Difference between snapshot and photo

[Fled]

Beer.

Fled
http://www.geocities.com/fleamusic

While checking out CCs POTD at Steve's Digicam (great shot!) I
noticed in his posting instructions the phrase "There's a big
difference between photographs and snapshots."

I'm sure I agree, but as a newbie I'm still at the "I can't define
it but I know it when I see it" stage.

So, in your opinion, what are the elements that differentiate a
snapshot from a photograph?

Sean

--
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=221285

 

[Phil Douglis]

An excellent thread, throughly enjoyable and educational....
For me snapshots are something I take to preserve memories at
family gatherings etc, the subject is more important than the
composition and are not intended for public viewing.
The quest to take a good photograph is one of my pleasures, I
rarely succeed but it is fun trying, I have little success at
planned shots, that is going to a specific location to take a
specific shot. To compensate for this I'm trying to teach myself
how to look, how to find subject matter in things and places you
would generally walk past or ignore, I will stop at a random spot
on a trail or a street and spend a few minutes just looking around
picking out the details. Quite few people are surprised when they
discover the shots they were looking at were taken less than two
blocks from where they have lived for many year and were totally
unaware that the subject of the shots existed...

John q

--
John Q....Olympus C-2100, Canon 300D
http://www.pbase.com/john_q

I wanted to thank all of you for your thoughtful replies to Sean's excellent question. Over the last couple of years, I've posted on these forums about 500 times, but I don't think I've ever been involved in as worthwhile a thread as this one has turned out to be.

I say that because what we have really been discussing here is WHY we make photographs (or snapshots). Semantics aside, it is always a worthwhile exercise to ask ourselves that question every time we aim our cameras at something or someone. There is nothing inherently right or wrong with any answer -- if you want to show others what you are seeing and make a snapshot of it to do so, that's OK. And if you should want to go beyond just showing something, and instead SAY something about it with your picture, that's OK too. To say something however, involves interpretation and expression, not just description. And that really what Photographs ("capitalized") are all about.

I also thank you, Sean, for your thoughtful summation this evening. Your dissertation on the difference between snapshots and Photographs deserves an "A." (However, no extra points were awarded to you for selecting my shot of a container ship going through the Panama Canal as an example of a "story-telling Photograph.")

My thanks again to all 15 of you who took the time to address this topic. If any of you should find yourselves thinking less of WHAT you are shooting, and thinking more about WHY you are shooting it, our discussion here will have been well worth the effort.

Phil Douglis
Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops
Phoenix, Arizona
[email protected]
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1
http://www.worldisround.com/home/pnd1/index.html
http://www.funkytraveller.com/Pages/travelogues/travelphotophild.htm

 

[BarrytheB]

Thanks folks- best thread in a long while.

I know that what I consider good photographs always evoke some sort of emotional response in me. (but then my wife says I'm emotional anyway)

BB
http://www.westexas.com/
'If it won't go don't force it.'

 

[nickoly]

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Photography_Techniques/Spicing_Architecture_01.htm

No I didn't take it.

I found the above while absently trawling another forum. I think it's an extraordinary lesson, particularly the philosophy of "if you can't fix it, flaunt it". Who knows what masterpieces were in fact merely making the best of a bad situation?

 

[Fotomania]

...is - if I'm happy with the result, it's a photo. If it's just so-so it's a snapshot. And a snapshot can transform into a photo after some inspired Photoshop work, of course.
: - ))

Eva

 

[Hawaii-geek]

To me a snapshot is a picture that was taken with no thought in it
at all.
Grab the camera point it and shoot it. The exposure may not be just
right and the composition may not really be that good. This is not
to say that if you think about what you are doing that you will not
get a snapshot.

A non-snapshot is a picture that has had a lot of thought put into
it. The person looked at all the angles, picked the best one,
looked and thought about what they want in the DOF and how they
wanted to compose it, got the exposure right on. Again you may
think about a shot all day and still come up with a snapshot.

This is only my opinion.
This is a snapshot, I just took the picture with no real thought to
anything but getting the whole tractor in the shot.
http://www.pbase.com/image/26839401

This is a photograph, I was trying to get the angle just right and
the lighting the way I wanted, but also this is more then likely a
snapshot to other people.
http://www.pbase.com/image/26839399

So it still boils down to the person behind the camera and what
they think a snapshot is.

--
Bill Huber

I would like to take Bill's definition a bit further:

To me, a snapshot is made to describe the subject, to show what it
looks like.
The photographer is not trying to interpret the subject for others,
to express an idea, a point of view or tell a story. Snapshots
simply show us what the subject looks like, but say relatively
little about it.

A photograph, on the other hand, does the very opposite. It is, as
Bill points out, made with forethought, but it can also go on to
express the photographer's thoughts about what he or she sees.

How do we make expressive photographs? I have put together a
learning resource on this subject at http://www.pbase.com/pnd1 . I would be
happy to answer any questions. (I happen to currently use Canon
cameras, but everything I say in my pbase galleries applies just as
much to those using Olympus products.

In any event, thanks for posting this thread. Cameras don't make
photographs. Photographers make photographs. A camera is only a
tool. Ultimately an image's content is more important than its form
or the tool used to make it.

Phil Douglis
Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops
Phoenix, Arizona
[email protected]
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1
http://www.worldisround.com/home/pnd1/index.html
http://www.funkytraveller.com/Pages/travelogues/travelphotophild.htm

--
New to Photography ... I need a lot of HELP!
but, learning quickly by reading this forum.
Love, my travel 'worthy' c-5050 now with ver82

 

[Camilo_C]

Thanks to Phil, Leigh and dwn for the comments on the Niagara picture. The funny thing is the camera used for this picture has very little manual controls available so it was taken with the "Night"setting on a tripod. That's about all the thinking i had to do for it so it would qualify as a snapshot... but I am happy with it.

Camilo_C
----------------
Trying to learn how to make nice pictures.
http://www.pbase.com/camilocano

 

[Beacon]

. . . is that the layman's recognition of your photographic skill is often veiled.

When you DO think through your shot -- compose it nicely -- take advantage of (or compensate for) the lighting -- balance the colors, etc. -- and you manage to come up with a real nice Photograph, most folks will look at it and say "Man! That camera takes really good pictures!"

My stock comeback for that one is "Why, thank-you. Sometimes it takes some really bad pictures as well." ;-)

--

 

[Bruce M154875]

what would be your reaction to the comment "that's an excellent snapshot" ?

The Macquarie dictionary defines snapshot as

a photograph taken quickly without any formal arrangement of the subject, mechanical adjustment of the camera etc

To me much of the discussion that has occured here goes far beyond "what is a snapshot", to the far more interesting question of "how do I take a better photograph"

In the end though, I suspect your question is never answered by the photog, but by the viewer.

--
Bruce
http://www.digitalstar.com/bmiles/?Album=Olympus+Talk+Forum
c5o5o