The majority of Degas’ other photographs are portraits of family and friends. This was the standard subject of photographs at the time. Degas usually photographed the people he was close to in the evening when he visited with them. Several of Degas’ photographs are of the Halévy family. Others are of Auguste Renoir and Julie Manet. Degas also photographed many self-portraits. Pictures of this kind were most likely for personal use. None of Degas’ other photographs were replicated so exactly in his paintings as those of dancers. The only other subject of Degas’ remaining photographs that also appeared in his paintings is bathers. Unlike the photographs of dancers, however, these photographs are of better quality and don’t seem to have been used merely as an aid to painting.
All of Degas photographs show a great interest in light, which he could have been experimenting with to apply to his paintings. Still, many of Degas’ photographs appear to have been taken for photography alone. From these photographs, it seems that Degas was not only experimenting with photography as an aid to painting, but as a form of art itself. However, Degas gave up photography of this type as quickly as he gave it up as a replacement for sketching, suggesting that he was not as satisfied with photography as he was with painting.