What is a snap

For me I think a lot of it is about the composition. Snaps seem to want to capture something, either a person or a place, without taking the whole of the image into consideration.

It's not always true but is for a lot of snaps
 
Before I got involved in photography I once asked a wedding photographer at my friends wedding if he had "got any nice snaps?". You should have seen the look he gave me and the abuse that followed. I obviously didn't mean to offend but was just naive to his art and was striking up conversation.
 
A snap would be a picture of your family sat on a wall when out on a walk, no thought given to background, composition, lighting or anything else. The intent is to capture the group at that point in time.

A non-snap would be looking for good lighting, subject and compositional opportunities when out for that walk. You may not actually see one so don't get a good photo but you had your snap...
 
To me, a snap is simply a photo that was taken spontaneously and without any creative thought or planning.

It doesn't make it any less valuable or a "lesser photograph", but ultimately it serves no purpose other than to capture a memory and keep it.
 
I'd say a snap is what I used to do before the 52 challenge got me to think about my shot before I take it: "ooh that looks nice" > raise camera > snap.

More generously, it's a photo that satisfies the taker, but no-one else. It's a record rather than a nice thing in it's own right.
 
An image taken on the spur of the moment on automatic reflex to capture a moment or memory.

It's not a term related to the aesthetics of the image, it may be a good image, it may not. It's not relevant to the term. It may be taken with any camera or image recording device.

I've seen plenty "snaps" taken with £2.5ks worth of 5D2 and an L lens, and many beautiful "fine art" shots taken with care and skill on a cameraphone or a £50 compact.
 
I am not saying all my work is great :D

But in many ways,sometimes i wish i could just take a snap,no matter what camera i have,as soon as its up to my eye,i start to look for a photo.

Years ago when i used to be a pro,if i was working away,the other half if she came with me used to take the snaps,and it was great to look back at theses :)
 
frank said:
What defines a holiday snap?
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To me it is simply a picture taken to record a moment with no thought to the artistic or technical aspects of the image.
I.e. a grab shot with no thought to composition, exposure etc.

It could as well be taken on a camera phone or a £3k d3 or the like.
 
But turn this on its head and surely the most important photos are the holiday snaps.
The photographs of the moment, kids going down a slide granny trying to keep her kiss me quick hat on. They are what make the holiday memories not the one where you have moved everyone so no one has a tree coming out of there head.
 
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The term "snap" or "snapshot" goes back a long way right into the Box Brownie era. Basically a term that was used by folk who were in no way enthusiasts and just wanted to grab record shots when they were on holiday etc. The name has stuck I suppose. Many folk use it without giving any thought as to whether it is appropriate. It implies nothing about the camera used or the photographer.
 
onona said:
To me, a snap is simply a photo that was taken spontaneously and without any creative thought or planning.

It doesn't make it any less valuable or a "lesser photograph", but ultimately it serves no purpose other than to capture a memory and keep it.
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That's exactly how I would put it.
 
In my opinion its a term that's used too broadly, "i took this snap" "i was snapping away"
Just sounds like people ramping up their shutter count to me.
I guess i used to snap but now i am far more pre meditative about my approach and everything is thought through before i pick my camera up. However, i still prefer some spontaneity after the initial planning though but i don't class it as snapping away.
I don't believe there are clear boundaries with this kind of term as people look at their own work with different opinions to others.
I guess its the difference between a rough sketch and a finished piece.
 
arclight said:
The term "snap" or "snapshot" goes back a long way right into the Box Brownie era. Basically a term that was used by folk who were in no way enthusiasts and just wanted to grab record shots when they were on holiday etc. The name has stuck I suppose. Many folk use it without giving any thought as to whether it is appropriate. It implies nothing about the camera used or the photographer.
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And indeed earlier than that

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/snap+shot

Websters said:
From One-Hour Photo: "According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "snapshot" was first used in 1808 by an English sportsman by the name of Sir Henry Hawker. He noted in his diary that almost every bird he shot that day was taken by snapshot, meaning a hurried shot, taken without deliberate aim. Snapshot, then, was originally a hunting term."
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arclight said:
The term "snap" or "snapshot" goes back a long way right into the Box Brownie era. Basically a term that was used by folk who were in no way enthusiasts and just wanted to grab record shots when they were on holiday etc. The name has stuck I suppose. Many folk use it without giving any thought as to whether it is appropriate. It implies nothing about the camera used or the photographer.
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Musicman said:
And indeed earlier than that

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/snap+shot
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I've always thought the term comes from an early form of easy to produce mechanical shutters that went into cheaper consumer cameras, most of them used a 'snap' action to throw pivoted blades across the aperture. early user cameras instruction manuals probably contained phrases like 'snap the cameras shutter' ...leading to phrases like 'Ooh lets go out and do some snaps'.
 
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Forbiddenbiker said:
I've always thought the term comes from an early form of easy to produce mechanical shutters that went into cheaper consumer cameras, most of them used a 'snap' action to throw pivoted blades across the aperture. early user cameras instruction manuals probably contained phrases like 'snap the cameras shutter' ...leading to phrases like 'Ooh lets go out and do some snaps'.
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The Term was introduced into photography by Sir John Herschel (son of the astronomer William Heschel and friend of Fox Talbot) in 1860

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...epage&q=snapshot herschel photography&f=false

Incidentally, Herschel also coined the term 'photography' itself, was the first to apply the words 'negative' and 'positive' to the photographic process, invented the cyanotype process and pioneered the use of sodium thiosulphate to 'fix' (his term) an image.
 
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