Good? Great? What does that mean? Isn't it a very subjective assessment based on personal preference? Some people prefer muted light and colors. Some prefer strong light and vivid colors. Someone's beautiful might be another's ugly. I have an emotional attachment to all my posted images. Does that mean they're all good or great? How the heck do I know? I personally like them all. But that doesn't mean anything.
I'm posting three shots with no claims whatever. I won't even say which camera was used. You can't decide which camera/lens is best based on some downsized images posted on the Internet (at least I can't). The printed image is the only way I know of to judge the real quality.
Not entirely true. There are some universals. For example, large eyes and red lips are universally beautiful features of the female form (of course, there are exceptions). On the other hand, some cultures prefer large women, others small. At the individual level, some men prefer dark skin, others light. Nonetheless, there exist women who pretty much everyone would think of as beautiful (but not necessarily the most beautiful) regardless of culture.
The point isn't always how you feel about an image, but how others feel. Of course there are images that will only appeal to you, and many may take the pictures only for themselves. However, there are also a great number of people who take pictures for themselves and for everyone else. It is these people who have an interest in what other people think and what makes an image great.
Why no claims? Surely there was a reason to select those three in particular -- to say "no claims" is something of a cop out, no?
----
Tom
Photography – you gotta love it. All kinds of flavors and enough
for everyone.
Good? Great? What does that mean? Isn't it a very subjective
assessment based on personal preference? Some people prefer muted
light and colors. Some prefer strong light and vivid colors.
Someone's beautiful might be another's ugly. I have an emotional
attachment to all my posted images. Does that mean they're all good
or great? How the heck do I know? I personally like them all. But
that doesn't mean anything.
I'm posting three shots with no claims whatever. I won't even say
which camera was used. You can't decide which camera/lens is best
based on some downsized images posted on the Internet (at least I
can't). The printed image is the only way I know of to judge the
real quality.
--
Tom
Photography – you gotta love it. All kinds of flavors and enough
for everyone.
--
--
I love those superwides. Two things frustrate me about DSLRs (right now).
. . . I have to grin and bear it.Yes sure Joe, but only if you stick about in here and post / comment regularly..
Its all semantics and vocabulary what you are getting into ..
Forgive me Joe but I am not going to post any picture and call it great!
Hi stan
and lots more to do.. poor people on the whole do not like opera and would not choose to pay for it when they could watch their local football team or rugby club!! why not its just a game in fact "its just commerce" Yes I agree with you stan .. but this good and great thing gets up my nose ... no offence intended to Joe
I agree and it irritates me just a touch that we are still getting people dropping images in here and without the courtesy to comment on other peoples efforts they expect us to comment on theirs ... well fine I will but .. this space needs to work .. if we all had to go amongst some of the often political and on occasion plain nasty posts in some of the forums in here I think we would be worse off ...
Grin Stan glad you like them .. sadly I dont think I use the words often enough but if you want more I have a few different thesauruses or is it thesauri not far behind me
Your statement is not entirely true. Universal – with exceptions – doesn't appear to be universal.
I'm sure there are those who are not moved by or feel anything for what you make an effort to produce (or my work either).
Silly? What is human perception based on? Subjective experience. Take away our five senses and what does anyone have left? Pure objectivity?
That was my point (not clearly made, I guess). It isn't for me to say my work is "great". I'll never say that. I think it's good enough to post. Others have expressed what they thought about it.
Do you need claims? I selected two of the lowest resolution camera shots I have (2 & 3mp Olympus cameras). The last one was done with film. I thought someone with your discernment would be able to spot the differences.
Real quality as in the finished image. A good print from an Olympus C-2020 will not have the quality of something printed from a Canon 1Ds.
You are welcome.
Not the link you just posted. One link had three pics. The other link wouldn't work until I realized an exclamation mark was part of the link.
But "universal" enough. We can quibble on what percent is necessary later! : )
I'm missing the point here. What I meant to say is that just because a person's work is great, doesn't mean all will appreciate it.
Not pure objectivity, but "collective subjective agreement" -- that is, if enough people agree that something is great, then that thing is great (at least so long as there are enough people to agree!).
That's merely a matter of degree. Once a value judgement is made (for example, "good enough to post"), then with little effort, it becomes easy to assign greater gradations. I do this daily in deciding what to print.
Again, I'm at a loss for what is meant here. I'll take a stab, though. I would think that there is no way a 2 MP camera can compare to a DSLR in the "technical". As for film being of higher "technical" merit, again, that depends on the resolution it is viewed at and how good the scanning was. At 640 x 480, all cameras are pretty much equal, no?
That is precisely the point I am trying to make. But the above statement is true only in terms of "technical merit" -- not composition or emotional impact. What I wish to know is how people value each of these three categories.
You seem bitter, and I'm not sure why. I never placed myself as judge and jury. I want to hear others' opinions so that I can produce better photographs. Other people's opinions matter to me. It is not enough that I think an image is good (at least, not all the time!).
My apologies if I offended. I'm just looking for what makes a photo great. If the word "great" is a problem, then I'll rephrase -- what makes some peoples photographs popular while others are not.
I knew there was a catch! : )
Excellent points. I'll take "on your wall, in a gallery, and millions (OK, $100) for the original."
It matters for the "in a gallery," and "millions for the original"!
Maybe you could go on and on, but my cranial thesaurus ended after the first three! Anyway, let's pic a few of these for what I mean by "great":Just good and great is a touch limiting dont you think?
Is subte the same as great
Is vibrant the same as great
Is stunning
arresting
striking
moving
having impact
relaxing
dynamic
clean
clear
strong
serious
powerful
emotive
descriptive
illustrative
angular
corporate
stylish
flamboyant
verdant
active
soporific
mesmeric
regimented
ordered
symetrical
... I guess we could all go on .... and on
Not about rules, but money -- that's the bottom line. A great photo will sell to the masses. Portraits and wedding photos sell to a select few buyers, but barring porn, few pictures sell to the masses. Those few I would call "great".
How about some you're just proud of, then, in terms of "technical merit", "composition", and "emotional impact"?
I find that pictures accompanied by verbal critiques is more instructive. Not merely "that's nice" or "ooooooh" but real critiques. If you look at my posts, you'll see that I'm sometimes guilty of the latter, but it's all I know how to do at this point.
I feel differently here. Great is great. Just because I take another great picture, it does not necessarily degrade the previous "great". Also, "great", to me, is invariant from my mood.
I don't see it linearly that way. I believe there is a threshold for greatness (give or take a little), but once in that area, they are all equal. Take cinema, for example. I would not care to order Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, and Schindler's List; but would place all above There's Something About Mary, Star Wars, and Dark City as much as I enjoyed all the latter three as well.
How fast we are improving! : )
Agreed, but the people putting out money for their photographs might be, and their opinion would matter even more.However the crux is I think ....
If there was a great photographer .. who made truly "great"
whatever that is images or perhaps who others thought was great ..
Adams or someone of that ilk ....
would they be in here telling us how to do it
or even "what it is" ...
I dont think so .. ...
No worries! If you're an American, you can claim that you're just following your leader's example! : )
