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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> What is a snapshot??
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04/24/2002 03:09:43 PM · #1
I have seen this term used several times either in comments or on the forum pages. Someone will say "it looks like a snapshot". Is this an insult? Is someone who takes "snapshots", not a "real" photographer?

What is the difference between a snapshot and a real photograph?

Can they be both???

An inquiring mind wants to know what you think!
04/24/2002 03:44:52 PM · #2
Well, here's a link that i found searching the phrase 'difference between a snapshot and a photograph' on google. it pretty much seems to mirror what I have read and heard others say.

LINK1

here's another.

LINK2

i think the consistent thread between what I've heard/read is something to do with taking care to 'compose' the shot.

does any of that help?



* This message has been edited by an administrator on 4/24/2002 3:48:17 PM - .
04/24/2002 04:42:11 PM · #3
I've used the terms in the way you're talking about (IE I think I'm a guilty party) and I think the links magnetic put up do a good job of describing the difference in the way I use it.

I would, however, like to add one additional little bit. Just because a picture was taken spur of the moment, with little or no thought to composition, does not mean it can't be a great photograph. And, for that matter, I think the reverse is true as well. As for whether or not an image can be both a snapshot and a great photograph, I think that may, like with all situations dealing with art, be entirely dependent on circumstances.

If I decide something looks like a snapshot, I don't mean it as an insult, merely as an observation of the way the photograph looks.

And while I like to think I'm a "real" photographer, I take snapshots all the time. I try to make them more than just a recording of a moment in time that I want to remember. And yet, there's only so much you can do to make a picture of former Mayor Guiliani standing at a podium during a press conference into a real work of art... *grin*
04/24/2002 04:59:55 PM · #4
Lemme take a stab at this too...

I think 'snapshot' as used here is to describe a photo that you would put in your family vacation album or impromptu photos of friends, relatives, and pets. No planning, no setup, no consideration for exposure, et cetera...

A 'non-snapshot' is something that you may want to frame and hang on your wall as art.....

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