As shown by Laurie's shot this morning of the dog at the drive thru, some of our best images may not be fine art, but rather simple snapshots that are grabbed in an instant and record a moment in time that may never be repeated. The key to these wonderful images is not that you worry about having great light, composition or focus (or that you photoshop them to death), but rather that you were able to take the photo at all. Most of the time the only way you can capture such treasures is to have a camera in your pocket and available in an instant. I highly recommend everyone carry a point and shoot camera with them at all times - otherwise great moments like this one will fade quickly (faster in some of our ancient minds than others!). These days you can get pretty nice quality that will fit in your shirt pocket, and you can shoot all day long and it won't cost you a dime extra!
And as an added bonus, with proper technique you can even produce some pretty nice fine art images with a point and shoot, although ones that can shoot RAW will get you a step closer to a high-quality image than ones that just shoot jpgs. Hey, that sounds like a good subject for us - fine art with a snapshot camera! Or for that matter how about just your great snapshots, although Laurie already has a leg up on us.
(I meant the last part of that as a pun, but I doubt anyone but me would have gotten it so I must explain. There was a great photographer working in the 1960's - Elliot Erwitt - who made some of the most incredible "snapshot" photos I've ever seen. One of his most famous was a street scene that showed a group of people all gathered around some famous person - in fact I think it might have been been vice-president Nelson Rockefeller. And off to the side is a little dog, seemingly unaware of the famous person or the group, lifting his leg and peeing on a lamp post! Perhaps this little dog was indeed aware of the people and was adding his own little political comment...)
I very seldom leave the house without the 10D just in case I run into a photo op. Just to share I usually have a 28-200 lens attached, ISO set at 400 and setting in Program mode. If I have time I can adjust the aperture or shutter speed separately. I usually have a 1/2 stop exposure dialed in as well. I have gotten some nice images this way.
I like the idea of starting a "fine art with a snapshot camera" subject, except I don't have one that will shoot in raw. If I happen to get anything worth sharing, I'll try to post it.
I'd love to see that Elliot Erwin shot - like they say - a picture is worth a thousand words.
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2 repliesAnd as an added bonus, with proper technique you can even produce some pretty nice fine art images with a point and shoot, although ones that can shoot RAW will get you a step closer to a high-quality image than ones that just shoot jpgs. Hey, that sounds like a good subject for us - fine art with a snapshot camera! Or for that matter how about just your great snapshots, although Laurie already has a leg up on us.
(I meant the last part of that as a pun, but I doubt anyone but me would have gotten it so I must explain. There was a great photographer working in the 1960's - Elliot Erwitt - who made some of the most incredible "snapshot" photos I've ever seen. One of his most famous was a street scene that showed a group of people all gathered around some famous person - in fact I think it might have been been vice-president Nelson Rockefeller. And off to the side is a little dog, seemingly unaware of the famous person or the group, lifting his leg and peeing on a lamp post! Perhaps this little dog was indeed aware of the people and was adding his own little political comment...)
I'd love to see that Elliot Erwin shot - like they say - a picture is worth a thousand words.