snapshot question

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Bazza
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I was just wondering how much time must one spend on taking a photo so it can no longer be called a snapshot?
 
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All photographs are snapshots.

I often get the impression when a photo is called a snapshot ( taken quickly without any thought ) it is not the same as a set piece professional studio photo. So do you mean the latter are still only snapshots bearing in mind setting up the studio the lighting the camera angle etc
 
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I often get the impression when a photo is called a snapshot ( taken quickly without any thought ) it is not the same as a set piece professional studio photo. So do you mean the latter are still only snapshots bearing in mind setting up the studio the lighting the camera angle etc
I'm saying nobody can tell by looking at a photograph how it was taken. Apart from long exposures all phoptographs are taken in a split second, and even long exposures haver their starting point decided in an instant.
 
It seems to me that you can usefully relate it to firearms (though I’m not sure that is the origin) where I would describe it as a shot of opportunity, ie a target is briefly seen and a shot taken. Time does not come into it in the sense that you may have waited a long time for the opportunity to present itself and you may have anticipated the opportunity and prepared for it.
I‘m sure most people can relate this to certain kinds of ‘street photography’ ;).
Despite all the foregoing, I think most people here use the term to describe a photo taken carelessly and without much consideration. :D.
 
It seems to me that you can usefully relate it to firearms (though I’m not sure that is the origin) where I would describe it as a shot of opportunity, ie a target is briefly seen and a shot taken. Time does not come into it in the sense that you may have waited a long time for the opportunity to present itself and you may have anticipated the opportunity and prepared for it.
I‘m sure most people can relate this to certain kinds of ‘street photography’ ;).
Despite all the foregoing, I think most people here use the term to describe a photo taken carelessly and without much consideration. :D.


my thoughts as well. Point aim shoot all in one movement to be a real snapshot. When one starts "fiddling " with camera settings to get the best photo then it is no longer a snapshot. This could take several seconds/minutes depending on the photographer and equipment
 
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AFAIK "snapshot" was used to describe a shot taken quickly - as in hunting and taking aim and shooting quickly with a gun...

http://www.djphoto.co.uk/man-coined-word-snapshot-sir-john-Herschel/

It therefore may certainly be more than a record shot or a shot taken without any thought as it can be both quickly taken and with thought... ie. I want to take a picture and because of the nature of what I want to "shoot" I will need to take it quickly...

I occasionally do this with compact cameras which can be set up manually as their AF is probably too slow to capture any fast action and I sometimes do it with my Sony A7 with manual lenses set up for zone focus for the same reason.

Whilst not wanting to label the following as snapshots see this for an interesting read...

http://m43blog.dthorpe.net/2017/12/15/great-expectations/

It seems to me that you can usefully relate it to firearms (though I’m not sure that is the origin) where I would describe it as a shot of opportunity, ie a target is briefly seen and a shot taken. Time does not come into it in the sense that you may have waited a long time for the opportunity to present itself and you may have anticipated the opportunity and prepared for it.
I‘m sure most people can relate this to certain kinds of ‘street photography’ ;).
Despite all the foregoing, I think most people here use the term to describe a photo taken carelessly and without much consideration. :D.

Yup although my way of describing a snap shot would be a picture taken with a Jessops 35mm fixed focus camera by uncle Bob of Auntie Jean drunk at a party but these days the Jessops 35mm will have been replaced with an iPhone or Samsung.
 
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I was just wondering how much time must one spend on taking a photo so it can no longer be called a snapshot?
If you need to ask that question you really need more of :beer: :naughty:
 
A shot taken without any consideration for exposure, lighting, composition, artistic merit ... doesn't mean a bad shot necessarily, but it'll probably require a lot of work in post to make it stand out. That's how I see it at least.

How long? you can take a very non-"snap shot" image in a split second so long as you're set up beforehand and the shot is very much intentional
 
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Dave

With all due respect the question was not how it was taken

I suppose I just get hacked off by the notion that a hastily taken 'snapshot' is a lesser photograph than one which has been thought out and planned for ages and reacted accordingly.

I like 'snapshots' they can have a liveliness in their serendipity that carefully planned photographs lack. Having been brought up on HCB's 'decisive moment' and stress on geometry in his pictures it took me a long time to understand the visual value of embracing chance and accident in to my photographs. Silly when you think that was exactly what influenced painters such as Degas in photography's earlier years.
 
I suppose I just get hacked off by the notion that a hastily taken 'snapshot' is a lesser photograph.
It's only "art" if you spent hours on it. :tumbleweed:
 
In theory and on paper...

