I took this picture in the park on the fourth of July. I tried to capture the intensity of the people heating up the balloon's air. The park was filled with hundreds of onlookers at the time. So, is it a photograph or just another "Snapshot"?
I would not know how to answer that question .... but I like the picture. The colors are nice, the posture of the guy holding the .. 'thing' is nice as well and I guess you could not avoid the people in the background on the right. To me that's a very nice picture of a 'moment' I started a portfolio on the pictures I have done that I like to show friends and people .. and that one would go into mine if I would have take it ! Lionel
Honestly, I don't know what makes the difference between a photo and a snapshot. It's just one of those things that I know when I see.
I really enjoy this picture. I think that it would be more "photography"-y if the other balloon and other people in the background were not there. Because you were kind of capturing the moment and not really able to set up the shot, perhaps this would be a snapshot.
Wow Richard, that really did make a difference. I was going to suggest that perhaps if you had been behind the man with the burner and included the flame shooting into the baloon it might have been more of a photo. But then I looked at your other challenge submissions and realized you don't need help from me. Nice stuff sir.
This is most certainly a photograph, It has close croping where as a snapshot would more than likely be a wide angle shot of the whole baloon or a close up of the people blasting them with a flash while they all look and smile at you. This is a great shot for many reasons, it show interaction with others and a sence of excitement. The modified shot in my opinion doesnt have the same excitement and seems posed.
Cloning out the onlookers and backing up (or not cropping in this case) made a huge difference. I like it much better, so I guess it's a matter of opinion.
I think this is definitely a photograph. It has great lighting, great cropping, and a real sense of action and "being there". A snapshot might have captured this event, but it wouldn't have done it so artistically.
And, for what it's worth, I agree with Ronin regarding the edited version. It take a lot of the sense of action out of it and looks very set-up and posed. The first one works a lot better for me.
Before even reading all the replies here, I thought the same way as mci and ronin apparently do. Taking out the people in the background makes a viewer lose that sense of chaotic excitement found at such a fair. It puts them in a reference of time and place to have the onlookers in the shot. Also, a snapshot, in my opinion, would be more like the balloonist taking time to look at you and smile, or many other equally unartistic things. I prefer the first shot: action, bright colors, tells a story, good composition.
Thanks to all of you. I had taken it to be a photograph, and then thought I would try to improve it. I also feel that it lost most of its feeling when I cloned out the people. Sometimes you just got to know when to leave things alone.
I like the picture. I think it might have had more impact if you'd tried to get in closer, and a little behind the guy.. you know, get more of the 3 balloon handlers and their expressions, centered around the big open mouth and shooting flame. I can imagine how neat the colorful balloon in the background must have looked, but I think this is one of those cases where less is more. The second balloon spreads the viewers focus a little too thin, in my very humble opinion.
Originally posted by autool: Thanks to all of you. I had taken it to be a photograph, and then thought I would try to improve it. I also feel that it lost most of its feeling when I cloned out the people. Sometimes you just got to know when to leave things alone.
Autool
I like it much better without the people, but that was my original suggestion.
I like the second one better in that you lost the people. I found them distracting. However, I miss the tighter crop of the first -- the height of the multi-colored balloon and particularly the flag drag my eye away from the much more interesting detail of filling the balloon on the left. One thing I DO like about the cropping on the second photo is that I get the whole basket and I liked having more of the balloon on the left also. Perhaps this would work cropped as a panoramic - let's you lose the multi-colored balloon without losing the basket/balloon filling detail. Just an idea.
I think scratching your head over whether it's a photo or a snapshot is a bit silly. "Snapshot" isn't a technical term. It's an impression that's usually created when a photo is badly framed, blurry, shaken, uses the flash and all the default settings, has red eye, etc. But there's no defining line between "snapshot" and "photo" at all. Someone can take a really nice looking photo with point and shoot methods and no forethought, and someone else might, for artistic reasons, take a badly framed photo even with red eye if they're trying to create a certain impression.
Don't cogitate over your photos trying desperately to avoid "snapshotism"! Photograph the moments and places and things that make you feel good, in a way that expresses your feelings and pleases you. I love the photo with people in the background, because it's a little moment in time caught on camera. What makes that not a "photo"? Why isn't it art? *Grrs*
