Every photo is a snapshot: Every photo is a snapshot, an image capture in a moment in time. Some are just planned more than others. Some are planned a lot more than others. And some...

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Every photo is a snapshot, an image capture in a moment in time. Some are just planned more than others. Some are planned a lot more than others. And some are just impulsive, seemingly unplanned shots - something of interest, lift the camera, point, shoot. This is what I do more often than not.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I would disagree with that definition of a snapshot. I feel it excludes prior planning. Would you consider photos shot with a view camera, or really any photo shot with a tripod to be snapshots? If every photo is a snapshot, what use is the term snapshot?

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

JohnSwanda wrote:

I would disagree with that definition of a snapshot. I feel it excludes prior planning. Would you consider photos shot with a view camera, or really any photo shot with a tripod to be snapshots? If every photo is a snapshot, what use is the term snapshot?

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Well stated, John.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

gvarner wrote:

Every photo is a snapshot, an image capture in a moment in time. Some are just planned more than others. Some are planned a lot more than others. And some are just impulsive, seemingly unplanned shots - something of interest, lift the camera, point, shoot. This is what I do more often than not.

I disagree with your definition, and apparently so does the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It defines "snapshot" as "a casual photograph made typically by an amateur with a small handheld camera" That doesn't mean that all images captured by amateurs are snapshots, nor does it mean that all images captured by professionals are not snapshots. The key word here is casual, one of the definitions of which is "done without serious intent or commitment".

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Here we go again.

Dannj

mwsilvers wrote:

I disagree with your definition, and apparently so does the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It defines "snapshot" as "a casual photograph made typically by an amateur with a small handheld camera"

The Cambridge English Dictionary says:
“1. a photograph 2. a piece of information or short description that gives an understanding of a situation at a particular time...”

Perhaps the French have a word for it as well😊

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Dannj wrote:

The Cambridge English Dictionary says:
“1. a photograph 2. a piece of information or short description that gives an understanding of a situation at a particular time...”

Perhaps the French have a word for it as well😊

So are you suggesting that something like a formal family portrait is a snapshot, or that the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, or Ansel Adams were snapshots? The term snapshot is almost always used to differentiate non-serious photographs from serious ones.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-597654-6.html#10267291

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Dannj wrote:

The Cambridge English Dictionary says:
“1. a photograph 2. a piece of information or short description that gives an understanding of a situation at a particular time...”

Perhaps the French have a word for it as well😊

Snapshots are photographs, but not all photographs are snapshots.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

A snapshot in LR or PS may be a photograph, but in that case the term refers to a particular point in the editing history. And the term may mean something similar in other sequential operations.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

JohnSwanda wrote:

Snapshots are photographs, but not all photographs are snapshots.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

It seems that I have struck a nerve. 😉😉

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

gvarner wrote:

It seems that I have struck a nerve. 😉😉

Isn't that what you wanted to do?

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

JohnSwanda wrote:

Isn't that what you wanted to do?

Not really. I just wanted a dialogue recognizing that there is a fine line between what some may disparagingly view as a "snapshot" and what they consider to be "real" photography. To me it’s a matter of how much time goes into planning the photo. For many experienced photographers, this can be done almost instantaneously. For the inexperienced, it may be a bit of a struggle and take too much time so they just point and shoot.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

gvarner wrote:

It seems that I have struck a nerve. 😉😉

That was your intention, wasn't it?