What is a Snapshot?
Dec 22, 2018 12:14:10 #
Curmudgeon wrote:
With derision in her voice she says "Henry only takes snapshots". Later in the evening he says with awe, "Did you seen Mary's photographs?" Can anyone tell me what a snapshot is, when a snapshot becomes a photograph or when a photograph becomes art?
Alright, one more time, everyone write it down, and this is not from me, I read it in a photography book written by a well know photographer at the time (?).
If it's an image of just what you saw, it's a snapshot.
If that image has good composition, it's a picture.
If that image has emotional impact, it's a photograph.
FYI, both the famous Iwa Jima and the Times Square photograph were posed (according to the photographers who made those photographs).
Dec 22, 2018 12:22:14 #
rmalarz wrote:
People who boast or post SOOC images. are posting snapshots. People who spend time processing the image and producing a vision of what they saw or felt while making the exposure are making photographs. I guess when those photographs are printed, framed, and displayed, they become art.
As Ansel Adams stated, "The negative is the score. The print is the performance".
--Bob
As Ansel Adams stated, "The negative is the score. The print is the performance".
--Bob
I like the quote.
Dec 22, 2018 12:44:41 #
The photo of Ruby killing Oswald was a snapshot that became a famous photograph. A rose by any other name . . .
Dec 22, 2018 12:56:15 #
Kmgw9v wrote:
No doubt that a snapshot by your definition might be unplanned, but turn out to be an incredible and great photograph.
Does it matter why the picture was snapped, or how the image was created?
Does it matter why the picture was snapped, or how the image was created?
I like this answer and submit that it does not matter.
Dec 22, 2018 12:59:11 #
Most people tend to qualify images as either "snapshots" or "photographs" depending on the amount of effort taken in creating them. However, I would propose that a master craftsman in the use of cameras could quite likely create an artful photograph in the blink of an eye simply because s/he is in tune with the camera being used and the elements of composition, lighting, and perspective and can use them all instinctively. There are times when I feel truly inspired and "snap" an image that I later decide is truly worthy of being called an artful photograph. Other times I'm simply recording what I saw and, while my snaps may be technically OK because I have really nice equipment, they are nevertheless snaps.
Dec 22, 2018 13:06:11 #
ricardo7
Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile
crapshooter wrote:
I like Crap Shots
Check out the krappy kamera competition at
Sohophoto.com
Dec 22, 2018 13:16:09 #
A 'snapshot' or a 'picture' requires prior knowledge of person or place to appreciate.
A 'photograph' stands alone.
Photodoc16
A 'photograph' stands alone.
Photodoc16
Dec 22, 2018 13:18:39 #
ricardo7 wrote:
I'll be somewhat sarcastic:. Digital pictures are snapshots.
Pictures made from film and printed in the darkroom are potentially photographs. Possibly even objects of art.
Pictures made from film and printed in the darkroom are potentially photographs. Possibly even objects of art.
Sarcastic isn't the word I would use. Stupid would be closer.
Are Picasso oils art, while his charcoal work is not?
Art has nothing to do with the medium. Anyone who thinks film is superior to a digital capture is not very smart. Today's digital sensors capture more information and have better resolution than film, and they have for years.
Just another elitist trolling the sheep.
Dec 22, 2018 13:28:55 #
A snapshot is normally considered to be a grab shot. Remember the pix dad took with his Brownie with you and your siblings staring into the sun, squinting and grinning like idiots because that's how dad thought pictures were taken? That's a snapshot.
A photograph has some thought behind it. But even among professional photographers, there is elitism. "George? He's ok, but he's a volume shooter. Not like us...we make art!"
They were probably right, George was NOT like them. He had money in his pocket, money in the bank, and he could afford a new car.
Art? That's a little tougher to define. I think W. Eugene Smith, Man Ray, Cartier Brasson and Helmut Newton definitely produced art.
Even Picasso (who I felt was the most pompous ass in modern art history) was an elitist. He said, "Photographers are like dentists. Dentist long to be doctors, photographers long to be artists." I've seen many photographs that were far more artistic than some of the shit he cranked out.
“Of course it’s all luck.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
A photograph has some thought behind it. But even among professional photographers, there is elitism. "George? He's ok, but he's a volume shooter. Not like us...we make art!"
They were probably right, George was NOT like them. He had money in his pocket, money in the bank, and he could afford a new car.
Art? That's a little tougher to define. I think W. Eugene Smith, Man Ray, Cartier Brasson and Helmut Newton definitely produced art.
Even Picasso (who I felt was the most pompous ass in modern art history) was an elitist. He said, "Photographers are like dentists. Dentist long to be doctors, photographers long to be artists." I've seen many photographs that were far more artistic than some of the shit he cranked out.
“Of course it’s all luck.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
Dec 22, 2018 13:54:27 #
E.L.Shapiro said it best, "Aint photo slang fun."
This all comes down to personal preference and feelings. Maybe add in a good helping of "political correctness" to the mix. Whether it is a snapshot, a photograph, a picture, a captured image, or any of the other terms mentioned in this thread, if it came from a camera (point and shoot, morrorless, cell phone, SLR, film or digital) it was a photograph. What is a photograph but an image created by writing with light. That is essentially what a camera does, it writes (places) the light on a medium and records it.
This all comes down to personal preference and feelings. Maybe add in a good helping of "political correctness" to the mix. Whether it is a snapshot, a photograph, a picture, a captured image, or any of the other terms mentioned in this thread, if it came from a camera (point and shoot, morrorless, cell phone, SLR, film or digital) it was a photograph. What is a photograph but an image created by writing with light. That is essentially what a camera does, it writes (places) the light on a medium and records it.
Dec 22, 2018 14:12:13 #
snapshot ≈ photograph ≈ picture ≈ captured image ≈ photographic image
But snapshot has become somewhat of a derogatory term for many.
I imagine that different terms are used more/less in different parts of the country (like bubbler).
Each term may have a certain level of greatness associated with it, but I use adjectives for that.
But snapshot has become somewhat of a derogatory term for many.
I imagine that different terms are used more/less in different parts of the country (like bubbler).
Each term may have a certain level of greatness associated with it, but I use adjectives for that.
Dec 22, 2018 14:33:44 #
The Apostle Paul exhorted us to "avoid foolish argument." He likely had this post and the zillions like it in mind... and I think this dead horse has been beaten thoroughly enough... and don't forget - a rose by any other name still has thorns...
Dec 22, 2018 14:35:02 #
tommystrat wrote:
The Apostle Paul exhorted us to "avoid foolish argument." He likely had this post and the zillions like it in mind... and I think this dead horse has been beaten thoroughly enough...
Dec 22, 2018 14:36:38 #
'Snapshot' is negative, 'photograph' is positive. That is the only difference. The word 'snapshot' is what it says-a photo taken quickly with little thought to composition, lighting,etc. It's a quick shot. Hence the name.
Dec 22, 2018 14:38:31 #
Curmudgeon wrote:
With derision in her voice she says "Henry only takes snapshots". Later in the evening he says with awe, "Did you seen Mary's photographs?" Can anyone tell me what a snapshot is, when a snapshot becomes a photograph or when a photograph becomes art?
A snapshot seems to be anything one deems to do not as good as what one themselves thinks they can do.
In photography, art is taken, not made!!!
SS
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