A snapshot is the kind of photograph that a non-photographer who is not interested in photography at all, just want to take out a simple and easy to use camera, take a photo with not a care about exposure, lighting, framing, focus, etc. All they want to do is just take a photograph of their friends, family, pets, whatever and get it done with. What they want to do with the photograph is just to stick it in an album or on the fridge door. All they want is a memorable photograph to remember that event or that time.

Beginners, amateurs, semi-pros, and professionals all tend to think about adjust the settings on their cameras, take into allowance the light levels, find the best viewpoint, do a suitable framing, and all that, and want to take a photograph, not a snapshot.
 
Someone just commented on my Instagram post 'beautiful snapshot' - which grinds my gears and feels almost like an oxymoron. I definitely see it a slight reserved for trolls.

Google tells me what I already feel about the word 'snapshot'

What is a snapshot picture?
“Snapshot – A photograph that is shot spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent.”

I intend all my photos to be artistic in some-way. So calling it a snapshot makes me feel like I've failed..

Here is the image.. when I saw Newt here, a little pup with a big shadow, I did not ignore the opportunity - i had to fetch the camera, put a card in it and already knew how I was going to photograph it.

The Spirit Within by Daniel Cook, on Flickr
 
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So calling it a snapshot makes me feel like I've failed.
I don't see why it should. The Collins National Dictionary (page 462) gives the definition: "hasty shot; photograph taken by giving instantaneous or very quick exposure". Most pictures these days fall into the second category and are none the worse for that...

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I don't see why it should. The Collins National Dictionary (page 462) gives the definition: "hasty shot; photograph taken by giving instantaneous or very quick exposure". Most pictures these days fall into the second category and are none the worse for that...

‘Hasty’ could still imply lack of intent .. which is how it feels when people use that word.
 
It's always seemed pretty straightforward to me. IMO a snapshot is taken with an 'instant' camera or one that is set to auto so that the 'snapper' simply points and shoots - the camera does the rest. The result will be a .jpg that needs no processing/cropping and has had very little thought given to it regarding composition.

On the other hand a photograph is composed by the photographer as to how he/she wants the result to be - their competence growing with experience. That is; exposure, shutter speed, composition etc. are given a considerable amount of thought as is the processing of the photo after it has been taken.

Arguably, there always comes a time when anyone with any camera grabs an opportunistic, 'right time, right place' quick snap. ;)
 
I disagree with a lot of what's posted here and would much rather refer back to the original use of the phrase being analogous to hunting and taking quick shots. In more recent times perhaps snapshot has come to mean a picture taken by a non photographer with a basic camera and no knowledge of what they're doing that wasn't the original use of the phrase.

A snap shot in the original sense of a picture taken very quickly because that's how it had to be taken is a very different thing to a slightly out of focus picture taken by a tipsy uncle Bob. The former could be the skillful capture of a fleeting moment by someone who knows exactly what they are doing and why. Not to detract too much from the latter, a picture taken with no knowledge of photography, as it could be a beautiful thing and a true moment to remember. But these two things are very different things.

These days I suppose a snap shot in the original sense could be taken with the latest and greatest kit like a Sony A9 with a fast operating top end lens. Kit like that could very possibly capture a moment in true hunting snapshot fashion. I don't have kit like that so my attempt to capture a fleeting moment quickly would be with a 35mm at f5.6-8 and set to a distance.
 
I suppose I just get hacked off by the notion that a hastily taken 'snapshot' is a lesser photograph than one which has been thought out and planned for ages and reacted accordingly.

I like 'snapshots' they can have a liveliness in their serendipity that carefully planned photographs lack. Having been brought up on HCB's 'decisive moment' and stress on geometry in his pictures it took me a long time to understand the visual value of embracing chance and accident in to my photographs. Silly when you think that was exactly what influenced painters such as Degas in photography's earlier years.
I really resisted mentioning HCB in my reply! But I would classify much of his work as snapshots, some he waited for the juxtaposition of elements and others he seized a moment quickly. I don’t see “snapshot” as derogatory, though I agree, as I mentioned, that many people think it it implies a lack of care, but that depends on the snapper’s actions.
 
Someone just commented on my Instagram post 'beautiful snapshot' - which grinds my gears and feels almost like an oxymoron. I definitely see it a slight reserved for trolls.

Google tells me what I already feel about the word 'snapshot'

What is a snapshot picture?
“Snapshot – A photograph that is shot spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent.”

I intend all my photos to be artistic in some-way. So calling it a snapshot makes me feel like I've failed..

