Author Topic: What do you want to get out of a picture? (Read 1322 times)

voyager · « **on:** July 02, 2011, 05:28:51 PM »

Just a little food for thought...

When you take a photo, what is it that's most important to you. Is it wanting to be able to look back in your photo albums when you are twenty years older and zoom in to 100% and be amazed at how sharp or not sharp the photo is, or do you want to look at the photo at a normal size and think back to that day and how you felt?

It seems that some of us take so much time thinking about how sharp a camera should be or how much it can take the best photos that we tend to forget what actually makes photography so worth while, and that is the memories that underly it.

I'm sure many of you in a few years aren't going to be looking through your folder at E-P1 photos in a slideshow and think "man, look at how many flaws there are in these photos because the camera couldn't handle high ISO noise and there were some details that didn't resolve as well as my bigger and more expensive camera", instead you're going to remember how much you enjoyed the place you were in when you took that photo, and even more you're going to remember how much you loved that little camera for what it was.

There are some of us that use cameras that are by no means even close to perfect, or sharp for that matter. And they give us the best photos, not because of chance, but because they don't try to be perfect. Our lives and memories are not perfect, so a photo from a pinhole camera is going to give us such a more distinct and memorable effect than a photo that we've seen of the place (Golden Gate Bridge for example) so many times that looks exactly the same. But afraid that I am getting to the point of rambling now, I'll leave this open to interpretation.

What do you think is more important to you? The fact that you need the camera that can take perfectly sharp and noise free photos at ISO 6400, or a camera that gives you photos that remind you why you take photos in the first place?

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2011, 06:51:54 PM »

Well, I take photo's several reasons:

I want to have a record of our family as we move through life. I want to record happy times and sad times, milestones, and expressions. Family togetherness, Individual moments, environmental portraits. So, down the road, We can remember and have a laugh and or re-tell what happened as a story.

I also want record my view of things around me, like an artist might use paint to record their idea on canvas. I try to have a still life, a candid with emotion, scenic that looks like a post card, images that reflect my viewpoint. I may achieve this before I'm gone. only others can tell judge that.

Sharpness: It is important, but content is more important. Having the right amount in focus is more important in many images. Making sure that only what you want in an image is important, Zoom, Crop, change viewpoint.. whatever you can do to get it as right as you can for what you want to convey.

So, I have 2 tracks.....

Family wise
Artist wise

Sometimes they merge, that's OK also.

corgifan · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2011, 10:26:46 PM »

Let us bow our heads for a moment and remember the words of St. Ansel of Yosemite: "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept."

I love sharp photos and hate fuzzy ones. But I'd rather have a fuzzy photo of a great memory than a perfect photo that says nothing at all to me or anyone else.

For the most part I shoot to make memories for myself, some for my family and friends, and a handful that might be enjoyed by others on the 'net who happen to like the same subjects I do.

Doug

count_zero · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2011, 10:49:56 PM »

"I take photos of things I won't remember" - Mystery Train movie by Jim Jarmusch

My primary motive is to capture surreal moments. If something strikes me emotionally, then it's worth taking a picture. Problem is usually by the time I get home to PP the photo I forget what it was that I was trying to capture.

niva_explorer_photo · « **Reply #4 on:** July 03, 2011, 03:31:42 AM »

In my photography I try to capture moments, it doesn't matter if they are of friends, family, travels or just little stories in the street, what I try is to capture, to record this moment, this memory. Of course if the picture is sharp and well developed it helps a lot

corgifan · « **Reply #5 on:** July 03, 2011, 08:34:36 PM »

Quote from: niva_explorer_photo on July 03, 2011, 03:31:42 AM

In my photography I try to capture moments, it doesn't matter if they are of friends, family, travels or just little stories in the street, what I try is to capture, to record this moment, this memory. Of course if the picture is sharp and well developed it helps a lot

Along those lines, I've always been fascinated that a photograph is the only thing that can stop time, capture an instant that even the human eye might miss, and then preserve it. Amazing. Sometimes when I'm going through a big batch of photos I'm as pleased by the things I didn't see but that the camera recorded and preserved, as I am the things I intended to photograph.

Doug

Jason C · « **Reply #6 on:** October 18, 2011, 07:02:56 PM »

I take pictures of what I want to see...

Jason C

asterinex · « **Reply #7 on:** October 19, 2011, 12:16:33 AM »

A snapshot of life. Freezing a blizz.

voyager · « **Reply #8 on:** October 19, 2011, 12:47:49 AM »

Quote from: asterinex on October 19, 2011, 12:16:33 AM

A snapshot of life. Freezing a blizz.

I always love it when a photo gives me that feeling. It's so rare though, and rarely happens with photos that are "mechanically perfect". Something has to be obviously imperfect about it.

ralph · « **Reply #9 on:** October 25, 2011, 05:16:41 AM »

I'm normal trying to create moments or feelings, or just beautiful looking images or portraits without any real context, not recording memories as such - my wife is constantly agrivated by the fact I'm always making her pose for photos I want to create, but the camera is no-where to be seen at christmas / her birthday party, etc. Those photos don't really interest me much (personal preference, not knocking anything/anyone).

On the question of sharpness, no it doesn't matter much to me at all, so long as I can make an interesting image, or capture what I want to capture, and I almost always process from raw with no sharpening, only adding a tiny touch to eyes etc, if i add any at all. I just need enough sharpness in the right places to draw attention to where i want it, but that's more of a relative thing - eyes more sharp than rest of face / person more sharp than background etc.

Same with noise - if it's there it's there. Some time I add it, I never try to remove it. It's part of what the image is and I never think it really detracts from an image at the levels it's present in any reasonably modern camera at any reasonale ISO.

I used to spend a HUGE amount of time worrying about sharpness, noise, colour acuracy, proper exposure etc. Looking back at those photos now, they're mostly really boring.

lisandra · « **Reply #10 on:** October 25, 2011, 02:18:26 PM »

I try to make people see how beautiful the places that they see eeeeeevery day and take for granted can actually look like if you stop for a while...

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2011, 08:17:20 AM »

Satisfaction that my camera has what my mind saw......

Sent from my iPad

NaturalWoman · « **Reply #12 on:** October 26, 2011, 09:52:48 AM »

feelings. nothing more than feeelings. emotions.

$:-\$

What do you want to get out of a picture?