Chaostrain Loc: Hillsboro, Oregon

I've seen a couple of posts where someone asked what a snapshot is. I've only seen one person answer the question by telling them to go buy a book. Really? Everybody else just ignored the question.

Here's the free answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapshot_(photography)

tdekany Loc: Oregon

You had missed a few other replies. How about focusing on improving our lack of skills?

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

That may be one definition but in my opinion a snapshot is whichever one wants to call one but doesn't necessarily make it so. Possibly one of the most famous snapshots of all time became the most reproduced during WWII and here is the account of what happened by the man who shot it:

"While the photographers were taking their positions to get the shot, Genaust -- the motion picture photographer -- asked me, "I'm not in your way, am I Joe?' I turned to look at Genaust, who suddenly saw the flag rising and said, 'Hey, there she goes!' Up came the flag. I grabbed my camera, hardly got it past waist level, and took the shot. Wasn't sure what I had snapped."

Of course, the rest is a genuine moment in history, artfully captured for all time, with no chance for preparation. Guess ole' Joe was an amateur taking a snapshot.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I wouldn't necessarily call Wikipedia "the" answer. It is one of those concepts that people have different ideas about. Wikipedia calls it an "amateur photograph", but others may disagree. Even in fine art photography there is a genre known as the "snapshot esthetic" - you could Google it.