The difference between a Photograph and a Snap Shot?

[cgipson1]

There's gotta be at least 300 threads on this topic on TPF.

Yep.. and there will be 300 more! Nobody every searches to read the past jewels of wisdom.... that would require work!

 

[Jaemie]

*wonders what that last post meant*

http://lejournaldelaphotographie.com/system/photos/32187/med_moonrise-jpg.jpg

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico is a very famous Ansel Adams photo. It's probably what many people would consider the furthest thing from a snapshot, though who but Adams really knows how the shot was taken?

 

[Photographiend]

If people always browsed to see if someone else had asked their question. Progress would take much longer.

It's a photography forum. Some questions are going to seem repetitive. Like when any new person comes to any other forum and has that post about "How do I Post Pictures?"

 

[Overread]

If people always browsed to see if someone else had asked their question. Progress would take much longer.

It's a photography forum. Some questions are going to seem repetitive. Like when any new person comes to any other forum and has that post about "How do I Post Pictures?"

This - if people don't want to read the 10001 thread on a subject they've already read 50 times before - just don't read it


As for the difference between a photograph and a snapshot - well in my view it all depends on who is looking at the photo. Whatever the photographers mind at the time has no bearing on the quality of the photo. Sure thinking about the photo, composing it well and taking your time to take a well thought out photo has a far far greater chance of producing a photograph - however I've seen people take photos with little to no thinking and get some fantastic photos - just as I've seen placed static cameras and a trip-wire take some great shots.

So in my mind the definition can't start with the photographers intent - because its only if the photographer is the only viewer that they can define what is snapshot against photograph. So its all down to the viewer and as such there will be some variation in the view point.

Furthermore its not just about image quality either - context of a photograph is just as key as the technicalities of the photograph itself. Photography is a skill, but the end result is not just the result of the skill of the user, its also the result of the scene before them - however manipulated before and after the shutter the scene itself dictates a part of the photographs final effect.



There are some world famous photographs, photos which are in all ways a photograph but which have terrible technical and artistic qualities. Just look to the whole field of journalist photography and you can find many where the definition of photograph comes more from the context and the scene than from the artistic or technical or even the photographer themselves.


Like a lot of things in photography its not a clear cut line and its always open to interpretation. Yes there are patterns, yes there are generalist limits and extremes.







As for Pro VS amateur. Eh its an overblown dividing mostly because people get all romantic and hung up on the idea that a professional must achieve a certain level of quality - that there can (must ) be no "BAD" professional photographers in the world. In the end my view is if your photography is work then you are working professionally - and work isn't just a few snaps here and there its regular and contributing income (Which typically means it forms a % of your total income).

Amateur is just someone who shoots for the heck of it - for no financial reward. They might get a bit of pocket money from time to time, but their photos won't contribute a meaningful or regular form of income.


Quality and skill are neither here nor there, though one would assume that the average professional would at least have a decent level of understanding and experience; whereas there is no limits on amateurs.

 

[Tuffythepug]

I did not know what a slippery slope this has been. Ok. my $.02..... All snapshots are photographs.; not all photographs are snapshots. If you've simply aimed a camera at a cute baby, puppy, or a colorful sunset and hit the shutter button you've taken a snapshot. If you've taken the time to make sure the background is un-cluttered and that there is not a tree sticking out of the babie's head; and that the area you want to emphasize is in sharp focus; and that the exposure is spot on; and the resulting picture actually conveys something deeper, or makes a comment, or causes someone to see something in a new and different way.. well then my friend you've taken a capital "P" Photograph.

Also, I don't think being a photographer is tied to a dollar amount of income from the endeavor. If you take photos in the manner described above you can be photographer even if you earn your living sweeping floors. Just like you can be a musician without earning a nickel playing your guitar.

But that's just my opinion and it's worth the price of admission here. $0

 

[jamesbjenkins]

Haha... Not the first time this one has come up I take it?