Here is the image.. when I saw Newt here, a little pup with a big shadow, I did not ignore the opportunity - i had to fetch the camera, put a card in it and already knew how I was going to photograph it.

The Spirit Within by Daniel Cook, on Flickr
Nice snap :exit:
 
On the other hand a photograph is composed by the photographer as to how he/she wants the result to be - their competence growing with experience. That is; exposure, shutter speed, composition etc. are given a considerable amount of thought as is the processing of the photo after it has been taken.
So: would your opinion be that the three examples given above and say these three more are not photographs?

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Someone just commented on my Instagram post 'beautiful snapshot' - which grinds my gears and feels almost like an oxymoron. I definitely see it a slight reserved for trolls.

Google tells me what I already feel about the word 'snapshot'

What is a snapshot picture?
“Snapshot – A photograph that is shot spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent.”

I intend all my photos to be artistic in some-way. So calling it a snapshot makes me feel like I've failed..

Here is the image.. when I saw Newt here, a little pup with a big shadow, I did not ignore the opportunity - i had to fetch the camera, put a card in it and already knew how I was going to photograph it.

The Spirit Within by Daniel Cook, on Flickr

Don't worry about it. Most people don't use the words correctly, they tend to use them loosely or incorrectly interchanged with other words. For example: Hoover instead of properly called vacuum cleaner, or Jacuzzi instead of hot tub. So they tend to use snapshot instead of photograph. I see a photograph, someone else see a snapshot.
 
I really resisted mentioning HCB in my reply! But I would classify much of his work as snapshots, some he waited for the juxtaposition of elements and others he seized a moment quickly. I don’t see “snapshot” as derogatory, though I agree, as I mentioned, that many people think it it implies a lack of care, but that depends on the snapper’s actions.
Shall I drag Winogrand into this? After all he must have been a snapper as he had trouble holding his camera level. :giggle:
 
ERE-Snaps-Collectors-Edition-Monroe-01_1024x.jpg


https://shop.magnumphotos.com/produ...rilyn-monroe-new-york-1956?variant=1209763359
Signed Collector's Edition with print, $4500.
 
By using a lot of the assumed criteria then I should think that Street and Candid photography are basically snapshots then, and some of the best photographs ever taken fall into that category.
 
Street may have to be taken quickly before the moment passes, but there's still planning that goes into that shot before it even materialises - which I think makes it more than just a snapshot that turned out ok.

This shot I had a very tiny window to take the photo as I was going the opposite way on the escalator.. but I wasn't hasty in the planning of the shot - and I had artistic intent.

Q2 - London by Daniel Cook, on Flickr

and this street photo I took my time worked the angles.. it was not hastily taken.

Q2 - Le Monde by Daniel Cook, on Flickr
 
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...more than just a snapshot that turned out ok.
Maybe. But are the pictures worth a second glance or are they what I call 'one-liners'? The sort of picture you look at and think is clever/witty before moving on never to return? A lot of contemporary 'street' photograph strikes me as being just that sort of stuff repeating the currently fashionable tropes.
 
Maybe. But are the pictures worth a second glance or are they what I call 'one-liners'? The sort of picture you look at and think is clever/witty before moving on never to return? A lot of contemporary 'street' photograph strikes me as being just that sort of stuff repeating the currently fashionable tropes.

I'd happily put my best street work on the wall, they are not fire and forget snapshots.
 
Flickr was full of "nice snap" or "great capture" comments for a long time used to drive me nuts. Not because someone suggested my image was a 'snap' or 'capture' but because they bothered to comment without any real thought, it offered me about as much as no comment at all. I'd rather someone tell me 'not a bad mage but ....' I call those snap comments :D
 
I'd happily put my best street work on the wall, they are not fire and forget snapshots.
Would you never frame a snapshot even if it was a good picture?
 
Would you never frame a snapshot even if it was a good picture?

Personally if it was good enough to be framed, then it would need to be artistic - if it was an 'artistic snapshot' that was taken with no artistic intent, that would be rare - but I might allow it :D

I am not a person who would ever frame "family snapshots"
 
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Personally if it was good enough to be framed, then it would need to be artistic - if it was an 'artistic snapshot' that was taken with no artistic intent, that would be rare - but I might allow it :D

I am not a person who would ever frame "family snapshots"
The strange thing with family (and a lot of other) snaps is that they increase in 'value' with time. What would you do with family snaps?
 
The strange thing with family (and a lot of other) snaps is that they increase in 'value' with time. What would you do with family snaps?

There's just my wife and two dogs, we won't have children, social media is as far as those go.
 
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