Once the red-headed stepchild of fine art, photography has been making up for lost time. Because it remains relatively affordable and is plentiful, it is being ravenously acquired by new enthusiasts, veteran collectors, and institutions, alike. Yet, despite its populist disposition and manageable history, there are miles—price and quality-wise—between artsy shutterbug shots and vintage modernist platinum prints.

Whether you are tracking down an iconic piece, looking for the ascendant star, or seeking connoisseurship and education, the Bay Area has always been a fertile crescent for photography. California’s natural beauty, temperate climate, and social freedom has drawn photographers including Carleton Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge, John Guttman, and, most notably, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, and Edward Weston, who formed Group f/64 in 1932 to promote “straight” photography.

When other institutions dismissed photography as a lesser medium, the San Francisco Museum of Art was an early and ardent supporter. Its excellence in acquisitions, scholarship, and curating have made photography its best department, and second only to the MoMA in New York. By extension, there are many excellent private collections that work closely with both SFMOMA and the highly esteemed Fraenkel Gallery, which since 1979 has helped to build some of the best vintage and contemporary photography collections in the world.

Where to See It

Not surprisingly, with two strong organizations leading the way, there is always an excellent range of revelatory photography to be seen in the Bay Area. Currently, “Martin Munkacsi: Think While You Shoot!” (on view through Sept. 16) continues SFMOMA’s tradition of bringing hitherto obscure photographers to mainstream attention. The Hungarian-born Munkacsi rose from fine arts beginnings to become one of the most successful and recognized fashion photographers in the 1950s. His quick demise left only a few iconic images in the collective American memory, but this exhibition re-establishes the pioneering nature of Munkacsi’s dynamic technique and his lasting effect on photography greats such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Richard Avedon.

Other legacies can be traced in “Several Exceptionally Good Recently Acquired Pictures XIX” at Fraenkel Gallery (through Aug. 11). Given its access to the best photographs around the world, the gallery’s show is more a curatorial exercise than serendipitous marketing stunt. Here, contemporary artists at the top of their game—Adam Fuss, Nan Goldin, Idris Khan, and Hiroshi Sugimoto—are in deep dialogue with their firebrand forebears, among them Robert Adams, Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and Garry Winogrand. Endless conceptual threads and aesthetic juxtapositions are made rich here by history, yet they are not contingent upon it.

Fraenkel’s success has also enabled it to produce more fanciful projects, such as “The Book of Shadows,” showing in their rear gallery. Upward of 100 snapshots, capturing the shadows of a group of unknown photographers, run salon-style across four walls. What initially seems gimmicky reveals a true eye for and commitment to pure, remarkable, even pedigree-less images. As if to prove the point, none are for sale, but a book documenting the project is.

Where to Buy It

If vernacular photography is what you seek to buy, Robert Tat Gallery has surprising works by unknown artists. His inventory includes the well-known commercial and pictorial lenses of the 19th century (William Dassonville, Arnold Genthe, Eadweard Muybridge) and more obscure but wonderful salon regulars from the 1930s (William F. Simpson and Karl Baumgaertel), as well as works by emerging talents such as Rebecca Martinez.

Other sources for vintage materials are private dealers Michael Shapiro and Paul Hertzmann/Susan Herzig, and Barry Singer in Petaluma, Calif.

Scott Nichols Gallery is known for its expertise on Group f/64 and Brett Weston, but also shows up-and-coming artists such as Mona Kuhn and established masters including Paul Caponigro (whose show “A Wise Silence” is on view through July 3). Many of the artists in its stable carry on those classic photographic traditions of landscape, figure, and still life.