What do you think about when you take a picture?

[andrew_patterson]

I find that lately I prefer to do a lot more of fiction, concocting the shots in my minds eye instead of looking for a shot. I'm constantly looking at what I'm shooting deciding if it looks like the moment I'm trying to create, if it expresses the story I'm trying to tell, and if it fits the world that I'm imagining. Essentially though, I'm just comparing what I'm looking at and what I see in my mind, if they're congruent, then I think "Yes" and shoot.

 

[colfer]

I am a people photographer. I do weddings and I have no patiente to stay for the right hour, right light, right everything what made a good landscape photograph. and I admire the meditation way for the right doing of the landscape photographers.
so I deal all day with fast happenings. you can not do it again. so I trained myself to shoot fast. and only preoccupied with three things: the moment, volumes and composition. as at the martial arts you learn to not think when fighting. that´s what I learn every days: look fast, compose fast and shoot fast. thank´s to Raw files and the good light meters the cameras have today the finish is post production with software. so most of the time i do not think: i just react.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I tickle my camera's sweet spot.

But I do try to clear my head of all opinions and just act as an observer. No outward thoughts, just absorbing what's infront of me. It's weird, I feel like I blend into the walls or something...

At first it was not a problem but, a few years in, watching the huge and intense BS all over the place, I worked hard at trying to achieve this as a photojournalist. I wasn't very succesful. And that is partly why I finally left that kind of photography behind.

I try to quiet my mind completely.

Maybe that is why I've been accused of taking photographs of nothing.

As most of us who take photographs of nothing know, photographs of nothing require a LOT of thinking.

Love that exchange. I sometimes think that photographs of nothing require a lot MORE thinking than the other kind, to be succesful.

 

[rambler]

With fast moving subjects like sports or portrait taking and weddings the thought process and planning occurs ahead of time. Positioning , lighting, the how and where of posing or who and what groups need to be taken, the mechanical things. etc. then just before clicking..."how does it look what is the expression or what's the action.

My preference (I am a novice) is landscape. So, Surf City John has expressed it best for me.

I try to answer the question, " Why am I taking this photo?" and "What do I want the viewer to see?" This I learned from reading John Shaw books.
Our eyes see much more than the camera, so what is the scene within the scene that I want to photograph. What is the specific subject and what around it either belongs or does not. Look at the foreground the background the sides and where to place the subject in the frame. When one is surrounded by 360 degrees of natural beauty narrowing it down to what can be seen in a small viewfinder and then making it interesting ia not as easy as it sounds. And , I do not want over-thinikng to take away creativity, but good composition is key. That said, spontaneity works , too. I might have "worked a scene" for awhile. Then bingo, when I turn away alnd look elsewhere, sometimes right at my feet there it is,click, presto, my favorite shot of the day!

In short, I try to think before I shoot, so when it comes to clicking the shutter don't think, just do it.

When pro golfers step up to hit the ball, it was found that the best are not thinking at all. Practice, training, repetition has been done.

Basketball players who are going up with that last second shot to win the game have said that all goes quiet and the action slows down to very slow motion as they watch the ball arch towards the hoop.

 

[analog.universe]

Right before I click the shutter I'm trying to make the translation in my head from "scene I'm walking around in" to "2D image I'll have when all is said and done". It's really just trying to be as subjective as possible and absorb whatever feeling I get from the lighting and composition. Sometime I'll hit the DOF preview button to get a more realistic idea... But the last moment is always an attempt at transcendence (an attempt which often fails ). The goal is that all the thinking and calculating has been taken care of first, so the only thing the I need to do is find the photo that "feels" the best and then snap it.

 

[photo guy]

It depends on what I am photographing. Sometimes it is the weather, sometimes something special, etc.

 

[photography.next]

Its digital time so no need to think, just check the photo and it shows its good or have to take again
Charleston Bridal Photographers

 

[kkamin]

For an alternative view:

Do you think Andrew Lesnie, ACS, Cinematographer on Lord of the Rings is sitting around, waiting for the seemingly perfect moment to appear in the viewfinder? No, days, week, months of thought and hundreds of hours to thousands of work has gone into what lies in front of the lens. This is why a lot of commercial work looks so succinct in visual communication. Even the 'rough and tumble' look you might see in fashion photography is heavily correographed and all aspects of production artistry are hinging on a concise vision.

Photos can be taken in a fraction of a second. But there are many types of photos that take weeks or months before the shutter is release and week or months in post.

 

[camz]

I tickle my camera's sweet spot.

But I do try to clear my head of all opinions and just act as an observer. No outward thoughts, just absorbing what's infront of me. It's weird, I feel like I blend into the walls or something...

At first it was not a problem but, a few years in, watching the huge and intense BS all over the place, I worked hard at trying to achieve this as a photojournalist. I wasn't very succesful. And that is partly why I finally left that kind of photography behind.

I try to quiet my mind completely.

Maybe that is why I've been accused of taking photographs of nothing.

As most of us who take photographs of nothing know, photographs of nothing require a LOT of thinking.

Love that exchange. I sometimes think that photographs of nothing require a lot MORE thinking than the other kind, to be succesful.

Yeah with all the little short term noise it sometimes gets harder for me to get in that mindset too. When I get there, that's when I start thinking. To add, I think what also makes it tough is sometimes the repetetiveness forces us just to go through the motions. It's much easier when things are new, things are fresh. That old dog saying...

 

[Dominantly]

I usually think "man, the family on Facebook is gonna love the **** out of this one".

 

[TheFantasticG]

In short, I try to think before I shoot, so when it comes to clicking the shutter don't think, just do it.

That is what I do. Words don't flow in my head when I press the shutter.

 

[Fred Berg]

In the moment that I gently depress the shutter release button my mind is empty and calm, cleared of all thoughts and distractions. Seconds beforehand there is an internal inferno raging and my senses are drawn to a highly tense and alert state.

 

[MSnowy]

I say to myself "wait till the azzholes on thephotoforum see this one"

 

[SimplyShane]

I'm thinking about how the shapes, colors, and lines interact with one another! :thumbup:

 

[picturephotos]

Before taking a photo I think about the subject. Because mine are always moving I am constantly thinking about, "timing". Sometimes I'm counting or thinking, "up, down" and the whole time my body is moving with the movement, just a little bit so i can stay in the rhythm.