Spend 2 minutes using the search feature and you could have avoided the ****storm that will now likely ensue.

 

[Photographiend]

Overread - That does make a good point. When I got married we paid $700 for a professional photographer. And the best pic at our wedding was snapped by our best man with a point and shoot.

 

[skieur]

Snapshots are "Raise camera, don't think, actuate shutter!"

Photographs are "think about it, examine the background, foreground and subject, think about it, setup the shot and settings on the camera, think about it, raise camera, focus, think, adjust, think.. shoot!" (more or less)

Primitively put, but generally correct.

Snapshots display no consideration of either technique (knowledge of aperture, shutterspeeds, framing, lighting, contrast, shadows, camera modes and features, etc.) or consideration of composition or the artistic aspect of chosing a subject and the placement of important picture elements in the frame.

Photographs are generally taken by those who know and use the technical features or their camera to produce a technically excellent shot that also takes the artistic aspects of composition into consideration and uses them to produce the shot.

skieur

 

[cgipson1]

Snapshots are "Raise camera, don't think, actuate shutter!"

Photographs are "think about it, examine the background, foreground and subject, think about it, setup the shot and settings on the camera, think about it, raise camera, focus, think, adjust, think.. shoot!" (more or less)

Primitively put, but generally correct.

Snapshots display no consideration of either technique (knowledge of aperture, shutterspeeds, framing, lighting, contrast, shadows, camera modes and features, etc.) or consideration of composition or the artistic aspect of chosing a subject and the placement of important picture elements in the frame.

Photographs are generally taken by those who know and use the technical features or their camera to produce a technically excellent shot that also takes the artistic aspects of composition into consideration and uses them to produce the shot.

skieur

It was "put primitively" as you put it, intentionally... so ALL could understand it... even Sony users!

 

[Photographiend]

I don't use a Sony. But I am going to pretend to be irked at you anyway on behalf of all the Sony users here.

 

[skieur]

Snapshots are "Raise camera, don't think, actuate shutter!"

Photographs are "think about it, examine the background, foreground and subject, think about it, setup the shot and settings on the camera, think about it, raise camera, focus, think, adjust, think.. shoot!" (more or less)

Primitively put, but generally correct.

Snapshots display no consideration of either technique (knowledge of aperture, shutterspeeds, framing, lighting, contrast, shadows, camera modes and features, etc.) or consideration of composition or the artistic aspect of chosing a subject and the placement of important picture elements in the frame.

Photographs are generally taken by those who know and use the technical features or their camera to produce a technically excellent shot that also takes the artistic aspects of composition into consideration and uses them to produce the shot.

skieur

It was "put primitively" as you put it, intentionally... so ALL could understand it... even Sony users!

Hey, I won't tell you what other brands of cameras, I also use.

skieur

 

[cgipson1]

Primitively put, but generally correct.

Snapshots display no consideration of either technique (knowledge of aperture, shutterspeeds, framing, lighting, contrast, shadows, camera modes and features, etc.) or consideration of composition or the artistic aspect of chosing a subject and the placement of important picture elements in the frame.

Photographs are generally taken by those who know and use the technical features or their camera to produce a technically excellent shot that also takes the artistic aspects of composition into consideration and uses them to produce the shot.

skieur

It was "put primitively" as you put it, intentionally... so ALL could understand it... even Sony users!

Hey, I won't tell you what other brands of cameras, I also use.

skieur

lol! :thumbup:

 

[cgipson1]

I don't use a Sony. But I am going to pretend to be irked at you anyway on behalf of all the Sony users here.

I don't think you have been around long enough to know all of the relationships here yet... so that's OK! You do use a Bridge Camera, right? If you would like, I can edit the post above to include Bridge users also!

 

[Photographiend]

Awww, I feel so loved

you hardly know me and are already willing to edit your smart as quips to include insulting me.

 

[cgipson1]

Awww, I feel so loved

you hardly know me and are already willing to edit your smart as quips to include insulting me.

I try to please!