The Decisive Moment - Ideas please

[photoguy99]

We sort of got sidetracked. Don't mind us. I hope you got some useful ideas!

 

[Derrel]

I didn't mean to start an argument. What my teacher is looking for are photos that capture a moment that is in flux.

With landscape pictures I could take a photo of the landscape and tomorrow another person could take a picture of the landscape and although there might be some subtle changes, it will still be the same landscape. A picture of the White House taken by me or by any other person on just about any given day, its still going to be the White House.

With something that's in a state of flux or movement, if you don't take the photo at the right time, you miss the photo. The photo will not be the same five minutes from now, sometimes not even five seconds from now.

That's the essence of what my teacher is trying to get us to capture on film. Since its not digital, it is a bit trickier since we won't know if we caught that moment until we develop the film.

That makes sense; there are MANY subjects that can be well-captured at any time, and a pleasing, acceptable photograph made of the subject or scene. Take say, the U.S. Capitol Building, or the St. Louis Arch for example--either of those two landmarks can be, and have been, photographed at all hours of the day, for days and years on end, and many good photos have been made. Not everything is highly time-sensitive. Some things however, really are time-sensitive, and the quality of a photo made in some situations really does come down to the shutter having been clicked at a time when something of particular interest was happening. Some photos are ABOUT "time" and about "moments", while many other photos are more about "the scene", or "the object itself".

 

[Gary A.]

I apologize for contributing to the off-topic discussion.

 

[PhotoTurtle]

Gary I really like the photos you posted, thank you for sharing them.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary I really like the photos you posted, thank you for sharing them.

Thanks.

 

[Vince.1551]

You can judge me and I'll still say Gary's photos are way better then lots of Bresson's photos


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sashbar]

I didn't mean to start an argument. What my teacher is looking for are photos that capture a moment that is in flux.

With landscape pictures I could take a photo of the landscape and tomorrow another person could take a picture of the landscape and although there might be some subtle changes, it will still be the same landscape. A picture of the White House taken by me or by any other person on just about any given day, its still going to be the White House.

With something that's in a state of flux or movement, if you don't take the photo at the right time, you miss the photo. The photo will not be the same five minutes from now, sometimes not even five seconds from now.

That's the essence of what my teacher is trying to get us to capture on film. Since its not digital, it is a bit trickier since we won't know if we caught that moment until we develop the film.

One easy practical way to do what your teacher asks for is to find a street poster/advert etc that you can juxtapose against a pedestrian. It is easy even with a film camera, because the only object that moves is a pedestrian. So all you need is - find this kind a background, stand there with your camera ready (put your focus to manual and focus on the place where your target will appear) and wait for someone to pass by. Here in this picture we see the poster girl's hand pointing to the bald head of an ageing man, which is kind of funny (not really, I know, but you got the idea). the red letter F (what the hell does that men in this pic?) looks like it is emanating from the man's head. Your timing should be spot on, but this particular kind of a shot is very easy due to the highly predictable movement. Your teacher would be satisfied, I think.

If you want to try something a bit more complicated, you can introduce another person in the composition to have a triangle - a hand, and two men. Triangles are very important for compositions, you could ask your teacher to explain if you have a chance. So here we have another shot with two men, each moving in his his own direction with some determination, completely ignoring each other. But the hand for some reasom has selected the guy on the right.. Looks like she has selected her victim. So this shot is basically the same as above, plus another guy placed quite nicely. Note that his head is on the white background, between the black edge to the left and the hand to the right. Full separation of subjects and contrasting backgrounds in that kind of a composition are very desirable. We also see some additional details in this shot - like the man's shadow, the poster girls that look like witches and a very helpful red/black edge diagonal, pointing at the man. So all in all the second shot is better, but is a little bit trickier to capture. The word "jigsaw" is often used by street shooters to describe this kind of compositions btw.
So good luck.

And btw, you are absolutely right about the landscapes - they are all the same - yesterday, today, tomorrow. Is there any point of trying to capture something that does not even bother to move?

 

[PhotoTurtle]

Sashbar thank you for the idea, I will have to think of where I see signage that would allow for those kinds of shots.