gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I think that pursuit of the former versus practicing the latter is what separates making a photo versus taking a photo. I’m an inveterate snap shooter but I try to keep this concept in mind as I capture what I see before me. It’s just too easy to lift that gadget and push that button, a hard habit to break.

bob7fred

Yes, but then we review and judge our snaps. With digital their is no constraint on the number of pics. So if you get 10 good shots out of a hundred, that’s great. I hav the problem of not discarding. I throw all on the hard drive, and then on dvd. Figure I can pick n choose later.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I was just out this morning trying to capture a photo I envisioned for a number of months. When I drive past it I think, "This is a great shot!" Today, taking my life in my hands, on a narrow shoulder of the highway, I finally captured that beautiful shot -- in my dreams! I couldn't separate the single tree from its background and, quite honestly, the shoulder of the road was too narrow to stay out there very long. I may go back tomorrow and try it from an entirely different location. My vision wasn't even a good snap!

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

When you just snap and then review you get all snaps and very few good shots. 10% is worse than terrible! If you stop and think and compose and set your camera for the best settings you can get good shots most of the time and great shots often. - Dave

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

By all means stay after it. In chasing a vision an idea is strengthened, even sometimes turning into an entirely new idea, suggested by the "failure" of the first.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I was thinking about that just the other day when viewing what I would say were just snapshots, yet from decades ago. While artistry certainly makes a picture much better, sometimes what is caught in that snapshot goes beyond the question of artistry. It may be just the individual or individuals captured and documented. I have tons of these unartistic photos passed on to me of my family going back before I was born. I wouldn't toss any of them.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

There was a time when the difference between man and animal was, that man was capable of making tools. Then it was discovered that MANY animals make tools too, so the goal post had to be moved!!!
There are photographers whose snapshots are better than anything that will be produced by some photographers, no matter how deliberate or how long some photographers take, those skills just are not there. There are many examples of that here, daily.
To make consistently good photographs takes skill, vision, practice and the right equipment but some can do most of that with a cell phone!!!
SS

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

For myself "making" a photograph means
Scouting or creating a location.
Adding propos (they may need to be created).
Adding people (if needed)
Adding lighting.

dumbo

Hey all you handsome/beautiful Hedgehogs.
Please take a few minutes or hours and study the Masters of our Art. Look at Ansel Adams photographs in B&W.
Look at some of the truly great photographers works. You can get a few right on-line for nothing.
And then pause for a second or for a few minutes about whether you just want "snaps" or whether you'd prefer to take some of your very own great photographs.
Digital photography has led all of us down the garden path. Snap away. Sort through hundreds. But come on. You, your friends, your fam will be much more pleased to see a few of your truly great photographs. Please don't waste your time or mine by tearing my suggestion apart. Thank you.

tonal Loc: Greece

Hi, I am talking a photography seminar lately.
The instructor is insisting on avoiding taking pictures of a stunning subject that dominates in the frame and draws attraction directly.

Otherwise it is just a snapshot that captures something interesting but there is nothing left that is not included in the picture for the viewer to imagine, think or dream about.
A beautiful or visually interesting person, a nice scenery even if this requires the right timing, light, shadows, colours etc. is just a captured moment the way everyone could see it. it just happened that someone was there and had the chance to capture this moment. With the right composition skills it has the potential to make a very nice shot.
There is a certain appeal to it but this is not art. It is a depiction which is direct and leaves nothing implied most of the times.

For me it is really hard to overcome habits and achieve this and I need a lot of practice.
Other people are much more comfortable in doing so and happens to be able to take "more artistic" shots
even if we have taken pictures of the same subject or shooting in the same place.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If you are on vacation and documenting your trip, artistic vision doesn't have to enter into it. However, you still want nice, eye-catching composition. Dozens of "artsy" vacation photos might not actually bring back memories of the trip years later. Whatever you shoot should be well-composed and technically as good as you can make it.

When it comes to artistic vision, you'll be more creative and imaginative. This will involve unusual composition, focus, lighting, etc. I see it as Salvatore Dali and Normal Rockwell. Each was very good at what he did.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

I'm with Jerry...There is a time and place for a "vacation snapshot" to jog your memory in future years. Which isn't to say technique and composition should be ignored. I've seen many a vacation snapshot of someone lined up so a telephone pole (or some similar object) is sticking out of their head. How hard would it have been for the photographer to have taken a couple of steps left or right so the person wasn't lined up with the pole? How hard would it have been to dial an aperture setting to bring the background into focus or to soften it out of focus?

As to taking multiple DSLR photos, I wonder how many photos Ansel Adams, Ed Weston or Ed Curtis took to create the one fabulous shot we all know? No doubt they were experts at getting the conditions, camera and composition as close to perfect as possible in order to minimize their waste of film but it isn't like they set up and took only one shot. I'm somewhat guilty of hitting the shutter release button more on my DSLR than I ever did my 35mm film Nikkormat but at least I try different angles and settings for each shot. I'm also brutally unmerciful when it comes to hitting the delete button on my computer, afterward.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I tend to craft each photograph. Prior to actuating the shutter, I've composed, metered, and visualized how I want the final print to look. As Ansel Adams so eloquently stated, “You don't take a photograph, you make it.”

The SOOC crowd simply take snapshots. Some are, undoubtedly, good. But, they are nothing more than snapshots.
--Bob

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Glad to see that I’m not the only one working on the "taking" versus "making" issue. What I’m becoming aware of is that much of my photography is in the documentary mode - documenting where I’ve been, what I see, things that interest me, that sort of thing. From time to time I generate what I believe is a good photo. It seems that I’m in a good crowd.

srt101fan

I think I fit right into that crowd.....