franz Lidz

photorealist

ˌfō-tō-ˈrē-ə-list 

adjective

or less commonly photo-realist

A natural offshoot of Pop Art and heir to one-man movements like Edward Hopper, photorealist paintings depicted the postwar American landscape, highlighting Vietnam War pessimism and the plight of working-class people in the recession-era '70s.

—Martha Schwendener

photorealist noun

or less commonly photo-realist

plural photorealists also photo-realists

[Don] Coen's goal, like that of the early photorealists, is to paint the images just as they would appear as projected slides.

—Carol Dickinson

photorealistic

ˌfō-tō-ˌrē-ə-ˈli-stik 

adjective

or less commonly photo-realistic

… using machine learning to make rendered footage look photorealistic.

—Nathan Ord

Examples of photorealism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The game still looks great, too, with its uncanny blend of photorealism and interdimensional corruption. —PCMAG, 20 June 2024

Exploring the painterly nuances of AI photorealism, Danielle King will release Lex Deux Amis, the first work in what promises to be yet another standout series by the artist. —Ana María Caballero, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024

Imagine the photorealism possible with even smartphone shots today – and the possibility of faithfully translating crisp, realistic images to fabric and wallcovering. —Charlotte Observer, 1 Feb. 2024

NFTs, more financial instrument than new art form, burned hot and fast, largely supplanted by AI imagery, which has so far mostly produced a uniformly bland style of photorealism. —Max Lakin, New York Times, 25 June 2023

Mock exhibitors can be found standing at vendor booths that strive for photorealism. —Lee Gimpel, Forbes, 21 June 2021

While other photorealism painters such as Richard Estes and Ralph Goings favored images such as gleaming diners or glassy street scenes, Mr. Gertsch first gained attention as an observer of the Swiss counterculture. —Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2022

The life of photorealism pioneer and celebrated American painter/sculptor Audrey Flack is examined in a new documentary, which delves into the feminist’s long-term struggles as the mother of a child with autism. —John Benson, cleveland, 11 Nov. 2020

Set in a world of fantastic creatures and tall-ships verisimilitude circa 1700, The Sea Beast weds cartoon stylization with striking photorealism. —Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 July 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1961, in the meaning defined at sense 2