Straight Photography
An approach insisting that photography's proper qualities are sharpness, detail and tonal range, without imitation of other media.
In depth
Straight photography emerged in reaction to Pictorialism, arguing that the medium's value lay in describing the world with a precision no other art could match. It established the aesthetic that dominated twentieth-century photography — the unmanipulated print, full tonal scale, sharp from front to back.
Examples in practice
A contact print from an 8×10 negative, sharp across the whole frame and untouched in the darkroom beyond dodging and burning.